DIY: Building Tube Doors for Access Cab

I'm planning on building tube doors for Betty White and will document it all here. I've already gathered pretty much all material, and just need to remove the doors and get to welding.






Why tube doors? I think it'd be fun and unique, plus it'll be useful while wheeling to see tire placement. Is it necessary? Fuck no, but I don't care.

Here's my CAD drawing





Here's what I've got so far material wise:

1.5" OD x 1/8" wall HREW tubing
1.5" x 1/8" flat bar
Door Latches

$11 10L0L Golf Cart Side Mirrors Compatible with Yamaha Club Car EZ-GO and Others Round or Square Tube Golf Cart Roof Bracket, No-drilling Required (Option)

Mirrors

I will also be adding a 14 gauge sheet metal skin to the doors to help somewhat protect against slinging mud in the cab.


All welding will be done with my shitty Amazon flux welder with 0.030 Lincoln wire and all cuts made with an angle grinder. Keeping this bitch as basic as possible.

$120 Goplus 110V MIG 130 Welder Flux Core Welding Machine, No Gas Welding Machine with Electrode Holder Face Shield (Black)

Welder

For stock door removal, I am going to modify my hinges like this, similar to our swaybar brackets.







So far my only progress is having the tubes bent which @Mobtown Offroad was kind enough to do in exchange for slave labor around shop.

 

7/4/18

Happy 4th of July you mother fuckers. While you were enjoying beer and hot dogs I was slaving away on these doors. Worth it though.


So reinstalling the doors today took all of 3 minutes. I learned yesterday to cut the tape holding both wire looms together, and that made reconnecting everything MUCH easier.




Here's just a general picture dump. If you have any questions lemme know.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94wbZqu6EUI

 

7/5/2018

Finished up the passenger side. It’s not identical to the drivers side, but it’s close enough that you’d never notice unless the two were side by side. Luckily they’re in separate sides of the truck!

One thing I did change is that I added a 90° tab that serves a couple purposes. It tricks the truck into the door is closed (key beeping and dome light) and it also applies pressure to the door. This prevents it from rattling.

https://youtu.be/8KvgWrVyrbw





8/23/2018

I finally finished these guys. Had a little more welding and trimming to do on the passenger door, and painted. Drove around town and on the highway and they're everything I dreamt they'd be. I can't wait to wheel with them on Saturday.

 

Wooooooo this will be sweet!!!!

 

Been wanting this a while

 

Subd

 

I forgot to mention that all updates will be in the first few posts. I want to make it easier for future readers to have it all in one place. We don't need a repeat of my "build thread". I'll let everyone know when I edit in an update.

 

Sub’d as Fuck!

 

In because #RandyFab

 

I like your CAD drawing. Looks like it's on our level.

 

Great idea!

I did the 4xInnov doors and i welded in the plates for the same reason you mentioned. Couldn’t be happier with them!

 

Fully welded the skins on, you're a maniac haha.

Mad props. That is a ton of work and not easy to do without warping the hell out of them.

 

Haha I know...in hindsight!

It was A LOT of stitch welding and rags and water buckets to keep heat down. It also taught me why fabrication costs so much...not so hard to do per se, but TIME!!!!!

Thanks!

 

What gauge did you use?

I was thinking the same haha I would've done some stitches and called it a day.

 

Time fo sho! That is literally where all the cost is.

 

I like the idea of tabs in all corners and spaced along the edges with either tapped holes, rivet nuts or through bolt. This way if you destroy a skin, unbolt and replace. Also, a lot less welding.

 

That's a good idea. I was also thinking I may pop rivet it on. Drilling out the rivets if I ever need to replace is super easy because I have aluminum rivets. Drilling the holes in the tubing wouldn't be super easy though.

Edit: How the fuck you destroying door skins though. That's a bad day all around if that happens

 

The welds suck since it was my VERY first welding project. Had to learn the technique of welding on the thick metal and dragging the puddle onto the thinner sheet. Since it wasn’t structural, I didn’t care. It was more about me doing it myself. My welding has come a long way since then haha

As for gauge: it was either 14 or 16. Can’t remember exactly. It may be in my build thread, I’ll check