Internal Cage Guys

[Beezil]

I think one of the key ingredients to goatfish's cage is the b-pillar upper seatbelt tie-in.

the first time I saw it, I slapped my forehead and said "now, why didn't I think of that?"

I think that little feature is pretty darn important, since the b-pillar has to do a lot of work when its called upon......

 

[macgyvr]

and i copied that tie in with my cage on the bpillar....

beezil moab and more cage pics as soon as i get unpacked....


mac 'spent evening scraping bugs off the f150' gyvr

 

[MMIXJ]

Ah ha, gotcha...

The internal A pillar down bars attach to the A pillars......
Also, I have a partial external cage, and the exterior A hoop down bars are attached to the side of the cowl, as well as to the rock rails and tied to the frame.

wow, sounds interesting...
so next (newbie) question: the external A hoop "down bars" attach to what? through the cowl into the engine compartment and end up where?

thanks in advance (i'll check the photos again more closely).

 

[Goatman]

The external A hoop goes through the top of the fender, then behind the fender down to the rock rail. It is attached to the side of the cowl, just underneath the top of the fender, near the upper door hinge. There is also a bar that runs from that point forward, underneath the top of the fender, and bends down to the end of the front bumper. You can see it clearly in the pics, but I think you have to go all the way to the bottom pics.

If you drive over uneven terrain in your XJ with your hand around the top of the door and the roof (just put your elbow on the door with the window down), there is a surprising amount of flex that you can feel between the door and the roof. On my rig now, there is no flex AT ALL between the door and the roof. I think this is because of how everything is tied together. One of my main goals was overall rigidity as well as protection in a rollover.

I was tired of welding up A pillar body cracks.

 

[JJacobs]

I didn't use any backing plates. The A- and B-pillars go to 'L' brackets that sit flat on the floor, and also run up the inside of the doorsill a couple inches. The C-pillar goes to the top of the wheeltubs via a 12" 3/16 formed plate that goes up the tub from the floor, bends over the top to where the interior sidepanel was, then straight up across the sheetmetal gap.
And- the D-pillar goes right to where the sheetmetal D-pillar used to be on a 1/8" formed cap.
It's only been upside down once but has flopped about 20 times, no deformation of the mounts so far