i was wondering what size tube most of you guys use for you rock sliders and bumpers and such. i want to buy a bender and i dont know what size dies to get. thanks, MIke

I have used both 1 1/2 and 1 3/4.... i would go 1 3/4 for your sliders .120 wall thick wall tubing or if you got bucks then DOM

what ever you feel is nessary, how hard of a hit to you think your truck and wallet will take. i went with 2in square tube for now.

For a rig up to and around 4000 lbs I'd say 1.75 ODx.120 wall round, or 2-2.5 square by 1/8" wall. The Tahoe I'm currently helping a buddy build is going to be far heavier, so we are using 1.75OD x .188 wall round.

Since your buying a bender, I would just go with a 1.75OD die that is around 6-6.5 CLR, they will typically handle up to .190 wall chromoly. I would recommend paying extra and getting a 240* die versus the standard 120* so you can do 180* bends as well.

.120 will suffice for a light-weight truck, but I would use .188 on everything, .250 for an extra heavy pig. I have .188 wall 2x3" square tube on my 5600lb Rover and it holds up well enough, they're starting to get dented where I've scraped them up so bad that they're too thin.

As far as diameter, larger is better to a point, obviously 10" tubing would just be rediculous. I would take ROXROES suggestion to buy a 1.75" die, it's the most common size you'll use for cages, sliders, bumpers, and whatever else you find yourself building. Later I'd add a 1" die and then a 1.5", always spend the bucks to get the 240* die, I bought a couple 120* dies early on and they worked fine, but I come across projects where I need/want a full 180* bend for stuff like light-bars, stingers, mirrors ect. so I've been selling my 120s and buying 240s, bender parts don't loose much value, but $40 is $40 and it's an extra PITA.

thanks for the acvice. i was also wondering if there are any vendors to watch out for or any you would recomend

Ive got a pro-tools mb105hd and love it! Had it for about 5 years now! I would get both the 1.5" and 1.75" dies in 240º!

There is also JD2 many people like that, and dont forget the tubing notcher, thats a must, then there the bending software, then theres this, then theres that...

Just kiss your bank account goodbye it gets uglier the farther in you go!