Question Building a bed cage need some help and supplies.

[SmokeySevin]

Hey guys I received a welder for Christmas and have decided to undertake building a bed cage for my truck. I have a few requirements for it, It needs to have a light bar on the top for some offroad lights, it needs to have a removable spare tire mount (I was thinking about using the adapters used to make doors removable in roll cages.) , and it needs to be set up so I can still fit a full sheet of plywood in the bed. I need to find out, where I can get the tube required to build it, and where I can get the plate to mount it to the bed, and what I should coat it with to prevent it from rusting as I live in Houston. My other issue is somehow making a spare tire mount.

Thanks

Sean

[Highwaylizard]

Originally Posted by SmokeySevin

Hey guys I received a welder for Christmas and have decided to undertake building a bed cage for my truck. I have a few requirements for it, It needs to have a light bar on the top for some offroad lights, it needs to have a removable spare tire mount (I was thinking about using the adapters used to make doors removable in roll cages.) , and it needs to be set up so I can still fit a full sheet of plywood in the bed. I need to find out, where I can get the tube required to build it, and where I can get the plate to mount it to the bed, and what I should coat it with to prevent it from rusting as I live in Houston. My other issue is somehow making a spare tire mount.

Thanks

Sean

Check around with local metal fabricating shops or machine shops. You can probably strike some deals there. If you are willing to go through the hassle the scrap yard can provide some good scores and reasonable prices.

Once you have it completed have it sandblasted and powder coated and it should last a long time.

Spare tire mount could be a flat plate with studs welded through the back.

Just a few ideas.

[USAFTUNDRA]

I always suggest the local Votech. Sometimes the guys there will do work just for the practice or for a very low price. Kinda like getting your hair cut at the beauty shcool But it might save you some dollars.

[chinaloy]

Do you really want it to mount in the bed?
Why not start off with something similar to BACKRACK | Function and style for today's trucks
and then add a spare tire carrier. You will keep all your bed space.

Look for metal yards for supplies.

I built something similar and used 1 1/2" square tube and mounted in my stake pockets.

[K-Dubz]

check out socaltundras.com and do a search...TONS of good info on there

[DevinSixtySeven]

Awesome. Welcome to the rewarding and sometimes frustrating time sink of home fabrication.

What kind of welder...input voltage (110 or 220) and process (stick, MIG, TIG)?

Have you done this before?

What do you see as the primary purpose of this cage? "Learning experience" is a perfectly valid response ...but you probably have some stuff you wanna do with it, like the lights and the spare tire carrier.

Do you have a bender, angle grinder, sawzall, bench vise, welding magnets, all that other stuff?

A 4.5" angle grinder with a bunch of cutoff wheels, grinding wheels and several 40-grit flap wheels is absolutely necessary...same with a good welding lid, and if you don't already have one, get a Bionic face shield from Uvex. A few magnets are absolutely necessary as well. You'll want a good drill...18v if cordless, but I'd recommend one of the big spade-handle DeWalt drills, high power and low rpm. The rest is details.

Unless you've been in class for it lately & doing well, or it's your job, practice your welds A LOT before you weld anything structural like a spare tire mount. I get a lot of scrap from a local steel recycler, they sell new and used, and there's probably something like that near you. You'll want a source for cold rolled plate, bar and stock, square and round tube, and scrap, and they might be three different businesses...web search and phone book, plus any offroad & car/truck builder forums in your area will know.

Since you probably don't have a bender, notcher, and all the rest of that stuff, build your cage with nodes and straight sections rather than bends. If you use round tube, you'll need a piece of software that prints wrappers for your tube, so you know how to cut using a cutoff wheel on your angle grinder for proper fitment between tubes.

If this is entirely for show, learning project, and won't support anything more than a couple of lights, there is no reason you can't mount it to the stake pockets. For anything more, use the six bolts in the bed, and add additional footer plates if you need them (you will need them at the end of the bed, if you plan to fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood down the center of the bed).

The four bolts at the rear of the bed should be plenty to build a spare tire mount that you can easily remove (unbolt) if you need/want. Easier yet might be something like what I've been using, which is four massive recessed D-rings mounted through the bed...they lay flat when not in use...and the spare is strapped down in the center using the D-rings. Nothing to add or remove but the tire and the straps, I can strap other stuff in there too, it doesn't stick up as much as a mount would, and it's not going anywhere since the mounts themselves are under the bed with 4x 3/8" bolts each, and the D-ring pops up...so it's pulling on the bed, not the bolts.

I highly recommend a program called Bend Tech...it is made for tube assemblies and you don't need a bender to make use of the program.

Post some details...there are probably a dozen active people around here who do this as a hobby or full time job.

Keep it simple, and don't build yourself in to a corner...ie if you're making a hoop in front, it ought to be supported, and there will be an assembly order if you use round tube, or you'll find the last tube is impossible to fit in place. Square tube isn't as difficult, but it doesn't look as good either, and if this is anything more than a passing phase, you're gonna want round tube eventually...may as well start now.

You cannot practice your welding enough.

I freely admit I know just enough to get myself in trouble.

You might want to post this in the Offroad forum, or if you want I can move it there for you, so you're not making a new thread.

-Sean

[Marauder]

Yeah, I agree, if you don't have any welding knowledge or experience, practice a lot.

I had to mock up thin aluminum tubing for prototyping at one job, and I spent hours practicing with the TIG welder we had. Of course, steel is so much easier to weld than aluminum, but it still takes time. I got fairly decent at aluminum over time and doing steel so a breeze in comparison.

[Tundraman10]

Do not take the truck to a votech if of course you want parts stolen/missing. Well at least it happens at my local votech.

[dsrtrcr01]

As already asked, Let us know all the tools you own. (bender and dies, Grinder, Chop saw, Cut off wheels, Notcher, anything else for metal fab.)

What size welder? 110v or 220v (stick mig tig)

Figure out the size tubing you want to use. (1 3/4 or 2 inch or???). You should have a metal supply place near you to buy everything you need (tube, plate, Even large bolts and nuts) except the light tabs which would be from on off road supply place. ORW sells tabs.

Spare tire mounts are easy. Where do you want it? Standing straight up on one side of the bed near the cab? Driver side would be best so it does not block view. Laying in the bed? Slanted in the bed near front or rear? When I built mine I used a VERY large bolt and nut. I welded the Nut on the end of a peice of tubing then welded that tube to the bar. I then cut off the head of the bolt and welded it to the bent tube I use as a handle. you can see it sort of in the pic. Let me know I know MANY ways to mount a tire.

I would suggest having the front hoop bent by a fab shop or anyone that has a bender and die in the correct size. if you made this out of straight bars it would just be ugly. The rest you can make using straight tubes and plate (Assuming you do not own a bender)

One tool not mentioned is a chop saw. You can cut the tube and even use it to make notches. Much easier then cutting a tube with a grinder and a cut off wheel. I started out making bumpers with a grinder, a chop saw and a bender and a welder (220volt of coarse) 110volt is not big enough to weld what you are doing. Now we have notcher, bender with multiple dies, MANY grinders with different discs, special tools like a tool that takes the razor sharp pice left on the tube after you cut it off, Plenty of gloves, gogles and face masks, that thing that is a bunch a metal pins to help figure out what angle to cut with the notcher (forgot the name), angle finders, magnets....

[DevinSixtySeven]

Pipemaster.

x2 what he said about welders, voltage and gauge. If you have a 110v welder, don't expect to do anything thicker than 3/16" in a single pass. That should be enough for what you're doing, doubtful there's a need for 1/4" on this project.

Make sure you have a 20A dedicated circuit if your welder is 110v or you'll repeatedly blow the circuit and piss off your buddy who's trying to watch a movie while you're in the garage ...and then you'll have to find your way to the flashlight or the door by feel, deal with your roommate who's all pissy because it's the third time in a half hour you've popped the fuse...and on and on

Two more ideas...this one is in progress...


This one has been finished for a while...one of the best setups on a Tundra...



Plenty more at TTORA. Look in the Desert section, and at the SoCalTundras.com forums. The three trucks posted so far don't have a bed anymore, but you can use the same design elements and link through the bed to the frame, or make footer plates.

[dsrtrcr01]

Originally Posted by DevinSixtySeven

Pipemaster.

x2 what he said about welders, voltage and gauge. If you have a 110v welder, don't expect to do anything thicker than 3/16" in a single pass. That should be enough for what you're doing, doubtful there's a need for 1/4" on this project..

We could not get enough penetration out of a 110v Hobart to get 1.5" 120 wall tubing welded.

Originally Posted by DevinSixtySeven

Plenty more at TTORA. Look in the Desert section, and at the SoCalTundras.com forums. The three trucks posted so far don't have a bed anymore, but you can use the same design elements and link through the bed to the frame, or make footer plates.

I have built a few with the bed on. Actually my last truck and this one started out with different bed set ups that kept the stock bed. But then it gets bashed and you find a good deal on fiberglass bedsides so off it comes and a new cage is built. It never ends.

[SmokeySevin]

DevinSixtySeven, If you wanna throw this over into the offroad section that would be great. I'm up at school right now so it's going to be a while before this comes to fruition. I have been giving this a little more thought, and I am considering building a tire gate of sorts and a light hoop to come later. I do not have access to a bender so I figured that I would take the measurements and bring them to a shop. I wasn't planning on doing anything thicker than .120 wall cold rolled as I just have a Lincoln weldpak, 110v. The reason that I am building this is to get my tire out from under the truck (because it looks cool) and the tire gate Idea hit me today because my tailgate is messed up. what would be a proper sized tube for a 285/305 and a 16 inch alloy? the tire will be a nitto dune grappler. Thanks so much guys yall are making this alot easier for me.

Sean

[DevinSixtySeven]

What's the part number on that Weldpak, and what's the size recommendation sticker say, inside the door? Will it run on pure CO2, or will you need to use flux for 1/8"? Just poking around and making a couple assumptions about the part number, 1/8" is the upper end for that machine and may require flux which means it'll be ugly.

Should work well on aluminum, and for stuff like tubbing the wheel wells, bobbing the bed if you go that route, and other sheetmetal work it should be just fine.

Best way to check is ask around on some welding forums...failing that, find a buddy with a bottle of CO2, and see if it'll perform using 0.025 or 0.030 solid wire without making a mess (need a really stable arc to run 100% CO2), and also test it on a bottle of C25...make a couple welds in position, like a T-joint or something, and then break it.

You might be able to take the box to your local welding store, let them know it was a gift, and ask for some advice about running solid wire and what capacity it safely has. They're usually pretty cool, since they know you're probably gonna be buying gloves, lid, blankets, some tools, and consumables there.

There's no right or wrong size or thickness of tube, only how much tube you need to use to make it strong enough.

FYI You won't convince any shop to build anything like a Tiregate, they are apparently very protective of the design.

[Corban_White]

Originally Posted by dsrtrcr01

We could not get enough penetration out of a 110v Hobart to get 1.5" 120 wall tubing welded.

I have to watch myself on my 110v Lincoln or I will burn through 120 wall.

[dsrtrcr01]

Originally Posted by Corban_White

I have to watch myself on my 110v Lincoln or I will burn through 120 wall.

Wow. Maybe thye have improved over the years. We used the 110 around 1996 or 1997. Been 220 ever since. But my buddies 110 was bought 2 years ago and he has the same issue. he comes over to use my 220 on the thicker stuff. BUT i do not mind because I need his 110 for my sheet metal work.