Hybrid cage build thread

[xcm]

One critisizm, and it involves the grinding of the welds!

 

[XJCasper]

Will you build me one next?

 

[CobraMarty]

What seats are those? The rear is a half fold down?

 

[SanDiegoOverland]

very cool. thanks for all the detailed pictures!

 

[John D]

What seats are those? The rear is a half fold down?

I am only running one bar for rear seat clearance. I would have liked to run a full X but the lower tube would literally be touching or very very close to the passengers knee just sitting there. I want to be able to retain that single WJ rear seat because I use it quite often and don't want to risk them bashing their knee into it.

 

[sunburned]

Damn, that's a great looking cage man. I wanted to do the same thing with running a low profile halo welded to the rain gutters. Makes rubbing against trees a non-issue.

 

[dukie564]

ZOMG your cage looks killer - I love that's it's different. Keep it up.

 

[bluejeepkid]

Good work. Ill be using some ideas for my own build.

 

[northwestxj]

So the cage is all painted, but I forgot to take some pictures.

I've also been working on another project. Previously, I was using a stock gas tank skid plate. Over time, the thing was extremely dented (crushed like half way up in the middle) and I had lost a large amount of fuel capacity. While I was prepping for the cage, I also replaced my gas tank. This time around, I wanted to put on a better skid. I looked into some of the aftermarket skids that are made of 3/16" steel, but I didn't really want to bolt on 70-75 lbs just for a gas skid. I decided to build my own and work with something I'm still relatively new at, aluminum. Thanks to Joel's build thread for the inspiration to actually do it. I've been wanting to for a while.

I ended up using 1/4" 5052 aluminum for this project. I bought a spool gun for my Miller 211 and used 4043 wire. It worked pretty good, but definitely is much harder then welding steel. The welds also don't look as good as they could because there is so many start and stop points to prevent the thing from warping. It is stitch welded on the inside and was welded 100% on the outside. Here's some pics.

Overall, I'm really happy with it. It came out to be about 32 lbs, which is right at what the thin stock steel one weighs, and this is MUCH stronger. I'm pretty confident the thing could take a pretty serious hit. I finished bolting it up tonight but it was dark so I didn't take any pics.

 

[kmanxj5050]

AWESOME!!!!! Looks very good, you've got some skills!

 

[vt98xj]

This build is awesome!

One little critique about the gas tank skid. You may want to add some ribs on the inside as flat plate is not as strong as ribbed plate. For example 90* angle laid flat, espicially on the edges where there are going to be rock impacts.

I am not sure of the properties of the 5052 so you might be fine, but just an idea.

 

[northwestxj]

This build is awesome!

One little critique about the gas tank skid. You may want to add some ribs on the inside as flat plate is not as strong as ribbed plate. For example 90* angle laid flat, espicially on the edges where there are going to be rock impacts.

I am not sure of the properties of the 5052 so you might be fine, but just an idea.

Thanks.

I was thinking of doing something like that but I wanted the skid really tight up against the tank (touching almost everywhere) so there is not room to run them. But this way it is also stronger because it has to bend both the skid and the tank. I'm really not concerned about it holding up.

 

[CCPAJeeper]

NWXJ,

Excellent build. Your design is excellent. As others have stated, I have not seen anyone tie into the drip rails. Great idea. Speaking as a hobbiest with a bender, your buddy is really talented. I have built bumpers and nerf bars for my son's racing kart. Bending tubing hoops at precise points to align, like on the drip rails or the frame tie in points on a kart, can be challenging.
Great build!

 

[northwestxj]

Finally got around to taking some completed (painted) pics of the cage

Added some tie down points

And some of the gas tank skid mounted up

 

[POSJ]

I like the whole product, nice work.

 

[sunburned]

That's a well built jeep, very nice job. Pretty much all the advanced stuff I've wanted to do with mine for the last year or two and haven't got around to haha.

 

[BRIANHO13]

Good looking cage.

Don't leave your cb cord wrapped around the tube like that, I see it getting ripped off.

 

[Vanimal]

i didnt see how you did the a pillar tubes. got any pics?

 

[twodoorXJ]

Very nice work. I really like how you did the d pillar lower cage mount, ill probably do something similar with my cage.

 

[FlexdXJ]

Good looking cage.

Don't leave your cb cord wrapped around the tube like that, I see it getting ripped off.

Take notes, We'll be using some of these ideas on my Jeep when you build my cage!