cage build up

[xcm]

Ive been working on my DD cage for two weeks now, this being my first cage, ive been taking it slowly. Ive been using the method here, and a manual jd2. material is 1.5", .120wall DOM. it will not see race duty, but rather hardcore weekend warrior.







due to lack of materials, i got the b, and d pillars bent up, and started a bedcage.






picked up some leaf spring shock mounts from ruffstuff and welded em up. stock ubolts next to ruffstuff 5/8ths...




more progress tommorrow

 

[justin_502]

Looks good so far, how do you like that bender? Im going to be ordering one up soon. Did it take a lot of metal before you got the hang of it?

 

[grandrunner]

nice i like the bumper / tire carrier idea. its awesome!

 

[GrimmJeeper]

love that rear bumper man, want to make me one?

 

[Larrythedog]

picked up some leaf spring shock mounts from ruffstuff and welded em up. stock ubolts next to ruffstuff 5/8ths...






I love Ruff Stuff. All there stuff is super beef........The cage comming along nicly.

 

[xcm]

got very little done yesterday, but i have tommorrow off to work on it, so should be some progress @ the A pillar.

Looks good so far, how do you like that bender? Im going to be ordering one up soon. Did it take a lot of metal before you got the hang of it?

thanks, i love my jd2!


if anything, i'd spend a little more on the nacher, my JD2 TN100 is cool, you just cant notch close enough to a bend for my liking... you dont notice it building bumpers, but man! its bit me in the ass on like 3 differant peices of tube, ive had to compromise or change design, just because it wasnt possible with what i got (and i have no patience with the grinder). My b pillar came out, first try!, then, a couple days later, i bent 3 peices, before getting my c pillar right... you gotta double check your own work, remember to zero your dial indicator at the begining of EVERY bend, if your re-chucking up a allready bent peice to go a little bit more, you can zero it with any straight peice of tube. finding the beginning of your bend (as explaining in the pirate link, 1st post) is important, and changes with every type of tube, going from DOM to HREW, you cant use the same line... etc etc.... any scrap metal gets cut up, and re-used where needed, nothing but hrew goes to waste!

love that rear bumper man, want to make me one?

thanks, hit me up once this project slows down a bit, we could definately build you one for cost! you any good with a grinder? my patience is very limited when it comes to notching with the grinder, and the bottom peice is a SOMEWHAT difficult notch, and my notcher cant do it!

 

[xcm]

i would love suggestions on triangulation.... this is my first cage. i dont want to go overboard, but traditional cages are NOWHERE near enough jungle gym.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

thanks, hit me up once this project slows down a bit, we could definately build you one for cost! you any good with a grinder? my patience is very limited when it comes to notching with the grinder, and the bottom peice is a SOMEWHAT difficult notch, and my notcher cant do it!

will do. I've never notched anything with a grinder, but I'm willing to take a swing at it :gee:

 

[silverslk]

Looks good man. I assume you are going to triangulate back out above driver/passenger heads when you get A pillar done?

 

[tbburg]

Looking good!

i would love suggestions on triangulation.... this is my first cage. i dont want to go overboard, but traditional cages are NOWHERE near enough jungle gym.

Might want to run a straight tube from the node at the top of both C-pillars to the Base of the D-pillar. That'll keep the whole thing from wanting to crush flat backwards if you take a hard hit at the top of the windshield.

Not really triangulation, but you also might want to strip the pillars(especially the A-pillar) and attach the roll bar to the pillars.
Something like this, look close at the a-pillars. There's a piece of sheet welded to the A-pillar and the tube. This is pretty common(universal?)in Jeepspeed. You could also do something similar to attach the roof to the upper bars, and add rigidity by attaching the top of the body to the cage.

This photo is from JP magazines "10-day Jeepspeed build" The article was bull, but the photos are useful for reference. Here's links:
part 1
part 2
part3
part 4
If you can pull off the triangulated bracing from the upper windshield bar, down to the dash cross bar, and forward into the engine compartment like they did, that would add a huge amount of rigidity.

EDIT: Also, if you haven't planned it yet, you should have at least 1 diagonal at the B-hoop that runs from one top node down to the base of the opposite down leg.

 

[xcm]

the a-pillar is another big commitment , that i dunno what im gonna do... the dash.

while i'd love to keep it, i want to do it right.... i was thinking leave it at the a-pillar for now, then get back to the firewall/dash/engine bay at a later date... Giving me time to worry about the entire cab, finish work wise... i cant bite off too much, it's a DD =)

famous last words!

 

[silverslk]

If you're gonna leave B pillar back for now. I would run some diagonal tubes forward to support "just in case".

 

[xcm]

for this phase, i want a-pillar back, next phase is a-pillar front (much less DD-friendly). i got weekends and afterwork for it, but its gotta be driveable, so a-up, is gonna have to wait. but inside the cab, its a go.

 

[silverslk]

ahhh gotcha. Thought you were saving A pillar to do with firewall forward/engine cage. Good call.

 

[Mike1331]

are you cutting up the rear hatch so it can close

 

[tbburg]

What year rig you working on? I know on the early(renix era)rigs, you can unbolt the dash, run the front hoop down right next to the windshield, then trim the top of the dash around the legs and fit it(the dash)back in the stock location.
This brings up another choice. You can fit the a-hoop cross bar above the dash, which allows you to keep all the stock routing behind the dash, but makes it impossible to tie in the front cage to the cross bar nodes easily, or you can fit the cross bar under the dash, which makes tying the front cage to the A-pillars a snap(relatively) but then you have to hack up everything under the dash.

Back in the cab, race rules(I know, you're not racing) require a tie bar from the bottom of the A-hoop to the bottom of the B-hoop(runs back down the floor) and a bar from the B-hoop cross bar nodes down to the floor at the A-hoop. It makes entry/exit a PITA, but you did mention something about "jungle gym". It forms a triangle across the door opening that prevents the front of the passenger compartment folding up in the event of a hard front end hit(like a low barrier hit)

Here's a GIF animation of the FIA's min. requirements for rally cars.

And here's a link to the rule book:
http://www.fia.com/sport/Regulations/rallyregs.html
Download this article:
Article 253 (2010) Safety Equipment - published on 11.03.2010
(at the bottom of the page under related regulations)
It has descriptions and drawings of every FIA legal tube configuration. It'll give you some more ideas.

 

[chris_amrein]

I 2nd what tbburg said and put a diagonal behind the seats. Also tie the cage into the body in as many places as possible. I like to weld a tab that picks up the upper seat belt mount on the "B" pillar. It's a strong mount and it's really important to tie the cage and body together.

 

[FatCity Ryan]

Looking good!

Might want to run a straight tube from the node at the top of both C-pillars to the Base of the D-pillar. That'll keep the whole thing from wanting to crush flat backwards if you take a hard hit at the top of the windshield.

Not really triangulation, but you also might want to strip the pillars(especially the A-pillar) and attach the roll bar to the pillars.
Something like this, look close at the a-pillars. There's a piece of sheet welded to the A-pillar and the tube. This is pretty common(universal?)in Jeepspeed. You could also do something similar to attach the roof to the upper bars, and add rigidity by attaching the top of the body to the cage.

This photo is from JP magazines "10-day Jeepspeed build" The article was bull, but the photos are useful for reference. Here's links:
part 1
part 2
part3
part 4
If you can pull off the triangulated bracing from the upper windshield bar, down to the dash cross bar, and forward into the engine compartment like they did, that would add a huge amount of rigidity.

EDIT: Also, if you haven't planned it yet, you should have at least 1 diagonal at the B-hoop that runs from one top node down to the base of the opposite down leg.

Are those pictures of the actuall 10 day build, or is that the rental car build?

 

[chris_amrein]

I'm pretty sure that's the 10 day car.

 

[tbburg]

The pics at JP are linked to the "10-day" build. "Rental car"? What's that? I quit reading the mag a couple years ago. Did they do something interesting?

Also, I left out a sentence on my post. I wanted to point out the use of the gussets on the Rally cage(they're colored yellow in the GIF pic.