my ladder bars

jlibert

jlibert

New member
Does this look like it'll work? About 74" eye to eye intended to mount on frame between the front and back door on a 3rd gen quad cab short bed. I still have to re-drill the mounting holes, and bevel the end of the tubing. I'm not sure if I'm going to make a saddle on the triangular mount for the frame and bolt it on, or leave it how it is and weld it on. I'd appreciate any advice. 2" DOM, .250 wall, 1.5 I.D. 2.625 greaseable joint with 18mm thru-holes, 1.25" shank with tubing adapter, .25" mounts, 18MM greaseable bolts. I purchased enough material to make a second set.

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jp
 
I pretty much made the exact same ones. I made my own mounting brackets though. Work awesome and dont regret the extra money spent on thoes ends either!!
 
jlibert said:
Believe it or not, the ends were comparable in price to a heim joint. Currie makes them.
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You buy them local? Those are sweet! I just got my DOM 2"x 1 1/2" I.D. x 24' delivered today. I need to find a 1" tap to thread the tubing to accept the heim joint.
 
it would probably be cheaper to buy tubing adaptors if you can squeeze them in there. I got the joints at a local 4x4 manufacturing place. Cant remember the name. They had DOM, but it was 21.60/ft.!!! I found it for less than 1/2 that price a couple miles down the road.
 
Dom tubeing is high. We use it at work and its went up every month. Looks great bout to built mine here soon
 
jlibert said:
it would probably be cheaper to buy tubing adaptors if you can squeeze them in there. I got the joints at a local 4x4 manufacturing place. Cant remember the name. They had DOM, but it was 21.60/ft.!!! I found it for less than 1/2 that price a couple miles down the road.
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I had a post a while back asking about using .25 wall DOM & everyone told me that it isn't strong enough. I also noticed that your front mounts don't have a piece of angle welded to the top. I was told that if you drill holes in the bottom of the frame, the frame can crack. They said to use angle iron & bolt through the side of the frame. Just letting you know what I was told. By the way, I got the Pacbrake today, looks like new, Thanks.
 
They are called Johnny Joints and they are made by Currie. The end with jamb nut and weld in thredded tube adapter is $63 a piece. I got mine from Poly Performance.
 
cummins724 said:
I had a post a while back asking about using .25 wall DOM & everyone told me that it isn't strong enough. I also noticed that your front mounts don't have a piece of angle welded to the top. I was told that if you drill holes in the bottom of the frame, the frame can crack. They said to use angle iron & bolt through the side of the frame. Just letting you know what I was told. By the way, I got the Pacbrake today, looks like new, Thanks.
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If these aren't strong enough, I don't need bars. When you see the material in person, you'll see what I mean. I have no doubt that it'll be strong enough. It makes the .25" mounts look weak!!! As far as mounting on the frame, I'm either going to weld the mount directly to the bottom, or drill holes in the side (lower middle part of the frame) and attach the mount with a saddle of some sort. I'd probably use .25" plate. If I get any deflection with this setup, I'll put grease zerks on each end of the tube and pump it full. It definitely wont bend after that. Besides, .25" DOM is more durable than the "pipe" that some companies use to build their bars. I'm not concerned with the strenth of the bars as much as I am with attaching the brackets to the frame in the best manner/location.

I'm glad you like the pacbrake. I had to really talk myself into selling that.
 
jlibert said:
If these aren't strong enough, I don't need bars. When you see the material in person, you'll see what I mean. I have no doubt that it'll be strong enough. It makes the .25" mounts look weak!!! As far as mounting on the frame, I'm either going to weld the mount directly to the bottom, or drill holes in the side (lower middle part of the frame) and attach the mount with a saddle of some sort. I'd probably use .25" plate. If I get any deflection with this setup, I'll put grease zerks on each end of the tube and pump it full. It definitely wont bend after that. Besides, .25" DOM is more durable than the "pipe" that some companies use to build their bars. I'm not concerned with the strenth of the bars as much as I am with attaching the brackets to the frame in the best manner/location.

I'm glad you like the pacbrake. I had to really talk myself into selling that.
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Hey, I'm not saying it won't work, just letting you know what I was told.
 
That's what I have for my traction bars... once I build them. Parts have been sitting on one of my work benches for over a year now.

I use the 1.25" shank ones though, I think those are 1"?

For the tubing, I have 2" .25 wall square tubing. I build my Jeep suspension with the same stuff and it's held up great... going on 4 years now.
 
03f250stroke said:
those looks great, if you dont mind me asking, what did the material cost you?
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20' of DOM (shortest length sold) + joints, jamb nuts, tubing adapters, greasable bolts, frame mount bolts, material for brackets, etc close to $500. Granted I didn't use about $80 worth of tubing, so if I got my money back for that, It would be closer to $400.
 
those looking for prices on steel...call all the welding/fabricating placing you can find around your area and bid shop for 2" DOM...i got lucky and a fabrication shop had some 2" DOM left over and sold me 14' (cut to length of my choice) for $150
 
I think Currie re-did those joints. The ones one my Jeep have a hollow 9/16" bolt, and the ones I got for my truck (went and checked) are like yours with a grease fitting. The are gold colored though, like what grade 8 bolts have.

I have JJs one the frame end and rubber bushings one the axle side. I took some stock Clevette bushings for the control arms ($5 for 2), made a DOM sleeve for it and that gets welded to the arm.
The rubber bushing allows some flex and also absorbs road vibrations a bit.
Setup has worked great on my Jeep, so I figured I'd try it on the truck.


I'm curious to see where you are going to fit that axle mount. Between the swaybar, shocks, brakes, etc all in the way, I couldn't see a place to put a mount like that. I'm just going to weld the mount on the lower leaf spring plate.
 
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