Roll Cage for an XJ

[FarmerMatt]

strip the interior, mask off the dash, door panels, windows, & yank out the head liner. Than you spend hours untill your index finger goes numb twisted at odd angles inside the rig with a case of spray paint.

Matt

 

[azxjman]

Just a quick question, Im building a interior cage for my XJ and would like to know how I would go about painting it once its welded up inside the XJ?

paint its inside what do you need paint for if it were me I would just put the padding on and be done with it

 

[Beezil]

cause some people have pride in thier crafstmanship.....

have you ever seen farmermatts rig up close?

(I know the answer, don't bother)

it is as close to perfection as you can get...

anyone can build a barkeaters rig.

very few can build and fabricate as if were oem.....

 

[XJJPR]

cause some people have pride in thier crafstmanship.....

have you ever seen farmermatts rig up close?

(I know the answer, don't bother)

it is as close to perfection as you can get...

anyone can build a barkeaters rig.

very few can build and fabricate as if were oem.....

That is funny sounding coming from YOU!

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Just a quick question, Im building a interior cage for my XJ and would like to know how I would go about painting it once its welded up inside the XJ?

my thought on this is to paint as much of the long bars out of the vehicle (keeping the joint/weld areas clean), then once the cage is in paint the unpainted areas or the whole thing again, this way there's always going to be areas that you can't get and by doing 80% of the painting outside the vehicle you'll at least maybe cover areas that can't be done from inside.

 

[Goatman]

lets talk about the exo thing. what's the purpose? it adds weight, it adds height, and if you build an internal cage that will support the weight of the Jeep in the event of a roll over why have one? to protect the replaceable body of a cheap XJ? sounds like the cons out weigh the pros.

I'm going to have a cage by winterfest, myself and a buddy of mine (who builds stock cars) are going to start the first of the year. The attached image has a unique idea for the front hoop, look at the lower hoop. would this be an easier way to get that over all front 'a' hoop to fit snugly and beable to do more welding out of the vehicle?

How many have put a cage in with the full interior? I want to retain my head liner and plastic interior parts. good idea or bad?

My purpose for a partial exo cage is to be able to take a slow trail rollover without much damage to the vehicle. I also have done quite a bit of work to my rig, and I don't want to have to do it again, so minimizing damage is important to me. I happen to think that the stock body structure is adequately safe in the majority of rollover situations, so adding a cage purely for safety reasons is marginally necessary. Since a cage is quite a bit of work, I think that the design should add rigidity, and in my case some body protection, as well as increase safety.

I think your idea for the front hoop is fine, but I don't see how it will save any space. One of my concerns is how to get the dash out if you ever need to once the A pillar bars are in on many of the cage designs. That's one reason I think it's a better idea to run the A pillar bars behind the dash to the firewall. Doing it that way has a lot of advantages....more leg room, the dash can still be removed, the cage more closely follows the factory A pillar, and the bar is further forward to add to structural rigidity.

The roof cross bars on the design you pictured won't work because you'll hit your head on them. One of the things to keep in mind is that the cage is there to protect you and make it more safe. Bars too close to your head will make the cage less safe, defeating some of the purpose.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

I think your idea for the front hoop is fine, but I don't see how it will save any space.

I'm thinking that it'll be easier to install and maybe give more strength.

One of my concerns is how to get the dash out if you ever need to once the A pillar bars are in on many of the cage designs. That's one reason I think it's a better idea to run the A pillar bars behind the dash to the firewall. Doing it that way has a lot of advantages....more leg room, the dash can still be removed, the cage more closely follows the factory A pillar, and the bar is further forward to add to structural rigidity.

that's a point that I havn't addressed yet, nor thought of, let me think.

The roof cross bars on the design you pictured won't work because you'll hit your head on them. One of the things to keep in mind is that the cage is there to protect you and make it more safe. Bars too close to your head will make the cage less safe, defeating some of the purpose.

this is just a pic of a cage, not the one that I'm building, just some ideas of other cages, don't know what I'm going to do with the cross bars but they will be away from my noggin.

 

[Renegade Jpr]

strip the interior, mask off the dash, door panels, windows, & yank out the head liner. Than you spend hours untill your index finger goes numb twisted at odd angles inside the rig with a case of spray paint.

Matt

Sounds good to me, just one question....how would I get the headliner back in after its all welded in place? This might be a dumb question, I know...but I dont have my XJ right now to sit here and look at it and see how it would be done right.

 

[Renegade Jpr]

Anybody?...hello....

 

[et89xj]

They pretty much slide in and out from the back :moon: ...andy

 

[Renegade Jpr]

ok, thats kinda what I figured after lookign at some pictures but I just want to make sure.

 

[Goatman]

Sounds good to me, just one question....how would I get the headliner back in after its all welded in place? This might be a dumb question, I know...but I dont have my XJ right now to sit here and look at it and see how it would be done right.

Awh, who needs a headliner.

You could glue in some carpet on the roof if you have trouble with the headliner. I'm going to do that to mine eventually.....one of those around to it deals. Paul Sinclair did that to his and it looks real nice. The type of carpet that they make dash covers from would work nicely.

 

[Wiley Coyote]

2offroad; Where did you get your bolt in roll cage? Can you post of picture of it here? Apparently you like it, but what are the other people complaining about? In case you can’t tell, the idea of a bolt in roll cage is very appealing :shocked:

 

[Wiley Coyote]

Sorry for the questions. I had my preferences set wrong and couldn’t see the rest of the thread :shhh:

 

[FarmerMatt]

DEpending on how tight you build the cage to the roof the headliner should slide in from the back over the top bars. I have stand-offs that tie into the roof rack that wouldn't allow me to put the headliner back in. I also plan to do the carpet thing glued to the roof when I get to it although not haveing a headliner hasn't bothered me much.

Matt

Did bezel boy just give me a compliment? It must be Christmas time.