im in the process of building a frame and im looking to get a little bit crazy with bracing behind the seats and up front under the hood. any ideas on bending pipes for braces?
i know a guy with a pipe bender
i have a barrien warrior frame and im gonna chop the top down about 6 inches or so and probably only use the one roll bar behind the seat any ideas?
post some pictures

Surely if it's a brace, it doesn't need any bends?

Otherwise it's not a very good brace

We use tubing not pipe, a pipe is something you smoke out of.
If you were to bend a diagonal brace you no longer have a diagonal brace, all you have is a bunch extra weight doing nothing. Might as well get a pipe and smoke it.

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Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
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I think hix and a couple other guys brings there x brace together with a bend .
To be honest I thought a x brace was for the cage not to compress , and I have seen some x braces that the tubing was on such a angle I thought it would only be good for the racking effect .( side to side ) I think that's what it's called ... I think big scotts build thred they were talking about it and he did some drawing and discussion that might help you .
The dumbest question is a question not asked in my opinion . Safety first !

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Theirs no replacement for displacement !

well look at the rock bouncers they have some very nice tube work and they dont have a strait bar on them and they are strong it can work i would actually lke to see a buggy fram done like that

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I DO NOT FREE BASE COCAINE

I'd say a bent X brace is better than no brace at all. The bend gives it a place to be weak and bend more but honestly I'm not sure if these buggies have enough weight to make that big of a difference. If it's 3000 pounds, doing 80 mph and barrel rolls 6 times I think you'll want the bracing to be the best it can be. Only you can decide what is appropriate for you. I'd say make any bracing as straight as possible but if that means no brace then bend it to get at least something in there.

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"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -Henry Ford

The reason for the diagonal is to keep the cage from racking over like PlumberBill's did. Had his cage been properly diagonalized that incident could have been nothing more than a simple roll over.



You better go look at them again, more straight tubing in them than you are seeing.

The rule of diagonals is simply this; The diagonal must be in the same plane as the members it is diagonal to.

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Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
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Here is Davehix buggy with bent X bracing. http://www.woodsbuggy.com/index.php?opt ... &sk=t&sd=a

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I think I can, I think I can....

I thought the front windshield hoop was what gave out on that frame. The X brace would have had to be front to rear to keep it from folding back. Correct me if I am wrong.

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I think I can, I think I can....

I thought I remember both the windshield hoop and the main hoop being racked to the drivers side. I looked for photos, couldn't find any.

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stiffer the better

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ANTI- antifreeze!!!!!!

Damn that looks horrible anyone hurt to bad? I really like davehixs braces in his buggy trust and believe I'm gonna be x-bracing this spring

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#If the throttle isn't floored, Your NOT havin FUN!!!!#

Bill got hurt but not real bad he was definitly lucky!!!!!

Damn I'd say that looked real nasty glad he didn't get hurt real bad

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#If the throttle isn't floored, Your NOT havin FUN!!!!#

Truly nasty.

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LET ER EAT !!! If you aint first, your LAST.!!.

This has been an eye opener since it happened.a lot of buggies got braced and redesigned after this photo hit woodsbuggy.bill is extremely lucky to have not been killed in this. I think what went wrong here was the fact it was a heavy 4 seater with a lot of roof space and no bracing.I still see some of these 4 seater frames and I emediatly think of this photo.I build mine to be rolled period.wether it happens or not that should be the thought process for every buggy build IMO cause you never know when it's gonna be you.if 20 or 30lbs of tubing is going to kill your power or make your buggy not as pretty is why you dont brace it,then either get a bigger motor or sell the damn thing cause it ain't about being pretty JMO. Chad

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NOW GAS IT!!!!!

They're not strong, they're incredibly weak for the amount of tubing in them, they just do it for looks.
Having said that, many of the less showy ones have LOTS of straight tube.

Tube chassis are only strong as joined triangles, any time you have more than 3 corners in one open section, it's a lot weaker than you think it is!

I'm not sure why you are lowering the roll cage 6", a safety harness moves some so having space is key. If you cut the top off then move the rear roll hoop so you can run 2 pieces of .120 wall chrome moly tube straight off the torsion to the roll hoop corners to make a triangle.JMHO

I think the more bracing the better they look but out of all the bracing your most important is behind the head and the window area but the more the better and you do it right you wont have to take it home and cut amd weld on it

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I DO NOT FREE BASE COCAINE

I'm with madmike on this .

im a welder and ive been welding both tube and pipe for years.
forgive me for my slang.

ill post pictures when i get it all tacked up

thanks everyone for your input. except MadMike you can go jump on a bridge

On a bridge or off a bridge? I use to jump out of helicopters does that count?

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how about jumping off the bridge at yellow creek THATS FUN

wasnt fun for that girl that jumped off and took a piece of rebar through the leg

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