sliding ragtop and cage?

I want to do a ragtop but don't have $1000 for a cage. My xj is a DD and only off road lightly a few times a year. Is there any way to reinforce the top without a full cage? I was thinking about putting some bracing bars where the factory braces were. Would that work?

I've been toying with the idea, and I just don't think you'll be able to get away without doing a cage. There are a few bolt in cages available for the XJ, just do a search. You can get one of those and add a few tabs to it to bolt into seatbelt mounts, or to grab handle mounts, etc, to tie it to the body.

Also, if I were gonna cut even just the center part of the roof out without multiple tie in points from a weld-in cage, I'd suggest drilling out the spot welds and leaving the support bars in place.

I understand what you mean about not wheeling too much and not having the $$ to spend right now. BUT.... If you think about it when you start to strengthen certain parts of the vehicle you will keep running into a weak spot. So you really have to choose where the vehicle will crush, crumble, or bend with a partial cage.If you are wheeling hard enough to think you are going to roll it, as far as i see it its either all or none. how much is your life worth?
If you think theres a good chance of rolling the XJ and you have certain braces supported over others, all you are doing is moving the weak point around. I may be wrong but thats just way i see it.

Disclaimer- I dont have any kind of cage for what its worth. so i am not biased towards a full cage, its just my all-or-none thinking.

Mud racers often have a driver only cage. A partial cage, well designed around the front seats will effectively move the weak point away from the driver and passenger. The rest is just sheet metal anyway.

Any Unibody structure removed (or weakened), needs to replaced with other structural components. A properly designed, constructed, and installed roll cage is the simplest method unless you want to rename your Cherokee "Taco".

zachandandy said:

Mud racers often have a driver only cage. A partial cage, well designed around the front seats will effectively move the weak point away from the driver and passenger. The rest is just sheet metal anyway.

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problem with that, is its great for the driver, but does absolutely NOTHING for chassis reinforcment. im a beleiver in chassis rigidity being as important as safety, as a reason to install a cage.

i didnt even wheel my xj hard, its probably seen 2-5hours in 4x4, no rock crawling, but there are cracks EVERYWHERE. if your going to do it, do it right, or be prepared to do it again on the next chassis.

what he said. /\

doing shit over sucks