Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: Charlieboise on September 24, 2022, 06:45:05 am

Title: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: Charlieboise on September 24, 2022, 06:45:05 am
Hi All,

I have some 2 inch square 1/8 thick wall cold roll steel and would like to know if this material will work.  Can't seem to figure out the weight/PSI rating for that material and use case.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Title: Re: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: EddieNel on September 24, 2022, 07:09:51 am
How many do you have?  The general consensus is 1/4" thick 2" square tubing.  I use 4 of them at a time.  If Im in the rear working I use 4 and same for the front.  Others here have way more experience then me so I would listen to them.
Title: Re: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: Gerry Vicha on September 24, 2022, 07:24:35 am
I have Eight - 1/4" square x 10 1/2" long. I place one at each air bag (front and rear of the axle) ... Not sure but I would think 1/8 " tubing should work OK....
Title: Re: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: Chuck & Jeannie on September 24, 2022, 09:24:12 am
I have no idea how to calculate the weight support rating for your steel tubing - that techie stuff is above my pay grade.

I will say that I, and many other Forum members, have successfully used the item linked below for safety stands.  I have been using 8 of them for 10 years.  I have never heard of a failure.  If you can find these tubes in stock at your local Harbor Freight store, I guess you could eyeball one of them versus a short piece of your steel tube stock, and see what you think.

https://www.harborfreight.com/class-iii-12-in-x-2-in-standard-receiver-tube-69879.html

Personally, I'd feel safer with the Harbor Freight tube.  It's the right length and has a nice powder coat finish to keep it from rusting.  They are stout and HEAVY!  As long as your air system is good shape, you should have no trouble raising your coach high enough to insert 12" long tubes.  See thread linked below for a photo showing proper placement of stands.

Safety Stand Placement (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=38814)



Title: Re: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: Barry & Cindy on September 24, 2022, 01:59:19 pm
Use 2" tow hitch inserts, most are hollow, for safety bars. We attached a long ribbon to each and hang ribbon end over tire, as an alert that bar is in place.

Started using the alert ribbon after driving off with two rear bars in place. Drove to next campground and found one still in place. Then found all right-side compartment door latches broken away (Rance put us back together). Cindy was driving and made the comment that the highway was bumpy, not realizing it was our coach suspension that was out of whack. Bad preventable error.

Also painting bars with bright color will help.
Title: Re: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: Jan & Richard on September 24, 2022, 02:59:07 pm
Use 2" tow hitch inserts, most are hollow, for safety bars. We attached a long ribbon to each and hang ribbon end over tire, as an alert that bar is in place.

Also painting bars with bright color will help.
I painted mine white and red candy stripe.  Very noticeable when in place and easy to locate in the storage bay. 

Richard
Title: Re: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: MarkC on September 24, 2022, 05:01:24 pm
Painted mine red too, they do stand out.  I like Barry's ribbon idea, I am going to copy that.
One thing I did was weld some channel to the bottom of the square tube. It straddles the frame and keeps the tube straight and square.
Title: Re: Safety blocks square tubing
Post by: steve31 on September 24, 2022, 11:34:55 pm
I use 1/4 square stock tubing for my supports. Difference in cost minimal, Double the safety factor. No brainer