One of them hybrid cage builds (lots of pics)

[travisk]

Tonight Kalil unboxed a new Millermatic.

He went to work burning it in. There are still a few bars to add before we install it tomorrow.

 

[the_midwesterner]

I dig your design. Hoping to get some ideas from this.

 

[jeeperjohn]

Looks great dude!

 

[XJLI]

thats some real clean work. looks awesome.

 

[Brent T]

Nice work, looks great. I had my hybrid built a few years ago and most of the changes I would make if I did it again, you've already done. Looking forward to seeing yours finished.

 

[travisk]

More progress..

Finishing the roof.

I think this will hold.

I don't think these straight tubes down the center add much strength, but I wanted to be able to throw a spare tire, etc. on the roof for very long trips. They're really just mounting supports.

Capped off the ends of the tubes.

Cutting plates for both above and below where the tube meets the floor.

These little plates will be welded to the roof where the tube comes through to keep the water out.

The plan was to drop the cage in, tack it in place, then lift it up a few inches to fully weld. Unfortunately we couldn't lift it very far, probably because the tubes enter the cab at an angle. We resorted to this.

These plates will be bolted through the floor and then to the frame, but he stitch welded them to the body for now. Not sure how useful this is. The sheet metal on the floor is very thin. The undercoat on the other side caught fire a few times.

Shoulder bar goes in.

Ready for some triangulation in the interior.

I was stoked to drive it home even though the cage isn't done.

We still need to finish the interior tubing, tie the floor mounts to the frame, tie in the cowl add tie down points inside.

 

[mako my day]

Freakin awesome.

 

[Crfrider]

came out sweet like the way the inside was done looks awsome. will be paying attention to this.

 

[scoobyxj]

Why didn't you just sandwich the roof between two plates instead of drilling holes through it?

 

[rockclimber]

Why didn't you just sandwich the roof between two plates instead of drilling holes through it?

Because that's lame?

 

[mako my day]

Why didn't you just sandwich the roof between two plates instead of drilling holes through it?

Its a roll cage, not a roof rack.

 

[travisk]

Why didn't you just sandwich the roof between two plates instead of drilling holes through it?

I didn't feel that there was enough material where the tube goes through the roof to make a difference.

If I notice any deflection then I'll look at Foxwar71's idea of plating to the drip rail area, which seems more structurally significant.

 

[cheapcherokee93]

That is one awesome, clean hybrid cage. Can't wait to see the finished product

 

[stockerwithalocker]

If I notice any deflection then I'll look at Foxwar71's idea of plating to the drip rail area, which seems more structurally significant.

I 2nd plating to the drip rail, or if you can, weld the cage directly to the drip rail. It essentially adds a big shear plane (the roof) to the cage. My brother's exo has this and it makes a big difference.

A good example are the desert go fast cages. The cage is plated to the cab in several places to take advantage of the sheet metal to create a larger shear plane.

 

[s14unimog]

Great work! Keep those pictures coming!


PS.... I want one :laugh3:

 

[travisk]

Finally got the internal structure completed. It's ready to roll, but I still need to put the interior back together and get the fenders installed.

Kalil welding in the C pillar supports:

Here's the triangulation for the B pillar.

All done with the cage structure. I would have added triangulation across the C pillar, but I need to be able to sleep back there.

I think this will hold.

I will add padding to some of these bars.

All said and done, we used six 22' sticks of tube, minus about 15 feet of pieces that we didn't like. That's 117 ft of 1.75 DOM. At 2.089 lbs. per ft., we added about 244 pounds of weight to the XJ for this cage.

I'll show how we tied it to the frame/unibody next.

 

[mako my day]

Beautiful. Still room for kids in the backseat?

 

[travisk]

The cage is tied to the unibody in 10 places at the floor.

The A pillar comes down the outside of the windshield, through the fender into the sliders, which are welded to the frame stiffeners. Unfortunately the sliders did not come far enough forward to meet the entire tube, so Kalil ran a plate up the angle of the slider to catch the whole tube. I think this will be plenty strong once you factor in the cowl tie in.

The A pillar meets the cowl. Plated to the unibody and then welded both sides of the tube. I am considering adding a cowl bar as well.

The B pillar is stitch welded to the floor and bolted through to a plate on the bottom of the unibody...

Which connects to the rock sliders with a short piece of tube.

The C pillars are welded to the floor and will be bolted to a plate underneath the body. Eventually they will be welded to rear frame stiffeners, when I add them.
Kalil also welded in some RuffStuff tie down tabs in the rear to hold my spare tire in tight.

The C pillars are triangulated back to some HD Off Road Engineering no-lift shackle brackets, which are bolted to the frame in several places.

 

[travisk]

Beautiful. Still room for kids in the backseat?

Yes, plenty of room in the back seat for kids. Adults might be uncomfortable with the tube that crosses their ankles, but I almost never have adults in the back seat.

 

[mako my day]

Freaken awesome.