I've ordered from these guys with good results: Order Plastic Teflon Round in Small Quantities at OnlineMetals.com
Source for PTFE 1/2 round rod
- Thread starter woytovich
- Start date
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Bogo
FOOF
Table saw and carbide blade, or band saw.
What diameter are you going to use? The linked one is only 1/2". If you are using a large diameter like 1.5"+ seriously look at weight. A piece of DOM steel tube 1.25" diameter with .12" wall thickness is only 1.3lbs per foot. A 1.25" PTFE Teflon round is 1.232lbs/ foot. Plus it will cost allot less.
- Thread starter
- #24
Yeah... I have been thinking more seriously about using steel. It's easier in many ways. Since the primary function of this is not as a real cage/exo protection I can go with smaller diameter tube maybe... I need to do some drawings...
Bogo
FOOF
What if you integrated the rails into a custom roof rack?
- Thread starter
- #26
As I stated earlier: "maybe part of an exo skeleton-ish roof rack mounting system"
It would be my intention to build in some sort of receiver mechanism to hold a roof rack that could be easily and quickly removed.
Here are some ideas... The "slider" is the green piece. I'm not sure on the angle to put the tube support (blue piece). These will be short pieces of tube welded to the slider and to plates (Orange) as seen in the rectangle with the circle in it (a top view). The plates will be bolted through the roof at the A, B, C & D pillars... and maybe in between C & D also.
Awl_TEQ
Supporting Vendor
yup - thats what I was trying to say in post #15. But I was thinking it would go below the gutter and the blue pipe would run in a more vertical fashion. That would keep you out of the headliner. I am not that familiar with the 60 series so my way may not work.
Mark, why not just build an exo cage? If you're worried about crunching the body then using the roof as a support for a slider might not work out so well. I don't think you're going to be able to distribute the force of the truck leaning into a tree / boulder across the roof enough to keep it from collapsing in on itself.
- Thread starter
- #30
Too much weight... too much work... not a look I want for the daily drive guise of the truck.
Bogo
FOOF
I think it should handle light to moderate hits. Hard hits, no. To do that would require more steel. A partial internal cage would do for that. Something that could brace the mounts enough and distribute the load. Likely would only need to be at B and D pillars. Handling rollovers would take a full cage to keep the a pillar area from crushing.
- Thread starter
- #32
It's not for hard hits. It's for laying the truck up against a tree very gently. It might need to take some force as the truck pulls past the tree but no impact. In the case of a rollover it would add SOME support in addition to the roof without it. I had considered making it a full rectangle that follows the shape of the roof just over the rain gutter...
Bogo
FOOF
I did a bit of thinking about subtle bracing. A network of diagonal hat channels glued to the underside of the roof. The real trick is forming them to fit the curve of the roof. (That's why I didn't post this earlier.) They would have to go from bolt point to bolt point. Some transition down the pillars would brace things better. To much and it would just bend at the end of the bracing. The nice thing about the hat channels is they vanish under the headliner.
About your bolt points. You may need to make that plate wide enough that you can bolt to either side of the hat channels that form the edges of and brace your roof. That is to avoid compromising strength and to get access to bolt heads.
About your bolt points. You may need to make that plate wide enough that you can bolt to either side of the hat channels that form the edges of and brace your roof. That is to avoid compromising strength and to get access to bolt heads.
- Thread starter
- #34
Yes, the plates will be fairly large in any case... to help distribute the load. I had not gotten as far as looking at what is going on up under the headliner.
I really think that with enough attachment points (plates) this should offer protection for the off camber encounters with trees and as an attachment structure for a roof rack with the added benefit of increased structural integrity in the case of a flop or roll (I am a very conservative wheeler so this is something I attempt to avoid actively)
I really think that with enough attachment points (plates) this should offer protection for the off camber encounters with trees and as an attachment structure for a roof rack with the added benefit of increased structural integrity in the case of a flop or roll (I am a very conservative wheeler so this is something I attempt to avoid actively)
