Old School Chopper Frame Fabrication - Knucklebuster

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All four types of necks do what they’re supposed to do and the only reason for choosing one over another is for the sake of
appearances or economics. Reproduction stock cast necks cost anywhere from $250 to $360 depending upon the source.
Billet and otherwise machined type necks run from $85 to around $160. Necks built from DOM (or seamless) tubing are the
least expensive and cost about $45.00 plus the cost of the cups.
Actually the cost of the material for a tubing steering neck is only $5.00 if you make it yourself but unfortunately you will
usually have to buy at least a ten-foot section of tubing from the supplier so it is sometimes cheaper just to buy a pre-made
assembly from a parts house.
If you’re going to make your own tubing neck use DOM tube having an inside diameter of 1.313 inches which will accept
almost all of the manufactured neck cups available from the popular sources.
At a bare minimum you can use 1.625 x .156 wall tube will is commonly available at most steel supply yards and chassis
shops since it is widely used for roll cages and roll bars. It is strongly recommended however that you try to find some 1.75 x
.219 material if at all possible and if you’re planning to machine some taper in the neck tube move up to 1.875 x .281 or even
2.0 x .344 inch stock. All of these dimensions have an inside diameter of 1.313 inches. The absolute minimum wall thickness
at any point along the tube should be at least .156 inch and .1875 is even better.
The parts for a basic tube type steering neck are shown in Figure 7 below.
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The longer tube on the left is a piece of 1.75-inch stock snagged from a local chassis shop for a few dollars. The cut tube in
the center is a neck I bought along with cups from a fellow on one of the discussion boards who had one left over from his
own projects. The tubing cutter is needed to cut your new neck from rough stock. The overall length of the tube should be
5.625 inches. Be sure to de-burr the cut edges and to slightly chamfer the inside edge. The cup on the left is a bare one while
that on the right has had the bearing race installed.