cage build up

[xcm]

are you cutting up the rear hatch so it can close

the rear hatch has been notched, it came out quite nicely!

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)

it is a renix, 1990... for the a-pillar, i was thinking of switching from the row of hoops, to front to back peices, kinda like what a t&j cage does. ive bent them up, do you think i should continue w/ hoops? the A pillar hoop is kinda intimidating to me. the only things left in the interior are the dash, center console and the seats (which come out nightly).

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.

would you recommend tieing into the little sheet metal pony wall crossmember that goes from rear door to rear door? its glued on soo much i think it'll be hard to remove. i was gonna make an aluminum sheet metal door to these and use them for cargo. on the floor.

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.

i dig the fia gif, and plan to work something similar.... im having some trouble with headroom, those diagonal peices above the driver/passenger will not work with my current seating position... i may need to get seats sooner then i thought...
As far as the gussets, i see them a lot in the sport compact scene, but hardly ever in the dessert.... i wouldnt mind utilizing them. but i do not have a brake, got a source for pre-bent gussets?


thanks to everyone for their responses.

 

[AZXJ]

use a short piece of tube for the gussets.. you'll probablly need to use the sawzall to cut the notches as they will be far beyond 45 degree's.

 

[xcm]

::cough:: someone comment on my welds pls =\ ::cough::

 

[chris_amrein]

I actually cut out that little "wall" on my current Jeepspeed build. I don't think it would benefit you to tie into it, but you could run your diagonal in above it.

And I would suggest the front-to-back hoop style (like T&J's) for your A pillar bars, not the side-to-side hoop. Just about every Jeepspeed I've seen built has the tube running front-to-back. I think it's hard enough to bend the A pillar bar by itself but if you build it as a side-to-side hoop it's that much more work.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[chris_amrein]

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.

Lafortune built his championship winning car in 10 days. He also built a clone of that car which he rents out to prospective Jeepspeed racers.

 

[dgrigorenko]

::cough:: someone comment on my welds pls =\ ::cough::

the welds dont look too bad, perhaps a little cold. cranking up the wirefeed speed and voltage would improve the wetting and penetration. from what i can see, i am guessing that this was done with a drag weld progression? i ask because it can actually be pretty tough to acheive proper root penetration on a T-joint in the drag orientation. i am not saying that it cannot be done, but in my experience it is easier to fall back on the weld puddle or end up in too steep of travel angle actually reducing penetration, even though a drag weld progression is known to give better penetration on different joint types.

keep in mind, that i have never seen you weld, and you may have had the proper angles. just some thoughts

 

[xcm]

the welds dont look too bad, perhaps a little cold. cranking up the wirefeed speed and voltage would improve the wetting and penetration. from what i can see, i am guessing that this was done with a drag weld progression? i ask because it can actually be pretty tough to acheive proper root penetration on a T-joint in the drag orientation. i am not saying that it cannot be done, but in my experience it is easier to fall back on the weld puddle or end up in too steep of travel angle actually reducing penetration, even though a drag weld progression is known to give better penetration on different joint types.

keep in mind, that i have never seen you weld, and you may have had the proper angles. just some thoughts

thanks for the comments, i understood SOME of it! turn up the heat and wirefeed a bit, got it! still getting used to my 220

 

[tbburg]

No problem with the front/back half hoops for the front portion of the cage. actually, that's how the 7118 truck's cage is built. And yeah, trying to do a one-piece front hoop that looked decent on a Cherokee would suck. On the FAI gif: That's the minimum. An "X" configuration can be substituted for the single door bar. This also makes the car easier to get in/out of. The down brace from the top corner of the windshield to the base of the A-hoop is a new('09)addition to the FIA rules, and it's the only place I've seen it so far. I wouldn't worry about it.
I want to say that it was in the SCORE rule book where I saw diagrams of gussets made from tube, but I don't have a copy of it around, and it's not available on line.
The bent plate gussets are easy to manufacture. You make a pattern with thin cardboard, cut the form(biggest pain if you don't have a band saw) out of 1/8" sheet(about 11 ga, or 0.125")Lock it in a vise next to a piece of scrap tube 1 size smaller then the Tube you're working with, and wail on it with a hammer.

Lafortune built his championship winning car in 10 days. He also built a clone of that car which he rents out to prospective Jeepspeed racers.

I was either too specific, or not clear enough.
When I wrote, "The article was bull, but the photos are useful for reference." What I should have said was:
"Here are some good reference photos of a Cherokee build.
The build is clean work. It's a professionally built car.
Don't bother to read the article because it's a journalistic piece of crap and a waste of time. You'd be better off watching Hanna Montana on Disney."

I wasn't insinuating that a good build can't be done in 10 days, or that this particular build was inferior. Apologies to anyone who got offended(unless you work for JP.)
P.S. If you bother to read the JP article, they kind of admit, in a half a**ed roundabout way that, well, when it comes right down to it, they didn't actually really truly drive it out of the shop on day 10. BUT it was done! Really! 'Just needed some tweeks.

 

[DieselSJ]

Here's a couple of the cage and tube type gussets on our new build -

 

[xcm]

the project is awaiting further funding for more tube, momo t-clubs, and 5-points that i havent picked out yet. i want a plasma cutter so damn badly =\

 

[xcm]

not a whole lot of extra cash for more DOM, seats nor harness's, so finishing up some tie-ins/etc.













-tieing the rear part of my bedcage into the d-pillar... its been driving me crazy for months.... opinions?

 

[bails85]

wow dude your cage looks sweet. it should hold up to whatever you put it against.

 

[Mike1331]

great job, can we see a pic with the hatch closed?

 

[xcm]

THANKS for the kind words gentlemen, it's been a giant project... over a year into it, working whenever the wind dies down long enough to weld. what have i learned? charge a lot of money for installing cages, it takes a lot of work! cant wait to begin work on the MJ, it should be about half the interior welds.

heres a pic of the backside:

 

[XJLI]

damn thats a lot of tie ins and dimple dies... i might have to increase the amount of metal i'm adding to mine..

 

[bails85]

so i dont take it you have any plans to use the rear seat at all?

 

[xcm]

rear seat? LOL.

 

[GSequoia]

That is one fugly pair of brass knuckles.

 

[xcm]

wiring and dash oh joy.


the lovell pikes peak crash made me want more diagonals,