Ok guys, we have a nice electric conduit pipe bender. I want to do a type of exoskeleton. This isn't protection from a roll over, this is basically body panel protection. So now when its a tight spot in the trails I don't have to worry about dents. I can slide into and bounce off trees when I need to... which I will do this all the time.
Sense this is a conduit bender I have to use IMC conduit, not as strong as DOM but its all we can bend. We can do all sizes of conduit.
The plan is to come from the bumper to the rock slides, protecting the fenders, front & rear. To reinforce the fender area we will be going across the bottom window connecting both sides of the skeleton. I will also be cutting holes in the body and doing the same thing at the rear fenders, tubing will be ran through the rear cargo area. Possibly going up to protect the top of the jeep, but not sure just yet.
My question is do you think 1" conduit (which is like 1.25" OD) be enough protection?
any time your in california, send me a PM i would love to take you wheeling and show you some very interesting trails, just make sure you bring a trailer to put your rig on so you can get it home.
I always trailer the jeep. If you come to michigan I'll extend a similar offer. We have the huge rocks and the tight trails take your pic you can get stuck on either.
As others have said, it seems like you already have the idea you want. This type of tube sounds similar to HREW. I've seen bumpers made of it. Its cheaper, but not as strong as DOM because the welded seam.
I wheel nearly once every other week. If not more. With some local trails, Rubicon and fordyce aren't far.
That tube will still bend on hard hits. I've dented my DOM sliders. And they weren't even really hard hits.
It's not just seamless/ welded tube that makes the strength difference, there's a lot of different types of steel manufactured. DOM tubing is typically higher quality steel than HREW or some other crap quality steel tubing.
OP, as for the body protection why don't you fab tube fenders? Make 'em wide enough on the front to cover your tires and you've provided protection for the front fenders. Rear is a different story unless you make the tube fenders or exo- cage stupidly wide, which makes 'em look like crap. Building an exo cage/ half- exo like on the Wrangler pic you posted, you're going to be denting the roof area anyways when hitting a tree. There are a lot of tight trails around here with big trees and slippery mud, there's really no way to avoid dents if you try wheeling on trails like that unless going very slow and winching all the time because of that.
I agree with others, if you're looking to avoiding dents on either your doors or rear quarter panels, you need rolled mild steel plating to protect them. If you're looking a t keeping the weight down, use thin abrasive- resistant steel plate and bend them to follow the body lines. 0.088 or .125 is plenty thick if you get high quality steel and it'll keep the weight down. using tubing the weight increases suprisingly rapidly, and does not give you the protection you're looking for.
I've built tube fenders on my ZJ (check my build thread), I've got box steel rocker replacement with rocker tubes - and I've got dent on both of my rear quarters. You're talking about fitting on tight trails, and looking at widening your ZJ by at least 1.5" in the rear on both sides if you want to keep the panels away from trees with the tube. Something doesn't match here, right?
Says right in the first post, from the bumper to the rock slides. Let me guess someone is going to ask how I plan to mount it to the front bumper?
You guys do realize I wheel this thing every 2 weeks and we go pretty hard. Is there even anyone posting in this thread that wheels even once a month yr round? Even the hard core wheelers around here only average 6-8 trips a yr.
This is basically what I'm doing, except a lot less yellow and preferably not so ugly. Mines gonna be tied into the sliders way smoother, no gaps. You guys act like I invented this idea. ..
I was just playin with ya. I get out 8-9 times a year with a few romps in the local woods thrown in and kinda sacrificed the body work in process so connecting my bumpers sliders ect would be pointless but I still smile picturing your wj wraped in bubble wrap and romex
If you have Facebook go to the zj grand Cherokee owners group and look up chad warrington. He builds them. Also I believe the build thread on here labeled jolly green giant has them.
Thats one of the ones I keep around for reference, great fab work all around.
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