[Childs Play]

Hey All,

This is my first post on this forum, so I want to make sure it will help others with the dream of making their Cruiser more BA! I attached a file of a tube door design I am going to begin building in a few weeks. I just want to post the 3D drawing/blueprints to help inspire others to make their own! All you will need (in theory, haven't started yet) is 1" metal piping/tubing from home depot, 45 and 90 degree elbows for the tubing, a saw that will cut the tubing, and a drill that will allow you to cut holes into the tubing and elbows to allow a bolt to go through it. Again, this is just an idea post, as I have yet to tackle this project. But I expect it to be fairly easy and will update this post in just a few weeks! Finals are coming up and my time is limited! Once I build the frame and figure out a way to attach it to the hinges of the car, Ill be able to create a latching mechanism as well.

In the picture attached, i have 3 drawings. The first is the tube door. The second is the tube door WITH a top attachment that will allow me to attach plexiglass to it, for rainy days and to help against theft! You can see in the 3rd drawing the door and top frame separated to show you how i plan to connect them! If all goes to plan, ill be able to hold the top from in the trunk and attach it within minutes when needed!

BTW, all designs on my computer are done to scale. Tubes are 1", elbows are slightly bigger, but still 1" inside

Cheers!

 

[jamesepoop]

Kudos on the DIY. Although I'm sure it may be strong enough to keep you inside, I'm not sure it'll hold up to bashing things. I mean you don't want an incident involving a t bone and the pipes jutting in your direction. Or skidding up against rocks. I think you're better off investing in a tube bender and bending your own pipe and welding (or having someone weld it) if it works out for you. But I'm not a rock crawler it's possible the doors will be perfectly suitable for what you need.

/safety police :bigthumb:

 

[chriskrossapplesauce]

Kudos on the DIY. Although I'm sure it may be strong enough to keep you inside, I'm not sure it'll hold up to bashing things. I mean you don't want an incident involving a t bone and the pipes jutting in your direction. Or skidding up against rocks. I think you're better off investing in a tube bender and bending your own pipe and welding (or having someone weld it) if it works out for you. But I'm not a rock crawler it's possible the doors will be perfectly suitable for what you need.

/safety police :bigthumb:

I can't speak to the build quality of Metal Tech's tube doors, but I have a set of Warrior Products' and there's very little chance they are stronger than 1" pipe. I'm doubtful that they either company makes them out of DOM tubing or any other special material. That being said, you don't realize how thick the stock doors are until you take them off. You actually sit pretty far inside the door frame of the vehicle when the doors are removed. I think that if you get T-boned or something happens out on the trail, the sliders and body around the door will stay fairly intact and prevent serious injury to the occupants.

OP, this will be a cool project! Can't wait to see how they come out! Any plans to paint them or are you going to leave them raw?

 

[StrangerRanger]

Most people don't realize how much rigidity doors add to their vehicle, from a safety standpoint you'll never get better than OEM doors. That said, please don't make your doors out of Home Depot ductile iron plumbing pipe and fittings. It's just that... DUCTILE and will bend surprisingly easy, you're just asking for a hip replacement if you ever get hit in the side. Even a side-swipe will be enough force to bend that DI into the cabin.

Everyone can hate on my for it, but tube doors in general are a terrible idea unless they're DOM tube, welded, and on a dedicated OFFROAD only rig. And even then you're asking for sticks and things to poke through them and stab you. I will not get into J**ps that have tube doors (or no doors...)

 

[pierceg]

J**ps

LOL

I have no comment on the tube doors other than its good to see people thinking outside the box.

 

[jamesepoop]

I can't speak to the build quality of Metal Tech's tube doors, but I have a set of Warrior Products' and there's very little chance they are stronger than 1" pipe. I'm doubtful that they either company makes them out of DOM tubing or any other special material.

I'm actually less worried about the pipe than I am about the joints using connection points. I assume most off the driving to be relatively slow speed but if there was some impact, those would be the first to give. But you're right. It sits inside past the frame. I appreciate the DIY ingenuity and I'm sure would work in practice but I consider building parts.. that they need stronger/safer than OEM.

I'm not knocking. I've had bolt in and weld in cages on past cars. If I was to build doors, I would attempt with the least possible connectors.

 

[Childs Play]

Yes! I do plan on painting them. But like others said, the more joints on the doors, the more likely they'll buckle. So Ill redesign them soon. And I'm looking into finding a tube bender, to make it more safe. But i love building, so even if they end up not being sturdy/safe enough, ill have fun in the process!

 

[Childs Play]

jamesepoop, thanks for the advise! i knew these wouldn't be the most safe, as any tube doors aren't. But i will try to make the least amount of connectors, and hopefully can find some buddies that will weld things together for me!

 

[epm131]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you'll never be able to build them out of pipe with elbows. Example, take 4 pieces of pipe and 4 90degree elbows and try to make a square, you can't tighten it unless one of the pipes/elbows has a left and right hand thread.

And I have to agree that pipe is a bad choice for tube doors due to ease of bending.


And I have to agree with @StrangerRanger, tube doors should only be made out of dom and on dedicated offroad rigs and welded to the frame. They won't protect you on the road or trail because they're bolted to the body, so if the tube doors don't give when hit, the body will (and it will be expensive to fix). And if the tube doors give, you could get seriously hurt.

I'm not saying you shouldn't have tube doors, just understand the risks of using bolt-on tube doors

 

[Bar3K]

You want to use pipe and fittings as drawn you will have to add unions to get it all together.

I very rarely run without doors on my Heep just because the dust seems to roll in. I'm not worried about getting T-boned, sticks coming in and roll over. Keep body parts in vehicle and all is well.

Take your doors off for a weekend and see what you think.
You'll be fine, the vehicle that started all this didn't have doors or tube doors and amazingly people survived.

 

[jamesepoop]

i will try to make the least amount of connectors, and hopefully can find some buddies that will weld things together for me!

No prob! I've seen roll cages for smaller vehicles that were bolt in, and had slip fit joints that were bolted together. I don't think your idea is too far out, but I'm not sure how strong pipe fittings are. Anyways, keep up the idea lab going. Having options is always good :bigthumb:

 

[smracing]

Not to be rude, but if you are capable of fabricating the components needed to attach to the doors to the FJ, you could come up with doors that do not need pipe or pipe fittings.

 

[Childs Play]

Thanks for the tip! Will i need unions though if i connect the pipe and fittings by drilling holes and bolting them together? I also might end up welding if i can find a friend, this design was strictly for those (like me) who don't have any welders or pipe benders.

 

[Childs Play]

I won't be screwing the pipes into the elbows, ill be JB welding and bolting them together, unless i can find someone to actually weld it.

 

[Bar3K]

I won't be screwing the pipes into the elbows, ill be JB welding and bolting them together, unless i can find someone to actually weld it.

Their are fittings out there called "Socket Welds". This would your fit your purpose. Ells, Tees, 45s, 22.5s, etc if you can get someone to weld them up

The pipe slides into the socket and you weld. See them many places in high pressure piping.

If you didn't care about the ghetto fab you could drill these fittings and bolt.

I support whatever direction you go with.
Only way to learn is to try. :cheers:

 

[StrangerRanger]

I won't be screwing the pipes into the elbows, ill be JB welding and bolting them together

Please don't tell me you're seriously considering JB Weld-ing your tube doors together :rofl: I'm all for creative, but that's like believing in unicorns...

 

[Childs Play]

Please don't tell me you're seriously considering JB Weld-ing your tube doors together :rofl: I'm all for creative, but that's like believing in unicorns...

Its just an idea, I'm not substituing it with welding. Just so the bolts don't come loose. This project is for people without the heavy duty tools (welder, pipe bender). I know that there are better options, but this is a minimalist project

 

[ams]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think many of the replies are missing the point. These are not meant to be a safe alternative to real doors, but rather a fun project that looks neat regardless of the safety aspect. Many people run around where I'm from completely without doors (granted I live in Alabama which is somewhat devoid of road safety) and no one bats an eye. This is sorta a step up from that. Of course it could be that I am missing the point in which case you can just ignore this post

 

[Childs Play]

That's the exact reason for making these! For FUN

if i was worried about safety, i wouldn't have tube doors on at all.