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building a cage for my xj. need help

A

AJTorris

NAXJA Forum User
Location
California
Ok so i am thinking of either building a cage or buying a prebent cage. I personally dont have a bender and not sure if i know anyone that is able to help me that has one. Is there anyone up around bakersfield that can help me out? I dont really like the prebent cages xue to the fact that they are not real tight fitting. Also does anyone know about hoe much tubing i will need? Im wanting to do a basic cage at first then add on as i go. I need full access to my back seat as well since i have 3 daughters that ride in it. It is also my dd. I have floped on my roof in my old jeep and crushed it to the dash so im trying to prevent that again. Any help is greatly appriciated
 
Pm goatman, he's in Bakersfield and has his own shop
 
yeah AJ hit up Richard, he owns a shop called G&G offroad in bako.

he might not respond for a week or so, don't think he's being a jerk. he's racing in the KOH race this weekend :D
 
Sorry i worded that wrong... but i knew what you meant.

I worry about my cage and on-road accidents, due to the fact that i only have the stock seats, and belts for now... a human body can move around quite a bit in an accident, and tubing is not forgiving. You did say a big goal was a nice and tight fitting cage, but depending on how tall you are, i can still see some head banging issues. I mention stock seats because i am planning on dropping my seat mounting to make up for the low top.

OR MAYBE i just built my cage too low at the ceiling, and maybe my torso is too long... But im really close.

Also, theres the PITA factor, but thats dependant on how its built.
 
for once i'm going to agree with xcm here ;) if you DO cage it be well aware that if any of those tubes are anywhere near where one of the kid's heads can come in contact with it... it will not end well. if you cage it put them in proper seats and harnesses, they make suspension seats in kid sizes and i've seen them 3 across in the back of an XJ before mounted to the tube work. As a father I know you wouldn't go beating on it with the kids in there but what I would worry about is someone t-boning you on the street or some other type of on road accident which you have no control over.
 
Ya i plan on getting a different dd here soon. im 6 2 myself so i was even contemplating a hybrid type of cage. And i dont do crazy wheeling with my girls. I mainly want support incase of a flop with out them in it.
 
You can also do a hybrid and poke thorugh the roof, so you dont lose the headroom, you just gotta plan out where your gonna run the pillar posts.

Advice, dont plan on this being a weekend job! Done right it will take a while. Also there is a difference in tube/price. They have ERW, HERW, DOM seamless DOM etc.. And buy extra then you need to account for the bloopers. Bending the tube you can get the hang of it fairly quick, Notching just plain sucks! I think HREW would be the most cost efficent way to go and still hold up well

You beat me to the hybrid cage, you posted before I finished typing!
 
If you're that worried about an on road accident then you can always wrap the cage with the tube padding. As for tubing what do you guys mean ERW, HREW,? I am familiar with mild steel, seamless, DOM, and chromoly. Are these just proper names?
 
I can tell you we probably burned $1200 in tube and consumables on the new XJ. Someone asked for a quote on Richard building a similar cage and it was $6,000.

Figure you're going to spend 3-4 solid weekends working on this with 2-3 people, so make sure the person who starts off helping you *really* likes you. Don't half ass the project, safety equipment that is not going to 100% do its job gives you a false sense of security and will probably end up killing you.

I've heard a lot of people say they use around 120 feet of tube caging their XJ's. I don't know how much we used - we didn't keep track. Don't forget you'll use a few tanks of gas, a couple spools of wire, a stack of flap discs and a chopsaw blade.

Be prepared to put your seats in and out of the car a dozen times, you'll want to test every tube and make sure that it doesnt interfere with getting in or out, get to close to your head, etc. I keep helmets in Big Bird in the unlikely event someone has to sit in the back seat, as there is a 1.5" tube running directly behind passengers heads that could kill someone.
 
xcm said:
Didnt crazyjim install the t&j kit, then bragg how tight he got it to fit?
Might wanna check out his build thread.
Click to expand...

I put a t&j kit in mine and had to re noch all the cross bars and cut
About an inch off the bottom of the a-piller, and it was still extremely tight. I put padding on the rear seat bars for my kids. I'm 6'4" and only worry about the top of the a-piller whacking my head (one of theses day I'll put some padding there. Oh yeah and I have all my interior.
testingnewsetuptiretuck.jpg
 
ok thanks Cal. ya i saw the cage in the jeep when it was being built. i totally cant afford 6K. Im on a extended budget (taxes) but that is still out of my reach even with kids on my taxes lol. i think i have decided to go with a prebent cage due to time, costs, and not a lot of time away from work/kids/and wife. so prebent it is. now just to decide on the tandj, s and w racecars, and dandcextreme cage.
 
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