Im dying to know? As far as I knew it streches the metal and makes it weak... I have seen over 10 of them in the past couple weeks...? Do that many people not know or am I wrong?

Mike-

I like muffler pipe. Aluminized is perfect for a cage, right?????:flipoff2:

they are running 2" 120 wall but still.. what gives?

mike-

is there anyone here that has rolled with a muffler bender built cage besides a flop.. i mean a rollover with some violence... Did it fold?

Mike-

Before I knew anyone with a bender...I had a friend of mine put a cage in for me and he owned a muffler shop......Ive been running the same cage for years now, and have rolled completely over 3 times and flopped 6 others......And it has held up quite well!!! Really the only damage to my cage was i dented one of the tubes!!

This was a couple years ago, and its still going strong!

As far as I knew it streches the metal and makes it weak

What kinda tubing bender doesn't stretch the metal? (Actually, stretching (or cold working) metal typically makes it stronger. Less ductile, but stronger.

You have to say that a 2500 pnd suki vs a 4500pn bronco or jeep would differ the results from a roll..

As far as streching metal goes I should have been more clear.. You are kinking the tube creating a 2 weaker spots in the bend.

Mike-

I have never seen anyone at a calrocs event or arca for that matter with a "muff cage"

My full cage came that way when I bought it, looking like it was bent with a conduit bender:D, although it seems strong and has held up well in some light flops. Now if I roll they should be harder flops due to the fact I am wider now. We'll see how it goes.
If it proves to be weak Mike you can make me a new cage with a real bender and we can test the strength differences.:flipoff2:

when i first started building my Jeep 2 years ago i had a guy bend me nerf bars on a exhaust bender. They have proven to be fine. the rest of my cage was bent on a Tube Shark style bender and it is also fine...i do have dented tubes in each but i dont see andy real differances...

no my tubes are not kinked or rippled on the inside like a muffler pipe they are as smooth as the TS bent tubes...

it may be the style of bender (Exhaust) that he used on mine it was hydrolic and had dies like the TS but it bent from the center out instead of pulling the tube arround... this style of bender is much easier than the TS to get your bends exactally where they are needed.

Can someone explain what is ment by a muffler bender vs a "real" bender?

My muffler bender do you mean like hand brake line bender where you secure the one end and pull aroud a die????

I have rolled some Race cars on dirt at about 120 mph and weighing around 2,800 lbs Both made from a muffler bender and from a normal tubing bender. and neither one of them broke or folded in the radius of the bends.
I guess the best way would be with a bender that uses a mandrel that you pull thru the tubing as use bend it. But how many people have cage made with one of them?

Think the only problem with a "muffler bender" (which cracks me up in and of itself, it is a tubing bender no different) is the die's.

The dies are smaller diameter than what JD2, Shark, etc uses. Which I would think leads to the "flattened" part of the tube in the bends.

Take that muffler bender, slap a 7" dia. die on it and you would never know that "muffler tube bender" bent it.

My bud had a cage in his willy that was bent at a muffler shop. He put that thing thru hell, including one high speed barrel roll hitting the cage several times. Held up fine.

stop me if I'm wrong but dosen't bending a tube no matter what it is bent on create some streatching in the back side. The big differance I've seen is the exhaust benders create an indention in the inside of the bend, making the diamiter smaller in one way, causing a weak spot. this might not happen with the thicker walled stuff, I just dont know.
John

about a 11/2 ago you may remember seeing a roll over in Poteau, Oklahoma in JP Magazine. I was there when he rolled (walking up the hill tring to figure out how to get out of the way!) and some of his cage was made on a muffler bender and it failed. The center of the cage was over the drivers head and had anybody been in the passenger seat we would have had a fatality that day. We were lucky that day no one was hurt, but it was a good lesson that using the proper tools and material to construct a well designed cage is priceless. Don't skimp on what saves you and your occupants neck! Thats something that you can't replace, you can replace your truck but can't replace your neck!

are you talking about Marc's blue yj? if you are he lives by me and i saw the after....spooky to say the least.

the "muff cages" I have seen have large indents in the bends... The tubing is Crimped... that can not be as strong as a JD2 or TS built cage.. a ton of members here have JD2 benders which pulls the tube around the die so I would alot of people have cages like that.

mike-

I think he means like this.

The inside of the tube becomes smaller then the outside.

.

http://www.radius.com.au/images/mstbm.jpg

VS

http://www.tubeshark.com/images/TSModelMachines%20copy.jpg



so these benders can make equally safe cages then?

Mike-

Originally posted by dozernad
Can someone explain what is ment by a muffler bender vs a "real" bender?

My muffler bender do you mean like hand brake line bender where you secure the one end and pull aroud a die????

Manderal bent vs. crush bent............exaust benders crush the inside dia. of the pipe/tubing/DOM

Originally posted by TOY 2


Manderal bent vs. crush bent............exaust benders crush the inside dia. of the pipe/tubing/DOM

A TS or a JD is not a mandrel bender. Neither of them pulls a mandrel thru the middle of the tube.

Originally posted by RudeZuk
Before I knew anyone with a bender...I had a friend of mine put a cage in for me and he owned a muffler shop......Ive been running the same cage for years now, and have rolled completely over 3 times and flopped 6 others......And it has held up quite well!!! Really the only damage to my cage was i dented one of the tubes!!

This was a couple years ago, and its still going strong!

ha!!!! You rolled bypassing the sluice?:p