cages and replacement tube bed

[RatLabGuy]

I have a truck I plan to to ditch the bed on.
Will get a full exo cage, in the back figured the main diagonal bars would go straight down the the top of the frame.
At the same time, it will need some kind of replacement bed, at the very least "fenders" covering the wheels to satisfy MVA rules and a way to hold a gas tank, tool box, and spare tire. Probably an open tube frame bed.

The question is:
Do you guys typically first make the bed, then cut through or around as necessary for the cage bars, or do the cage first, then build the "bed" around that?

 

[Roughshod]

I've never built one myself, but it seems that the cage needs to come first, followed by mounting all of the big components and whatever space is left becomes the bed. This is one of those places where there is no subsitiute for good planning and layout. Maybe not exactly what you have in mind, but I like this one that Marsfab is building right now. Not finished yet, but it gives you a good idea of the work flow that it takes to do the job correctly.

 

[frankenyoter]

Roughshod, the link is dead. I'm no pro but X2 on cage first then figure the bed.

 

[Roughshod]

Roughshod, the link is dead. I'm no pro but X2 on cage first then figure the bed.

Oops, thanks for pointing that out. Fixed it.

 

[99ncxj]

I built one on a guys Toyota a while back and we built cage first and then tied the tube bed rails into the angled kickers that went from the roof halo to the frame rails.