My cage

[jmop]

Well I finally got my XJ build up done. Well not really There are lots of things left to do. Hydro assit, some more gussets, custom soft top, dash, grill, cargo boxes, tail gate and a cover over the gas tank.

I know I need to gusset the tie-in in the back where the D connects to the Halo and I need a dash bar across the front. Any other suggsetions?

Any yes before anyone asks I had decided on the color before I saw Farmer Matts jeep.

 

[BrettM]

Any yes before anyone asks I had decided on the color before I saw Farmer Matts jeep.

it has more similarities than just the color....

looks good though

 

[jmop]

Yeah I did copy the front fender design. I had already cut them off and then I saw his design. I got to admit they look a whole lot better with the shetmetal covering up that area then without.

 

[jmop]

Oh and I guess I should also mention that it has a full sub frame sleeve (4x6x.25 cut in half) and the skids are resting on some 4x4x.25 that has been cut to angle up. The whole subframe was bolted into place using 3 5x9x.25" plates on each side and once the whole assembly was tight it was welded in place. Only one set of the plates is actually tied into the cage (the c pillar). The rest were just to keep the psedo frame from tearing away from the body.

The dovetail is made of a 1x1x.125 square tube skeleton with 14guage sheetmetal over the rest. The body lenght has been reduced by about 4" or so. The wheel base is sitting around 104 and those are are 39.5's.

I spent a lot of time looking at cage designs on XJDB.com as well as here and Pirate. I liked halo design as it would allow me to protect the glass, a lot of that area was modeled after wondering willys xj (I think). I saw the front angled in design on Pirate a while back (it was an orange XJ cant remeber who's) and I took that idea of the taper and the offroad lights. I also liked the fender design of Farmer matts. I spent a lot of time finding as many pics of Beezils rig as I could and borrowed some of his cage design as well. The back area/dovetail I modeled after the "Project XJ haircut" Pirate as well as a few other XJs I saw and XJDB. So I guess I just took what I liked best of every one elses jeep and put it into mine. It my not be 100% original but I think it turned out pritty well.

EDIT: and ashman's jeep, I am pritty sure I took some design issues from it as well.

 

[buzzbombxj]

im just curius about what you plan to do with the space behind the front seats where the rears used to be? use it for storage now that the gas tank in in the back? also how much did this run you? i think it looks very nice, but im just a dumb kid

 

[gearwhine]

it looks pretty good, but I really hate this. It definitely is strong, but they are now just hooks. You won't be able to slide over anything with your rockers anymore. Maybe try reworking that, it will probably piss you off the first time you go out with it.

 

[VegasAnthony]

ya right.............. how much
its a redundant question bro
you cant put a price on somethin like this

 

[XJ_ranger]

1 ton driveline huh?

 

[jmop]

Buzzbombxj -

Yeah the area behind the seat is for storage. I will bolt some sort of cargo box to keep gear from flying around and hitting the driver/passenger. Cost? a lot.

gearwhine -

Yeah, for some reason I didn’t think about that. A buddy of mine pointed it out when I had already started putting the cage together. I will probably make some thin skids to go in-between those brackets and smooth the whole area out. It is going to piss me off when I get hung up on a rock and can’t go anywhere. I figure I will wheel it for a while and find the weak/bad spots. It has been a long time since I got to wheel the XJ and it has completely changed. It will be kind of like a new rig so I will need to get the feel for it again.

XJ_ranger -

Yup

 

[davidt]

gearwhine -

Yeah, for some reason I didn’t think about that. A buddy of mine pointed it out when I had already started putting the cage together. I will probably make some thin skids to go in-between those brackets and smooth the whole area out. It is going to piss me off when I get hung up on a rock and can’t go anywhere. I figure I will wheel it for a while and find the weak/bad spots. It has been a long time since I got to wheel the XJ and it has completely changed. It will be kind of like a new rig so I will need to get the feel for it again.

That is my main problem with boxing the rockers, the only way to make it tie in to the frame is to do it the way you did it. Why don't you just get some .188 plate and do a semi boatside, it should slide right over it. How many places did you tie in to the sub frame, I was thinking about doing 3...

 

[gearwhine]

That is my main problem with boxing the rockers, the only way to make it tie in to the frame is to do it the way you did it.

This is mine from this thread
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=63677

People like crash and jes have also done it silimar to the above type, but they used wider box, which allowed for the attachment to end way before the edge of the rocker.

 

[davidt]

This is mine from this thread
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=63677

People like crash and jes have also done it silimar to the above type, but they used wider box, which allowed for the attachment to end way before the edge of the rocker.

that is what I was going to originally do. Will it be stronger to have a bent tube or a straight tube that is cut at an angle? I am thinking that the straight tube cut at an angle will give more surface area, but it will stick out further. If you use the bent tube, it will hang down further. Does any one have any experience with either of these methods? How many places does it need to tie in to the frame to make a good base for a cage? Thanks.

 

[gearwhine]

I'm not quite sure what tube you're tlaking about. The two more drastically angled tubes go to the cage, while the middle slight angled tube goes directly to the rocker.

In either case, straight or bent, I can't see there to be any notable increase or decrease in strength. I did straight for clerance reasons, some people do bent...bent looks better in my opinion though.