How To Fabricate A Custom Sissy Bar

Johnny cut off four 5/8-inch-long pieces of cold-rolled round-stock steel with a cutoff saw chocked them into his lathe, and turned them down so they were exactly the same lengths. Then, he drilled out the center so he could use them as the mounting holes for the ends of the sissybar.

Then, he drilled out the center so he could use them as the mounting holes for the ends of the sissybar.

A pair of identical tabs were fabricated from a piece of 1/4-inch plate steel with holes drilled that matched the hole diameter of the sissybar mounting holes.

First, Johnny figured out where he wanted the mounting tab to sit on the frame, marked the location, and tacked it to the top rear-axle tube, repeating the process on the opposite side of the frame. Once satisfied with the placement, he TIG-welded the tabs permanently in place. Next, he bolted the sissy bar mounting shoulders to the frame tabs and welded a few feet of 5/8-inch-diameter, cold-rolled steel round stock to the mounting shoulders.

He tightened down the nut on the mounting bolt before he got out the oxyacetylene torch to heat the metal enough to bend it with a pair of Vise-Grips. Then, he welded in another mounting shoulder to the bar where it would mount to the fender. Once he bent the metal to the shape he wanted, he duplicated the procedure on the other side as well, with a slight modification because of the older design "wide-tire" frame being offset only on one side.

For the top part of the sissy bar, Johnny wanted to give each side the exact same bend. He used a stick of welding rod to make the bend.

A clean fit between the different lengths of round stock was important, so he marked the angles necessary with a marker.

He cut two sections of the same length round stock and tacked them next to each other, clamped them down together in a table vise, heated them up with the torch, and bent them into the shape of the welding rod.