projektnitemare13

iTrader: (4)

I have a rollcage for a car I am building and its about 3" narrower at the base (open end) than it is supposed to be according to the spec. I was wondering how can one widen it out? I talked with the company and they said one could do it by "standing up in the hoop" but thats damn near impossible as far as i can tell. I stretched it using ratchet straps. I pulled em far and I only was able to get about .5" worth of stretch after it relaxed. I was hoping to see if anyone has experience with stretching these things out. Thank you.

Build-it-Break-it

iTrader: (9)

A port a power between the two bars. Or get ghetto and tie one bar to a tree and the other to the back of a pick up truck and tug slowly as a friend monitors

Pocket

iTrader: (22)

Put some strong tack welds on one side when installing, then a scissors or bottle jack with blocks of wood to bow it out, weld and remove

orange88ls1s-dime

you do not want it under any stress so disregard the post before this one. put one end in a vise and put a smaller length of tubing inside the free end then slowly start to open it up and dont jerk it to get it to bend. if you get the smaller piece long enough then you should have enough leverage to just pull on it and get the result you are looking for
Beaudacious

projektnitemare13

iTrader: (4)

Well, my issue is more that when I stretch it it works ok, but when i release it relaxes back to the original size, it wont stay stretched. is there any way to get it to not relax or will I just need to sneak the crossbar in while it is being stretched?

I already used a pair of come along to pull it, i mean it was under serious tension. But, I was unable to get it to retain that shape, I'm more interested getting it to stay once its stretched. Also, this thing is seriously tough its 1-3/4" .134wall tubing, its really really hard to bend by hand.

orange88ls1s-dime

its just like collision repair in a body shop, you gotta bend twice as far back to take the memory out of it. And its mild steel not chromium molybdenum so it will bend like butter
Beaudacious

projektnitemare13

iTrader: (4)

yeah i need 3" I bent it to 8" I got .5" out of it

projektnitemare13

iTrader: (4)

Good News everybody! Finally got it stretched, strung it to my 6x6 deck posts and used some come alongs and a 20000lb tow strap, finally got it widened, thanks for all of the input.

ZeeTwentyFate

iTrader: (19)

just a future tip, while stretched tap on it with a steel hammer and it will make it "remember" where it needs to go better. old body man taught me that lol

projektnitemare13

iTrader: (4)

awesome i will try to remeber that we have another to stretch.

MynameisLee

iTrader: (5)

Glad you got it all figured out. I build roll cages and have a couple tricks I've come up with over the years to get the tightest fit possible.