Slugging & Sleeving (roll cage questions)

[JeepFreak21]

Just brainstorming about a cage design...

Is slugging and sleeving an acceptable "everyday practice" in cage building or should it only be used as a last resort?

Is it a good trade-off to slug and sleeve so that you can get a full circle weld on an adjacent piece of tube?

How long should the slug be? And how thick in comparison to the tube that's sleeving it?

If you were going to slug and sleeve a B pillar (for instance), would it be better to do it near the floor, near the roof, or in the middle? If another tube T's into it, that would be the ideal location, right?

Any other tips and tricks on the subject? Things to avoid?

Thanks,
Billy

 

[BaronVonRoot]

this is how I did my cage with no sleaving or slugging

I bent and notched all the parts that were affected by the roof and not accsesable to weld all the way around
1st lightly tack if nessesary front section, clean up floors and anything that will be welded, weld up the front section everything before the b piller but not to the b piller, once everything is welded, that you can reach remove b piller I leaned the A piller section down so I could compleat the welds paint anything at this point on first section its alot easier than doing this later! also protect your glass the spatter will trash any glass when welding
second with b piller in place mark the floor, and use a hole saw where the cage meets the floor from the B piller back to remaining pillers, so the cage will drop down the thru the floor after bottom side of the has been welded.
i have 1/4" plate that will sit under pillers after compleat welds are done
then i plater the bottom of jeep bolted thru floor and tied everything to key suspention areas and to sliders etc, this really workd slick and came out looking alot better than sleaving etc...
hope this makes sence i just woke up !

 

[JP]

I am not an engineer or a cage builder so I can't speak to there validity, but I have seen it done on the internet. :eeks1:

Time and materials caused me to use slugs in a couple of locations. I over shot the width of my halo so I used one to re size it. It wasn't my original intent but it made life A LOT easier so I could weld it to the body. I used 12" sections of the same walled tubing. If you can I would have a gusset or another tube ending somewhere over the slug. I just makes more sense.

 

[crazyjim]

From what I've heard, sleeving a tube is every bit as strong if not a bit stronger than a non-sleeved tube.

 

[JeepFreak21]

Do any of the major sanctioning bodies have anything to say on the subject? Anybody familiar?
Thanks guys!
Billy

 

[XJ_ranger]

I've seen desert race builds with sleved tube.

Every F-toy hase sleeved tube.

Most of Shannon Campbells chassis have sleeved tubes in them...

My chassis has many sleeved tubes, and some but welded tubes. :nono:

A few times I've seen the argument that people will intentionally cut and sleeve tubes where big importiant nodes are - to have extra wall thickness right there where the stress is...

Some people plug weld their sleeves and fully weld around at the 'gap', I usually dont plug weld them for 2 reasons:

1. because thats an extra step, and I'm lazy.
2. because If I need to cut that tube out and replace it, the plug weld makes it really hard to do that, and makes the section that I'd have to cut out a lot bigger.

 

[2xtreme]

this is how I did my cage with no sleaving or slugging

I bent and notched all the parts that were affected by the roof and not accsesable to weld all the way around
1st lightly tack if nessesary front section, clean up floors and anything that will be welded, weld up the front section everything before the b piller but not to the b piller, once everything is welded, that you can reach remove b piller I leaned the A piller section down so I could compleat the welds paint anything at this point on first section its alot easier than doing this later! also protect your glass the spatter will trash any glass when welding
second with b piller in place mark the floor, and use a hole saw where the cage meets the floor from the B piller back to remaining pillers, so the cage will drop down the thru the floor after bottom side of the has been welded.
i have 1/4" plate that will sit under pillers after compleat welds are done
then i plater the bottom of jeep bolted thru floor and tied everything to key suspention areas and to sliders etc, this really workd slick and came out looking alot better than sleaving etc...
hope this makes sence i just woke up !

An alternative to cutting through the floor is to build "boxes" at the base of your "B" pillar for it to slide up and down in. This not only allows you to complete the welds at the top of the "B" pillar as well as more surface area for the base of your "B" pillar.

Michael

 

[crazyjim]

Do any of the major sanctioning bodies have anything to say on the subject? Anybody familiar?
Thanks guys!
Billy

Pretty sure all sanctioning bodies allow it. Score and MORE both do. You'll just catch crap for it from certain "cage elitists" on certain boards. But only because it's a bragging right that you bent an entire cage perfect the first time. Some people see sleeves as mistakes. Which is BS imo.

 

[Weasel]

Twisted Customs does it, works for them.

 

[FarmerMatt]

2 rules of thumb...

1, The sleeve should be at least twice the OD of the tubing. (if you're using 1.5" tube than the sleeve should be at least 3" long. 1.5" deep into the tube on either side of the junction.) Longer is always better.

2, The sleeve should be the same wall thickness as the tube you're putting it in.

I don't know if I'd intentionally do this when building a cage from scratch, but there really is no other way to fix bent & beat up tubes after a few years of use...

 

[JeepFreak21]

2 rules of thumb...

1, The sleeve should be at least twice the OD of the tubing. (if you're using 1.5" tube than the sleeve should be at least 3" long. 1.5" deep into the tube on either side of the junction.) Longer is always better.

2, The sleeve should be the same wall thickness as the tube you're putting it in.

...

Awesome. That's good info.
Thanks,
Billy

 

[99xj4x4]

Sleeving is a great way to put in an interrior cage, because it can allow you to weld all the way around the tube in more places.
My cage have 2 sleeves in it. This is how I did mine.
Basically used the same wall tube, cut it about a foot long, pre-drilled 2 plug welds in the 2 pieces of tube being sleeved together, welded and grind one side, then bent the tube, fit, and weld and grind again.