Lot of talk on bumpers, guards, and sliders, but I would like to know what people like to use for tube SIZE and WALL for racks.

I want to make one for the roof and receiver.

I've made a couple safari style racks for my truck and a couple other people and you can laugh, but I use 3/4" EMT. EMT is electrical conduit you can get from Home Depot or anywhere. It's galvanized, so it welds like shit, but it won't easily rust. It's super easy to bend with an EMT bender ($40) and is cheap if you fuck up. I'd post a pic of one I made, but I'm too cheap for the $20 fee.
If you make them right, they're very strong, lightweight, and easy to remove. I used to stand on mine all the time with no problems. I had all kind of camping equipment up there for trips to Moab and Lake Powell and had two 3/4" pipe pieces that stuck out of the side for my Yakima racks. Two mountain bikes, a hundred pounds of camping gear, 6 lights and it never gave me any problems. Made some threaded rod U-bolts and wingnuts to hold it to the factory roof rack.
As for making one for your reciever, use heavier square tube like 3/16" to get up above the tire, then use EMT for the actual rack. Wipe the EMT down with vinegar before painting and it'll etch the galvanized coating to let the paint stick better.

1"x.065 round tube, works well. Made a few from .095 and .120, both of those turned out to be a little heavy. Although the racks can with stand atleast 300lbs. :)

Sounds great, I should have inticated that I wanted to use square tube.

I was planing on usein 1" square .070 wall

Thanks

1" square thick wall if it has to support much the rest can be built out of the thin stuff. It's real easy to work with.

I've used 1" x .120 square for racks and such. A little heavy, but you can load it to your hearts content :D:D:D:D.

I have a writeup of how I made my roll bar rack. The specs are at the bottom of the page.

http://www.off-road.com/tlc/tech/rollbarrack/images/rollbarrack02.jpg

http://www.off-road.com/tlc/tech/rollbarrack/

Originally posted by fatkid
1"x.065 round tube, works well. Made a few from .095 and .120, both of those turned out to be a little heavy. Although the racks can with stand atleast 300lbs. :)

isn't .065 wall the same as 16 gauge?

Do I have these right?

6 .203
8 .165
10 .120
12 .109
14 .083
16 .065
18 .049

Generally I use .095 1inch square or round tubing for racks mainly becuase I can rest assured that the customer won't have any problems, and it still is reasonably light but still alittle overbuilt.

I have made a jamboree rack made out of 1.25 square .120 & .095 wall but the customer wanted to be able to put on two bucks :eek: assuming they would actually be that lucky- the rack was also exactly as wide as the CJ , and mounting was six point two on frame & four on the body.

note* I have seen most production racks & such made mostly out of .065 & .083 .
weldpro
:usa:

When I made my over the fender rack I made it out of 16 gauge square..

I can stand and jump in it and it doesnt flex or move..