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Sprinkler pipe Exo in progress (now w/ flop-testing video)

75K views 216 replies 93 participants last post by  mobil1syn 
#1 ·
I did a bunch of reading about what to use and who was for and against sprinkler pipe before I started. Still I opted for the inexpensive pipe route. I got a few tips from members of my local club and I was on my way. This is where I started with my $99 Harbor freight pipe bender.

Had to have a base to start from. Then I headed on to the rear fender hoops. I should have done these in more than one piece. It was pretty hard to get all those bends to work all in one stick of pipe.

I tried this first to deal with the gas door. No only did it look bad, I couldn't get the gas nozzle in the hole! So I tore it off and made one like the other side which worked fine.
 
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#2 ·
After getting the rear fender hoops done I thought I'd work on the cage. This didn't work because I needed the front fender hoops to weld to. Of course, to do my front fender hoops I needed a front bumper. So, now I'm deeper than I expected to be with the bumper torn off and an exposed radiator. So I started bending and this is what I got. Again, those one piece fender hoops posed some problems but they still turned out ok.

 
#4 ·
Then I proceeded to go on up over the cab. There were more clearance issues here but they all worked out pretty well. I had to have some help holding the two rear pieces in place while I tacked them on. Otherwise this project was completed solo.

 
#5 ·
Friday night I went up over behind the hood and put some upper fender protection on. Then on Saturday morning we went mud running. I was happy that we found some rocks in an old quarry.

I did plenty of banging around on the rocks with my shackles, sliders and front bumper. No dents to be seen and everything held up great. More testing to come ;)

I'm pretty happy with how the sprinkler pipe has been working. I think its plenty safe. I will trust it. Lots more gussets, bed protection and braces to come but this is a beggining.

Chass
ct
 
#7 · (Edited)
I can possibly see saving some money and using that cheap stuff for sliders and fender protection, but no way would I use it, and trust it, for a cage.


Oh yea, are the sprinkler heads heat activated or run by a manual switch in the cab?
 
#10 ·
that's alot of weight in an EXTREME rollover.. is that schedule 40 or something??? I would think that metal would be prone to bending/cracking more than HREW.. that's just me though.. I know there's different strokes for different folks.. just sayin I'm not sure that I'd wanna be inside in the event of a rollover.. and what size outer diameter is that pipe?
 
#12 ·
the tube i meen pipe work looks great!!!!

you should have just spent the money... go look at the tinbenders buildup for the raffle and ou will see what happens to sprinkler pipe cages!!!! look at the event pictures..
 
#14 ·
1 1/2" OD approx. There are two grades of pipe. One is what someone called Sched 35. REALLY thick wall stuff that makes up the cage over the top. The rest is sched 40.

In all the years that I have been wheeling, I've known many people to wheel without any kind of roll protection. Many of them have rolled over. Cabs get squished and they all survived. I have seen LOTS of rock crawlers on this board who wheel HARD and don't have any kind of exo at all. I know this exo I'm building will withstand hard use and the occasional rollover or flop. I also know that it would save my life in an extreme rollover. When I and all the others posted pictures of our trucks with no exo, nobody said, "I wouldn't trust that truck without an exo! Its dangerous." I'll tell you what, that truck is ten times safer than it was without it. The extra weight on top is easily countered by by it's way wider stance than you can get with a toy front axle.

Yes, I know there are always the naysayers. I'm very happy with the extra safety I have afforded myself and I'm comfortable wheeling the hell out of it. Gosh, so many negative things to say. I guess I should have posted. "Hey look at my exo" leaving out the material used. Perhaps I'll roll it intentionally once its done so that I can show how a $100 full exo holds up. I'm proud of it and want to show it off here. As I said in my first post, I researched it thoroughly before I started this project. I feel that this is very safe material to build this type of cage with.

Chass
ct
 
#15 ·
Perhaps I'll roll it intentionally once its done so that I can show how a $100 full exo holds up. I'm proud of it and want to show it off here. As I said in my first post, I researched it thoroughly before I started this project. I feel that this is very safe material to build this type of cage with.
OK, take video! :flipoff2:

Dude, I think what you've done should help you with bending real tube someday, but I know others that have used schedule 40 and it folded up like a Chinese acrobat.

When you say, "I researched it thoroughly" what did that entail? Did you do any load calculations, or study the tensile strenghts of the various materials?

IMO, it might be better than nothing, but I think you're going to find that it will do a really fine job of bending up your sheel metal in a rollover. I wouldn't do what you did for the simple fact of how you've increased your COG.

Doc
 
#16 ·
Chass said:
1 1/2" OD approx. There are two grades of pipe. One is what someone called Sched 35. REALLY thick wall stuff that makes up the cage over the top. The rest is sched 40.

In all the years that I have been wheeling, I've known many people to wheel without any kind of roll protection. Many of them have rolled over. Cabs get squished and they all survived. I have seen LOTS of rock crawlers on this board who wheel HARD and don't have any kind of exo at all. I know this exo I'm building will withstand hard use and the occasional rollover or flop. I also know that it would save my life in an extreme rollover. When I and all the others posted pictures of our trucks with no exo, nobody said, "I wouldn't trust that truck without an exo! Its dangerous." I'll tell you what, that truck is ten times safer than it was without it. The extra weight on top is easily countered by by it's way wider stance than you can get with a toy front axle.

Yes, I know there are always the naysayers. I'm very happy with the extra safety I have afforded myself and I'm comfortable wheeling the hell out of it. Gosh, so many negative things to say. I guess I should have posted. "Hey look at my exo" leaving out the material used. Perhaps I'll roll it intentionally once its done so that I can show how a $100 full exo holds up. I'm proud of it and want to show it off here. As I said in my first post, I researched it thoroughly before I started this project. I feel that this is very safe material to build this type of cage with.

Chass
ct
well you may have $100 in your exo.. I've got $200 in metal for my exo.. 1.75 .120 wall HREW... I may find that I need another $40-80 in metal(because I'm making new front and rear bumpers out of the stuff also), but it's really not that bad.. and I think what you used is somethin like 1 3/8 OD, I used same stuff on a set of sliders...

yeah probably better than nothing in the event of a rollover.. but I personally wouldnt trust it...

.. it's good that you do.. that stuff is THICK.. but thickness doesn't always = strength.. what did you pay per foot for that stuff??
 
#17 ·
Okay Chass is a friend of mine so I feel the need to defend him a bit.....

First - Chass, you should of NEVER said it was sprinkler pipe! that gives people the idea that the material is something light weight and weak. Sure its still pipe but .....

Second - Its not finished and you should never post anything on POR with clearly stating its not finished or you are sure to get flamed......

I think its fine (will be when its done)!!!! Now granted structual tubing (DOM or HREW) is better but Pipe is way cheaper to buy and to bend.

I did mine out of Pipe if that tells you anything. (before I cut it off for lack of highway performance issues). If I was to do it again I would make it out of Tube but only for the purpose of I NOW have the tools to bend tube and tube is lighter. Anything up there is better than nothing IMO. Well almost anything, you could have made it of conduit! The key is that it NEEDS to be built so its strong, So you know it will hold up in the event you do flop it. And you also need to NOT put yourself in high risk situations thinking your fine since you have a cage, because its still only pipe. And people have got to understand that a cage like you designed is to help protect you and the vehicle from low speed flops, not 60+ mph barrel rolls or rolling the vehicle down big hills.

As for materials of 1 1/4 dia x schedule 40 Pipe (1.660 OD X .140 Wall) : I think what you used is probably A53 Grade A pipe (thats the low quality pipe). Its got a yeild strength of 30,000 psi and a tensile strength of 48,000 psi. The stuff we used on Project Blu which is 1.75 OD X .120 wall AISI 1010 HREW mechanical Tubing has a yeild strength of 58,000 psi and a tensile strength of 63,000 psi.

So with this comparision the material the pipe is made from is about 50% the strength of the tubing material we used on Project Blu. But now you also have to consider the cross sectional area since the pipe and tube have different dimesnions. The Section Modulus for a hollow circlular cross section is Z = 0.098 * (OD^4 - ID^4)/OD. so for your pipe its .23417 in^3 where the tube that we used on Project Blu was .23408 in^3 which is almost the same. So for this case, the pipe is truely about 50% the strength of the tube since the crossectional strength is nearly identical. Pipe is about 2.2 lbs a foot and the tube is about 2.1 lbs a foot. So in that case a pipe structure will probably need about 50-75% more material to be close to the same strength as a tube structure.

So the question is it safe..... I think for mild use it will be fine. Mild use would be flops on the sdie of the vehicle. but if you roll the vehicle down a hill it will probably shift and move into teh cab. I highly down it will CRUSH the cab. you will also notice that if you look at my exo that I did out of Pipe I put a lot of braces all over it because I knew I needed more material on it to make it strong. plus I was trying to cover the rear of my 4runner so the hollow space was much larger which makes the structure weaker hence another reason for more material.

If you feel leary about it, pull the doors off (so you don't break the glass) and flop it over in your yard and see what happens! Seriously! If your worried about it taking damage or crushing the cab, then you shouldn't be driving it with that exo. now granted I never flopped mine over on purpose (or even on accident) because I was worried out it shifting to the side since I couldn't cross brace it on the 4runner, but your truck is cross braced. On Project Blu we thought about doing it but by the time the cage was finished we already had fuilds in everything and we where rushing to get it down to myrtle creek. Also I don't think Pete liked the idea very much but I'm sure it would take it. Also the only way an exo is more unsafe than no cage is if it breaks in a manor that it puchers the driver or passenger IMO. Teh more steel the better. Sure you might flop more often with a exo cage due to the weight, but atleast you can still drive the vehicle.....

BTW, I'm offer the use of my winch if you flop yours over.

Also here is the one that I made out of pipe for my 4runner that I was refering to.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Rick, yes, I was aware that the term "sprinkler pipe" would elicit a barage of negative comments. I have read a bunch about the material. Its not as strong but, as others have stated, "more than marginaly sufficient".

Simply put, I'm better off than I was. Argue it all you want guys. I'm pleased with it and I know it makes me safer.

This thread has my favorite info on this subject and no one posted pictures or info about well designed pipe cages that failed. There are lots of them out there.
***edit, sorry I meant this thread***
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216563&highlight=pipe+roll+cage

I guess I should know better than to post anything less than my perfect, high end, $40,000 rock buggy else I get flamed.

Oh and for those of you who can't do anything but name call and post idiotic statements with no constructive criticism, grow up. For the rest, thanks for the input. I'll be careful with the cage as its obviously not up to par with a good DOM cage.

Chass
ct

oh yes, I will roll it over just to test it because I'm particularly curious now, not only about the tube but my design. I like my chances.
 
#21 ·
I also like to hear things like what rcurrier44 has to say about his pipe cage that he took through a pretty good rollover. I found it here in this thread.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312966
I would question whether a DOM cage would have held up much better under these conditions.

So if you have contradicting evidence that a pipe cage is no good please post it. I encourage it. This is the one thing thats lacking from ALL of the information I found about Pipe vs Tube topics. There are pipe cages out there but none of those people are complaining about them. I have read some people say that they would use tube if they do it again but no one posted any regrets about their first exo made of pipe.

Chass
ct
 
#22 · (Edited)
Heres something for the DOM exo guys. I have heard from a few different Professional Welders not backyard hacks, that when you weld DOM tube that you should then heat the tube at the area that you welded and then let it cool down properly or you will have a weak area at the contact weld area. This is not required when welding pipe.

Any comments on this guys, maybe your DOM cage is no better then the pipe cage
 
#23 ·
hbar314 said:
Remember to not fall asleep at the wheel or you'll overwater. :flipoff2:
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :D :laughing: :smokin:


this is what i was going to do when i got home from work!!!!!!!!!:grinpimp:
 
#24 · (Edited)
Canadian Xtoys said:
Heres something for the DOM exo guys. I have heard from a few different Professional Welders not backyard hacks, that when you weld DOM tube that you should then heat the tube at the area that you welded and then let it cool down properly or you will have a weak area at the contact weld area. This is not required when welding pipe.

Any comments on this guys, maybe your DOM cage is no better then the pipe cage

do your homework before you post!!!

this is like saying that wood wheels are better than rubber...
all metal weakens when you heat it due to chemicals that are naturally in the metal being released upon heating.. ie: welding..

overheating any metal will cause weak spots!!! :flipoff2:

as to this part: "Any comments on this guys, maybe your DOM cage is no better then the pipe cage"

you should be smacked!!! :shaking:
 
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