cheapest place to get roll cage tubing?

looking for the best place to buy roll cage tubing...DOM , 1.75x.095 specifically..

need to put a massive cage with a parachute mount on GUTTY and in my hatchback.

HELLLLP

-adam

Just call around to the local steel suppliers. I got lucky, found a guy here in Chuck who will order me small lots of random length (17 to 24 feet) for ~$4.50/foot including delivery. The only caveat is that I might have to wait a week or two so he can piggyback it on another order. Most places want a big sale before they will pay the freight.

Not sure where you are located but there is a place in NE PA called Nivert Steel. Its right off I81 near Scranton in a town called Throop. They sold me 300' of 1.75x.095 for $3.31/ft. I rolled over with the trailer and piled it in but there was a cost point that they would deliver it for free within 100mi - I was about $175 short. I buy all my steel tubing, sheet and aluminum from them and the price is always good and its close.

I have a good friend who would get that business except he is too far away. He owns the Metal Supermarket in Plainfield, NJ. His name is Nafi. Tell him Walter sent you. Ask to check out his race car in the back of the shop. Its as grassroots as it gets ;)

I bought the tubing for my roll bar from a local circle track chassis builder. He bent the hoop, cut long, cut the diagonal and 2 down tubes, fishmouthed the ends out of 1.75x095 DOM for like $90, a couple years ago now. But it was cheaper than I could buy the steel alone anywhere else.

i should check out those circle track places...

i'm located in chicago... i checked with several steel places, and they were about 5$ / foot, with tax. bummed.

Ryerson had good prices and great availability when I used them 8 years ago.

If you're building a drag car out of it, I think the required NHRA spec for DOM is .120 wall. More specifically, 1 3/4 diameter is for a bar (at least a 5 pt) which is good to 10.0 and 135 mph. If you're going full cage (with a halo, front legs, etc), you can go to 1 5/8 tubing but it still has to be .120 wall. If you went to chromoly, I think you can go down to .083 wall.

https://www.marmonkeystone.com/ecomm/servlet/HomepageServlet

Where ever you are there is one near by. They have stocking wherhouse everywhere and prices are good.

44

Pat wrote: If you're building a drag car out of it, I think the required NHRA spec for DOM is .120 wall. More specifically, 1 3/4 diameter is for a bar (at least a 5 pt) which is good to 10.0 and 135 mph. If you're going full cage (with a halo, front legs, etc), you can go to 1 5/8 tubing but it still has to be .120 wall. If you went to chromoly, I think you can go down to .083 wall.

all these bodies have different requirements. its frusturating.

maybe i should certify it... maybe not . depends on if i want to "actually" race either my car or gutty. both will be trapping over 135 this year, thats the problem.

i could have sworn i read that for 1.75, NHRA was .095, but maybe that was scca... i gotta double check before i buy.

the real problem is NHRA cage designs suck compared to Scca/Nasa/FIA. i cut my old NHRA cage out of my car and made a ghetto bolt-in for the Chop-Top challenge car, and now i dont know what i want to do.

looks like NHRA is 1.75x .118.

fun.

or expensive chromoly, 1.75x.083, like you said pat.

we'll see what i can find !

-adam

If you dont mind a drive to Detroit area, I probably have 100 ft of 095 & another 100 ft of .120 wall (1.75" OD) for half price.

Kendall

I posted this at another side but since you say you live near Chicago contact Lefthander Chassis. They are in Rockton, IL about 5 minutes from Blackhawk Farms. In the other posting I had said the price for 1.75 X .095 DOM tubing was listed at $3.00 per foot but that was an old price. Their web site has the current price of $4.25 per foot. Funny the price for the tubing I bought from them has not gone up in the nearly two years since I bought it. I used 1.50 X .095 DOM as required by SCCA for my car.

Yes Lefthander is a great place! By the way they stock hex Alum tap tubing!! Great for making radius rods / tierods ect. It's even cheaper then buying soild and drilling it...

44

redzcstandardhatch wrote:

Pat wrote: If you're building a drag car out of it, I think the required NHRA spec for DOM is .120 wall. More specifically, 1 3/4 diameter is for a bar (at least a 5 pt) which is good to 10.0 and 135 mph. If you're going full cage (with a halo, front legs, etc), you can go to 1 5/8 tubing but it still has to be .120 wall. If you went to chromoly, I think you can go down to .083 wall.

all these bodies have different requirements. its frusturating. maybe i should certify it... maybe not . depends on if i want to "actually" race either my car or gutty. both will be trapping over 135 this year, thats the problem. i could have sworn i read that for 1.75, NHRA was .095, but maybe that was scca... i gotta double check before i buy. the real problem is NHRA cage designs suck compared to Scca/Nasa/FIA. i cut my old NHRA cage out of my car and made a ghetto bolt-in for the Chop-Top challenge car, and now i dont know what i want to do.

135, eh? :-)

I can tell you this...if you're going to be drag racing it and it's going over 135, it's going to get looked at. It would suck to build the cage only to find out it's not legal and run into trouble. You'll be cutting another one out.

On the design, you can do more that what NHRA requires, but as long as their basics are followed, you can add in anything else you want.

redzcstandardhatch wrote: looks like NHRA is 1.75x .118. fun. or expensive chromoly, 1.75x.083, like you said pat. we'll see what i can find ! -adam

Don't forget, 1 3/4 is for a 5 point. A full cage, which you'll need at that trap speed, you can do 1 5/8 at the same wall thickness.

Look for Alladin Steel. IIRC they're up your way. Shoot me an email and I'll give you my contact #. I don't know if they'll sell small lots though as I buy over $500 every time. 1.75x.120 was around $2.90 p/f last time I bought it.

Another option is Shapiro Supply here in St. Louis. They ship regularly and have good prices.

If you're going full cage, then 1.625x.120 DOM will work. Has to be .135 ERW to pass the sonic check since ERW is one step above poop pipe in quality control ;) ERW will limit you to mostly NHRA or Dirt track though, as just about every other sanctioning body has or is eliminating it on new builds

Dillsburg Aeroplane Works 114 Sawmill Rd Dillsburg, PA 17019 717-432-4589

1.625" x .120"wt $2.46/ft

Do you really want to go as cheap as possible on the pieces that may save your life?

Presumably, on this website people know that cheap doesn't necessarily = low quality.

I've gotten some decent prices from Waukegan Steel-even a few freebies now and then.