cage building Info

[Chop]

Im planing on making a cage for the jeep this summer and i was wondering who has built a cage using one of those harbor freight benders?

I dont have the $ to buy a nice bender and i dont know anyone that will let me barrow one.

I will be making my cage out of 1.75 - 0.12 wall DOM tube. the most degree of bend i will probably go is 90 deg. how well would that bender work for want i am about to do how far can one of these benders bend Jesus said in another post that he got these benders to go up to 70 degrees with out kinking. does anyone have any other ways to make these benders work better on tubing. like maybe an insert to adjust for the size diffrence?

Also if anyone has any pictures of some bends or even cages and bumpers built with this bender i would like to see some pics. i have seen some for Jesus but i was wondering if there was any other pics out there

[kevsCJ7]

In my experience the HF bender did not work. The dies that come with that bender are for pipe and they dont hold the DOM tubing well enough to bend without kinking. I made a die that fit on the HF bender to fit 1 5/8 DOM and it worked great.

[95geo]

your probably better off helping someone make you a cage with the right tools rather than to try and bend it with the tube kinker. if you are set in your ways then the 1.5" schedule 40 pipe die is very close to 1.625 O.D. tubing. good luck and post up your pics if you decide to do it.

[RockyMtnMike]

We have one for the building trades class at Southgate High and they don't work well on 3/4" pipe. I wouldn't waste the money on it. I know a guy that will do the bending for you and you can weld it in if you are looking to save some money. He does a great job. He is located in Brownstown just down the street from me.

[Mclovin]

He cheated a bought one :tonka:
But i hear hes gona mod. it

[Chop]

yup the price of steel to make one couldent beat the one i bought at all, now its time to add some tube.

[gotsand?]

I just had one custom made at Appletree automotive in Silver Lake. He does a great job, and the cost was very reasonable.

Give them a call, it might be worth it to you. 231-873-4830, and ask for Chad (owner) tell him Justin told you to give him a call.

edit: I will try to post some pics tonight.