Cage work

Finally got all my bender stuff and notcher and started going to town. I still have to finish welding it all and touch up some of the welds, but all the tubes are there. I put the angled bars in the back that direction for the kiddos so that brush won't hit 'em on the trails.

Pro-Bender Pro3:


JD2 Notchmaster tube notcher:



And the cage:

That looks fantastic! Now I want that, does it ever end?

Impressive work.

Wow man, skills!

meh, needs more triangulation

redneckhouston wrote:

meh, needs more triangulation

I know. I'm still going to put some tube gussets in all the corners, but I ran out of gas for the welder. I might add two more bars up front and maybe two in back and I'm still waiting for my A-pillars from sniper fab to finish the front. Okay, so maybe all the tubes aren't there yet, but it's getting close. Hopefully I'll have it done and painted before the show and shine this coming weekend.

Designing the cage:

There are many design rules that should be followed whenever possible.

The most important rule is to make triangles, not squares, and especially not artsy-curvy designs. Look at any structure in the world, whether it is a bridge, a crane, or a cantilevered sign, and you will see triangles everywhere. This principle should be applied as much as possible to a chassis or cage design. Every tube should be one leg of a triangle if possible. This is especially true of the primary structural tubes. The peripheral tubes like bumpers can be more “artistic”. It’s a good idea to build crumple zones into bumpers to absorb crash damage. It is better to crush a bumper than to damage the main chassis structure. A bolt on bumper makes repairs much easier than a welded on structure.

Bends are not your friends. Some bends are unavoidable in a design, but they should be minimized, not maximized. Even a perfect bend is weaker than a straight tube. Bends should never be mid-span, or unsupported. The apex of a bend should be a node point or junction for at least one other tube, and gusseted unless several tubes meet at the node. An example of a node is the center of an “X”.

It is advisable to gusset corners, especially when building a bare minimum cage. This can be done with triangular plates welded into the corners. A stronger method is to weld a 6-12” tube diagonally in the corner, similar to the letter A.

“T” junctions are called a dead tube junction, as one tube dead ends into another. This should be avoided whenever possible, because the dead end tube will bend the other one when the loads are along the dead tube.

“A” pillars should not be leaned back too far, unless a second A pillar is added to triangulate it. Otherwise it can collapse into the passenger compartment. The B pillar will be strongest when near vertical. It is always safer to double up on the A and B pillar on heavier vehicles. All cages benefit from a vertical tube in the windshield area. An inverted “V” like this /\ is even stronger.

The B hoop should have an “X” built into it, or at the very least a diagonal or a V. If the A and B hoops are inverted U shapes, the “spreader” tubes that go between them should intersect the apex of the bends for greatest strength, and they should be straight. The roof area should have a V or X built into it, depending on overall design. The B hoop needs to have rearward supports, typically at a downward 45 degree angle. If the B hoop does not have an X, then these tubes definitely should.

On vehicles with sheet metal bodies or cabs, the A and B pillars should pass through the floor and weld solidly to the frame rails or tubes. No tube should ever terminate like a “T” into sheet metal, such as a floor or firewall. If necessary, it is acceptable to weld a plate to each tube, on each side of the sheet metal, and use four bolts to connect them together, but only if the cab is solid mounted to the frame. Otherwise the sheet metal can tear when the cab flexes on rubber mounts. The least desirable arrangement is to keep the rubber mounts, and tie the cage into the mounts.


Some say that any cage is better than no cage. This may be true in some cases, like flopping over at zero mph. But what if a failed hill climb attempt results in looping out and a triple endo down the hill? What if an off camber slip results in six barrel rolls down a rocky slope? What if one of these tumbles comes to a sudden halt against a large tree or rock? It is in these worst case scenarios when you need a properly designed cage and chassis, fully triangulated, and expertly welded. A marginal cage could collapse, doing more harm than good.

If you are not 100% sure that you can make a strong high quality weld, leave it to a professional. In general, TIG welding is considered superior to MIG welding, but a proper MIG weld is completely acceptable and just as strong. Tube splices and repairs should always be sleeved for strength and rosette welded, never just butt welded.

The more you integrate these “rules” and suggestions into your cage, the stronger and safer it will be.

meh, let me know when you start taking deposits for pre-orders! I'll take one!

DANGGGGGG BRO !!!!!! Gotta get me a real bender and notcher!!! Looks bad ass and that cage rocks!!! It always feel better to build your own than to buy it!!! How big of a bottle did you have that ran out? How much to refill? Soon as I run out of flux cored gonna buy me some gas!! I couldnt wait , and i ended up bending my pipe, should of waited and had you bend me a stinger but it ended up not to shabby gonna post some pics in a minute.. I guess im gonna have to try to build a cage now...damn you

Sweet!

Holy cow that was a lot of reading from redneckhouston. A lot of good info though. I have been reading about cages and looking at hundreds of designs as well. After all that, I guess I'll explain why I made it the way it is.

I was trying to build the cage better than it was stock without hindering the driver and passengers comfort. I know safety is paramont, but I do need room for the kids in back and headroom for the front passengers. The Viking top did create problems with building everything. Since the top conforms to the factory roll cage, I could not build outside of that. The two front parallel bars were inspired by many other cages that I looked at, and I know I need triangulation so I ran the two diagonal bars from the corners halfway down two the two parallel bars, leaving me an opening directly above my head (which I might change).

For the rear, I wanted to continue the lines of the front parallel bars to the back. I couldn't bend the top rear bar due to the top (it barely fits with the bar straight). Me sitting in the back, my head already hits where the parallel bars and the rear bar meet. I might do two diagonal bars in back, but I don't want it to where a grown up has to slump down to ride back there.

The main reason for the side bars was for trianglulation, but also for the fact that when my boys are riding back there, they have some protection from tree branches and if we were to lay it over or roll, there wouldn't be such a big opening for objects to come in and hit them. The bottom horizontal bars were for a brace.

Like I said before, I will be adding some tube gussets for all the corners also. I'm not planing on driving 100 MPH and rolling it or going up a 300 ft, 89 degree angle and flipping it. My main purpose was in case I lay it on its side, top, or roll once or twice, my cab would not be completely crushed, flatened and injure me or my family. If something does happen and the cage gets tweaked, oh well, I'll be building a new one. I don't plan on using the cage at all, but it makes me feel better knowing that my family and I are a little safer. That's why I built it. Sorry if it's not to your liking, redneckhouston.

Thanks for everyones compliments. Hopefully I'll have it done this week. I'm probably going to spray it with the u-pol raptor to match my tub.

If you don't mind me asking what does something like that cost? Materials at least, I realize you saved a bunch doing it yourself, but like to get an ideal of the costs for future reference. I really like it alot!

actually, i was just being a smart ass when i said it needs more triangulation.......its a pirate thing


i think it looks good, and your fab work looks top notch. you obviously have made a HUGE improvement over stock. I posted the design thing just to help out , as many people don't understand how loads travel thru a cage and how to properly design them to save lives. the only items i would add to your cage are diagonals overhead in the rear similar to the front and a dash bar with windshield spreader. I was in no way bashing the work you have done thus far............

heres some of a quick and dirty cage i did last week, it needs WAY more tube for me to call it a "good" cage, but lots of compromises were made so that it had room for pasengers and ease of egress, along with staying in the customers budget. I could add 60 feet of tube to this cage and still not be totally happy in the rocks

Dayum, they both look great, this group has "got it going on".

Very nice.

You people probably don't wanna see pics of my triangulated ,bent cross member, do you?




Lookin' good guys!

Great work, Jeremy. Can't wait to see it in person.
I think you should test it out and flip the jeep on the next trip out....

redneckhouston wrote:

actually, i was just being a smart ass when i said it needs more triangulation.......its a pirate thing


i think it looks good, and your fab work looks top notch. you obviously have made a HUGE improvement over stock. I posted the design thing just to help out , as many people don't understand how loads travel thru a cage and how to properly design them to save lives. the only items i would add to your cage are diagonals overhead in the rear similar to the front and a dash bar with windshield spreader. I was in no way bashing the work you have done thus far............

Sorry for taking it personaly. Pirate4x4 is pretty harsh, that why I don't post too much on there. Looking at my cage I will be adding some diagonal bars in the top of the rear. Once I get my A-pillars, I'll be adding the dash bar, windshield spreader, and possibly the /\ bars in the center.

Dutchboy101 wrote:

Great work, Jeremy. Can't wait to see it in person.
I think you should test it out and flip the jeep on the next trip out....

I don't know about that, but you never know what will happen...

have you bought the a pillars yet?

going thru the dash and down to the floor with tube is easy as sin on a tj......hell with a phone call or 2 i could give you all the bend dimensions to make the a pillars perfect the first time

Looks bad ass!

So Jeremy.................when do you want to start helping me build mine?????????????????????????????????

redneckhouston wrote:

have you bought the a pillars yet?

going thru the dash and down to the floor with tube is easy as sin on a tj......hell with a phone call or 2 i could give you all the bend dimensions to make the a pillars perfect the first time

Yeah, I just got them in today. Thanks for the offer though. I might take you up on that later on another cage. I went with Sniper Fabrication A-pillars. While I was waiting for them to come in, I started to think about running the tube to the floor but they were already shipped. I welded the dash bar just a minute ago and had to go with 1 1/2 tube instead of 1 3/4 due to it being a tight fit to the dash with the pillars. All my tube is .120 thick.

gold03 wrote:

Looks bad ass!

So Jeremy.................when do you want to start helping me build mine?????????????????????????????????

When I get done with mine and a few more projects I have to finish up. I gotta finish my trailer too. But that just needs some paint and the top rack. Give me a little time. I would like some dimple dies . I'm probably going to build some tube fenders also with all this 1 1/2 tube I have sitting in my garage. It's crunch time for me now. I want to get it finished before the 4 Wheel Parts thing this Saturday.

Wait we got dibs on Jeremy!! He has to help us with Marshalls jeep.

That cage looks awesome, wow, I can't believe how fast you work.

Very nice work, Jeremy, seriously.

Are you re-using the factory bars that go between the B pillar and A pillars?

George, what do you think about this cage, built off the factory B and C pillars?





With these...



And one of these...

Deacon, is that first pic the A to Z cage? I looked at that one also. I'm going to use the factory bars between the A and B pillars for right now. I didn't want to mess with drilling holes for the door surrounds and the mounts for the windshield. I'll probably change it later.

I'm going to built frame tie-ins just like you pictured and do my winshield bars like the other picture. I would like to invert them forming a /\ instead (as redneckhouston stated, it's stronger that way), but I would also like to see out of my rear view mirror.

Nice Work

Rockintjak wrote:

Deacon, is that first pic the A to Z cage?

It is. The factory bars between the A and B pillars are the primary reason I'm looking at a cage. Those things seem to be somewhat similar to a heavy-wall beer can and according to Jeep are not intended to be structural in any way. The only thing that keeps the windshield out of the front seat is the windshield frame itself.

Quote :

I'm going to built frame tie-ins just like you pictured

Very cool. How are you going to handle the bushing connection? I'm sure you know more about that kind of thing than I do, but I'm interested to learn.