TOOL TECH - Roll Cage Bending Easy Button

Roll Cage Bending Easy Button

We go from bending with muscle on a bender that was in the middle of the floor to bending with a button on a bender we wheel out just when needed, thanks to Swag Offroad.

By Chuck Scott

Is bending with my Woodward Fab tubing bender (or any other manual bender) strenuous?

I guess that would depend on the strength of the person doing the bend and the size, thickness and material of the tube. For the most part it is doable, although it does take some work. The big gripe for me, though, is the requirement to bolt the bender to the floor. When you are limited on floor space, having a tool take up a permanent spot in the middle of the floor can be a big deal, especially with how often you use the tool. Being able to wheel my bender over into a corner when not in use would be a big positive, however, we all know that the problem with simply putting wheels on a tubing bender stand comes from how the bender works. When operating a manual bender, you actually use leverage of the long handle and the torque multiplication of the notched ratcheting bar design against the bender stand and the bolts that hold it to the floor of your shop.

Getting a bender that is portable and stowable requires the bender to be a powered hydraulic unit which also happens to cost much, much more than a simple manual bender. Working wage and frugal racers are in luck though, because a little company that specializes in Jeep gear and fabrication tools named Swag Offroad, just happens to make kits to convert your manual bender into a trick air over hydraulic powered bender. They have “you weld” formed

To start this project, I needed to extent the bender’s platform base to give it a bigger footprint and add wheels to make it easy to move around. I used an old bed frame to make the new platform. This will keep the bender from tipping over when it has a longer piece of tubing in it. The caster wheels came from an old tool box. The casters were welded to the end of each rail piece so that the bender would sit flat on the rails and not roll unless the bender is tipped up. The rails were then welded to the bender base. For extra stability, I later added a fold out leg for the side that sometimes has long tubing hanging off.

On the left is Alicia manually bending from our original 2016 article. Fast forward to our new upgrade and she’s chillin’ while bending.

The 2 bolts that mount the bender to the stand are removed which also allows the bending handle and ratchet bar to be separated from the bender. Those parts will no longer be needed. The bender is now ready to convert to hydraulic.

The machined ram mount clamp kit from Swag Offroad comes with everything you need for the conversion except the bender and a hydraulic ram cylinder. They also include a heavy bracket that you can use to mount your bender to a roller cart or build your own custom stand.

steel kits for $130, pre-welded formed steel for $165 and the newer machined clamp kit like I ordered for $210. They all use an inexpensive 8 ton air over hydraulic ram that can be picked up at Harbor Freight Tools for less than $100. The new machined clamp kit has the advantage of positioning the ram cylinder better by moving it inboard compared to the formed steel clamps.

Follow along to see how for about 300 bucks, bending in my shop just became a much easier task!tually was a bit pricey and a chore to install.

Before installing the ram onto our bender, we need to remove the pump handle mechanism. To get it off, just remove the cotter pins from the 3 dowels, the dowels pins lift out and the pump handle mechanism falls off.

The Swag Offroad kit was designed around the inexpensive Pittsburgh 8 ton air over hydraulic ram. You can use any brand as long as it is 80mm at the end of the cylinder where the clamp goes. Most rams are larger diameter and won’t work and these are less than $100 and sometimes cheaper when on sale.

Following Swag’s instructions, reinstall one dowel adding the supplied large washer into the lowest hole. This will be the anchor point for the return spring later.

Remove both left side bolts and spacers from the bender. Reinstall an inner one, hooking one end of the Swag Offroad return spring. The outer bolt and spacer will stay out for now, but keep your bolt for a later step.

Install the ram using the outer holes on the right side of the bender. The long threaded mount on the ram goes down since it will go all the way through your bender stand. You can put the top nut on but do not install the bottom nut until the bender is mounted to your stand. Make sure you have it oriented so that the thumb screw is facing up.

Turn the ram shaft so that the hole is running vertical to line up with the left outer hole in the bender that was left open earlier. Use the stepped spacers from the Swag kit and your old bolt to mount the shaft to the bender.

Swag gives you a piece of steel flat stock and 2 longer bolts as tools to spread the clamp apart for sliding it onto the ram. Using a flat head screwdriver, spread the clamp enough to get the steel shim started and tap into place using a hammer. Be careful not to knock it in too deep or it will prevent you from getting the clamp slid over the ram body. Once the shim is in place the two long bolts are started on the threaded side of the 2 outer bolt holes.

Tightening them pushes into the shim and spreads the clamp even further. Only turn the screws in far enough to allow the clamp to go onto the ram cylinder. It goes on just past the chamfered part of the ram body. The short threaded mount on the clamp is aligned with the thumb screw on the other end of the ram. Remove the long bolts and tap out the steel shim and then you can install the 3 short bolts securing the clamp.

Now for today’s workout. Pull the return spring bundle to the dowel pin and washer at the base of the ram and hook it with the carabiner at the end. Warning - This thing has some serious tension! I let mine slip and knocked down the wall, totaled 2 cars and killed the neighbor’s cat.

Mounting the bender back onto the stand could be difficult without another set of hands. It isn’t hard to set in place but you will need both hands to bolt it down and another set to hold the bender up.

Here you have the finished product. I will need some Woodward Fab blue to paint the new rolling base to match.

No more pulling the bar, stop, walk around the bender to check bend angle, go back, bend a little more, repeat. Now I can just stand at the degree gauge and watch the pointer move while leisurely operating the bender from the paddle switch on the air line. That right there is “movin’ on up” (to quote George Jefferson).