TJ Cage, Almost Done, need some ideas

Punkskalar

New Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Boone NC
Its almost done, I wanna add some diagonals across the back B-Pillar, but as you can see, the seats are in the way of any straight tubing to brace the B-Pillar. I also need something to tie in the harnesses... The seats are tied to the cage, cage goes through the dash,, B-pillar is in the stock location, welded to the stock plates above the body mounts. The front is welded to plates tied into the floor, and the rear down bars go to the frame directly... Any ideas, suggestions?

Thanks, Hugh
http://community.webshots.com/album/368638687rLSHGn
 
Looks good Hugh, aside from adding a few gussett's and the other points you mentioned I think it'll work. Did you have any problems going thru the dash? What tubing did you go with? How many hours do you have in it?
 
Well, we've been working in the rain, outside our apartment in boone, so its been kinda slow going, but we were motivated... Dan recently had Back surgery and can't really do much to help, so ive got about 20 hours in it so far... Notching it with a grinder, its HREW .120" wall 1 3/4 for all the outer bars and main hoops and 1.5" HREW .120" for all the bracing and non-outer bars... No problems getting through the dash, the cage practically disappears into the windwhield when its folded up, so its nice and tight... We could have kept the dash vents functional, but we just got lazy, and he never uses those anyways, he's only used the AC once i think... The stock 1/2 doors fit, its tight, but they do... Its been a fun project so far, mounting the seats sucks though...
 
did some more work today... redid the overhead bars, 1.5" with a slight bend for some more head room... Got the harness bar in, and did the down bars from the B-Bar to the back of the rig... What you guys think? Its not final yet, and I will be adding some winshield bracing and such here and there, but wanted to get a few more responses before final welding...
http://community.webshots.com/album/369553138cwAwdi
 
if it were me id flip the V on your overhead and make it be in the middle on the B and out on the A. Think about where loads will be transfered in a roll. Now your force will want to bend the windshiled bar. The outter corners will likly distribute things better... Plus might give you more head room. I'm no expert and have no math to back up my opinion... so take it as such :)
 
its still triangles either way though... This way will keep rocks and stuff from coming throught the cage and cracking your skull when you are upside down... My Zuk (though the cage is much narrower at the top) only has 2 overhead bars at the same angles, and after at least a dozen flops and 1 airborn over backwards ive had no deflection...

I have his my head on my overhead bars ( i mean, im 6' 1" in a Zuk) but id rather tap my noggin on that then have something come through and hit me... I don't care for cages with no overhead protection much...

Some people don't want to hit their head on a cage, but i figure the velocity you might hit with will be less than a rock or stump closing in fast... Plus the harnesses should hold him in pretty snug as well...
 
You added the horizontal bar for the belts.. Can you take the cross bars and bring them down to the base of the b-pillar instead of ending 1/2 way up the pillar? They'll have to cross through the horizontal bar which is a PITA, but it would add a ton of supprt to prevent the cage from shifting to the side in a hard flop, which IMO is what is most likely to happen...

I've also been advised to add a /\ from the center of the b-pillar back to the rear corners of my cage, and yours looks similar to mine in that respect... so take it for what it's worth.

I love how the cage goes into the dash.. very nice work!!
 
Rich, are you referring to the down bars from the B-Pillar, if so, they are only a few inches from the main joint there at the back of the rig, but we need a little space to mount a Tire Carrier (Kinda Rally Style) that will swing up to a horizontal position... Reason for this is because Dan cannot lift a tire that high, or that heavy, and if it swings up he will be able to access tools and such under the tire and behind the fuel cell... He can't lift more than 30lbs for more than a year, so we are trying to make this work for him...

Nevermind, I think you are talking about bringing an "^" into the b-Pillar... On a TJ, with the seats that far back, the braces would have to have at least 2 bends in them to work, The picture you are looking at is decieving, those crossbars are not going to the B-Pillar.

Thanks for the compliments guys... Hopefully I'll finish all the welding on this tommorrow, or maybe ill take a brake and finish building my Zuk's motor...
 
I think the cage looks good!!I wouldnt change a thing.....well except this!
Im just kidding..........
 

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Ack, nevermind.. I was looking at this pic.. http://image26.webshots.com/26/5/39/47/369553947vYyhQo_ph.jpg and it was a visual illusion. You did bring the 2 tubes in a /\ down from the top center of the B down to the rear.. Though they should go to the base, or at least intersect with another tube, but that's just nit-picky crap...

Ya gotta work with the limitations of the rig and the seats... there's just so much you can do. Good job man..
 
Well, I finished welding it all in this weekend, just gotta finish the Harness Mounts, and get to wire wheeling the whole thing and wet sanding so we can clear coat all of it... All of us so far have run Gloss or Flat Black cages, so we decided to leave this one "Raw" and just clear coat it... Anyone recommend any good clear coat? Must be a spray bomb, I don't have a compressor... Yet...
 
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