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Hybrid-exo cage questions and a possible "project thread"

I would like to provide as much protection as possible to my passengers. i often have my little brother offroading with me (he's 12) so id like to keep him as safe as i can.

so with a d-pillar brace in the back there will be a considerable amount of increased protection in the rear, correct?
 
bmyohn said:
I would like to provide as much protection as possible to my passengers. i often have my little brother offroading with me (he's 12) so id like to keep him as safe as i can.

so with a d-pillar brace in the back there will be a considerable amount of increased protection in the rear, correct?
Click to expand...


For passengers?

No, a D pillar hoop won't make any difference to passenger safety, it would only be to protect the body. What are your safety concerns, what kind of situation?

All projects need goals. Building a cage just to build a cage with no clear goals can be a recipe for a lousy cage.
 
i would like to prevent this from happening.

rolledjeep.jpg


he rolled it pretty good and put a V right in the middle of his roof. if the would have been a passenger, they would have most likely been injured.

also, with the type of wheeling that i do, gutter protection is important as well as flop protection. the trail rides we do there are some areas that have a very large chances of a flop if you take the wrong line.
 
as Richard has said, the D pillar's primary purpose will be to provide the structure for only the gutter sliders and back section of the cage (body work in the case of a roll or flop), it won't provide any significant protection for passengers.

Richard also made a very good point about tie-ins to the body which I did not clarify in my earlier posts. I made the assumption (that I shouldn't have) that you would be tieing into the seat belt mounts, under the fenders to the bulkhead, to provide as much strength as possible. Personally I would tie into as much of this as possible, I would also tie into the frame and or sliders (depending on how these are all built).

Michael
 
thanks mike.

after looking at some other cage builds it looks like a necessity to tie into the b-pillar there. so i will be adding that as well. i also feel like to prevent as much damage as possible in the case of a flop the addittion of a d-pillar support will be added as well
 
I had two primary goals that were very close in importance and one secondary goal when I started my "hybrid" cage (that wasn't the popular word yet then), to keep my passengers safe AND to get passengers in. Then to also protect the body. I have three kids so I needed the whole back seat or I was going to go without a cage. I spent almost a year studying and looking at what other people had done, liked/not liked and worked/not worked. In the end my biggest inspiration came from 2Extreme. So, after a year of figuring out what I wanted to do I started working with JCR to come up with a workable solution. In the end I am very happy with the cage, it allows all passengers to be comfortable, and safe (safe of course is a relative word). Not to mention the body is somewhat protected (I do use those sliders alot). The rockers are a 3X4X1/4 and I came outside the A pillar to tie into the front of it. One of my biggest challenges was how I was going to make it strong enough and not leak. I decided to use plates to sandwich the roof and bolt through. After a year and a half still no leaks. While I was at it I also put tube clamps behind the fender so the exo is fully removable (I was thinking repainting/repair would be easier).

DSCF0053.jpg


Here's a link to the rest of them.
John
http://s960.photobucket.com/albums/ae89/john_darling/Cage/
 
I rolled mine on Two Step, a big double ledge on the Bald Mtn Trail, and landed on a big flat rock that pushed down the A hoop. I thought it probably would be good to have a down bar there and we've learned with the buggies that it doesn't block visibility, you don't even notice it. But, I fixed it by pulling out the bends with a slight upward bow, and went over the tube with a half round piece of 1.75" using clamps to hold the ends down, now it's pretty damn stout. The tube running forward under the fender saved a lot of potential damage. The only way to get it out was to roll it the rest of the way over, down another small ledge, so it rolled 360*, but the only damage was the A hoop and the fender.

Thought I'd post this up, since this is a pretty good cage thread.

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standard.jpg
 
John D......nice cage, and nice rig. Painting it all the same color looks good, and shows that a hybrid cage doesn't have to take away from the looks of a nice XJ.
 
Goatman said:
John D......nice cage, and nice rig. Painting it all the same color looks good, and shows that a hybrid cage doesn't have to take away from the looks of a nice XJ.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I saw that thing at WF and was amazed at how good it looked!
 
Well, since the cage I buld has been referenced quite a bit in this thread, I'll chime in too. I have found over the years that 1.5 tube works great for keeping the cage tight to things, it isn't so big around that it gets in the way, and the bends can be tighter too. The key to building a 1.5" cage is triangulation. That is why jarrad's roof has a lot of angles, and its also the reason for the windshield bars; they provide up/down support for the fron of the Halo, and also left/right support incase of a flop. If you look closely, you will also notice that the top of the cage is slightly arch shaped... this adds significant strength in a complete rollover situation. If it lands on its lid, the arch would try to flatten out, but it wouldn't be able to without stretching the halo and making it longer, whish won't happen with all of the tie ins it has.

Here is a link to my website, you will find a picture of the interior bars for those who would like to see it.

http://www.rocksolidfab.com/Recent-Projects.html
 
Just for shits and giggles what a cage like that run? I absolutely love it and my fab skills aren't the greatest.
 
John D said:
Now its got a 5.3L in it too... so it looks AND drives amazingly :)
Click to expand...

Oh man, Can't wait to see it. You're coming again this Year right? :D
 
John D said:
If I can I will... going on the road for work from January 3 to March 1 so we'll see. Hate to miss it, always a good time and last year my kids got fed for free!
Click to expand...


Well, I hope to see ya. I'll be there in Rig number 2! My first one got destroyed when I hit a Benz head on at 50!
 
FlexdXJ said:
Just for shits and giggles what a cage like that run? I absolutely love it and my fab skills aren't the greatest.
Click to expand...

A cage like his runs about $1000 plus tubing. He also has rocker replacements to that the cage ties to, which are $400 installed (including materials) for Naxja Red members, $500 installed for non members.
 
By the way, that price is for the full exo including the front portion, not just the roll cage.
 
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