tgun88

gonna make my own long arm kit..whats the minimum thickness on tubing would you use? i have a unlimted supply of 3/16 2inch pipe is that enuff?

xjmarc

You don't want pipe to begin with. We build ours with 1.5" 1/4 wall for uppers and 1.75 and 2" .37 wall for the lowers. And only use DOM or chromolly.

96_xj

you want to use atleast 0.250 or 1/4" for the lower arms. i would even go as far as 0.375 or 3/8" for the lower arms.

0.1875 (3/16") is fine for the upper arms but i would still use 0.250 as a minimum all the way around.

96_xj

x2 dont use pipe. DOM or 2" box.

mark's91-XJ

yep .250 wall thats what i used to make mine.

tgun88

allright my supply of pipe is out....where would you get DOM at? i mean what kind of place or shop would have it?

mark's91-XJ

youll have to call around all the metal supply places in your area and see if they carry it, you'll need 6" for the lower arms.

tgun88

thanks guys for helping me not waste my time!!!

Irongrave

make sure you get US DOM as most of the foreign DOM is weaker then HRE, And I'm one to over build personally and say .375/ 3/8s for all the links

sandaddik2

for my "jong arm" kit lol i used 2 inch .250 wall dom for lowers and some pipe that in tube standards would be 1 7/8 od .188 wall from my dads work for the uppers.

the lowers seem like overkill imo but its peace of mind to me and well worth it

you can get it by the inch from trailgear or ballistic fab for almost the same price per inch i paid from the steel yard without buying a full 20ft stick like i did

if you used hrew just put the seam on top and youll be fine as long as you dont enter king of the hammers lol

s14unimog

X2 on the DOM; steer clear of pipe or EWS. I have the IRO 3 link long arm kit and it seems they used 1/4" wall or thicker. It seems a bit excessive but on the other hand, you can bet your *** you won't tweak one of the tubes. I suspect you'll shear off the mount on the axle before you bend 2" 1/4" wall...

sandaddik2

exactly, its only as strong as what its bolted to.
theres a few people out there with arms made of pipe, why cant you run pipe? it sounds like people have it in their head that you have to run a certain thing because thats what people on forums tell them

s14unimog

You can, but there are two inherent problems. The first is availability, its often difficult to find pipe in schedules higher than 40 so on "1 1/2 pipe" (which is actually 1.900" O.D.) Sch. 40 is only 0.140" wall / Sch. 80 is only 0.200". The next problem is how you must position the seam to get proper bends out of the material, with the seam running the length of the tube, you must position it so its in-line with the bends, if you have multiple bends, it becomes impossible and not to mention there can be damage to the material through the bend process... Pipe is what it is, its designed to transfer material under pressure, its sized accordingly and not intended for structural components; but I guess you could use it.