Making room for the little one...

[jdbwrx]

Our daughter is 14 months old now, and towards the end of the fall I started thinking I'd like to be able to take her along in the Jeep at some point. Last winter however, when I was redoing my exo to a hybrid cage, the thought of trying to accommodate a car seat in the rear just never really crossed my mind.

Initially, I ran the interior B pillar cross bar straight which worked great but the car seat wouldn't fit in the rear then. I did not want to cut the cross bar out completely, as I want to keep the B pillars tied together. So, a couple weeks ago I bent up some tube to make a "dip" in it and cut the center out. To finish it off, I got some 4" gussets and rounded tube ends and welded them in. The dip area is made from two bent pieces that were joined in the center. This was the easiest way I could get the to be perfectly symmetrical. (The seam has a 5" piece of 1.5" diameter tube sleeved inside that I plug welded to either side, plus I welded the butt joint.)

I feel like this is pretty strong, but thought I would just throw it up and see if anyone had any thoughts. I have considered doing a couple of short sections of angled tube running from the lower part of the "dip" to the B pillar foot plates. My worry though is that would eliminate any leg room for rear passengers (it's tight already back there).

View of the original cross bar:

Pics of the refined cross bar. (sorry for the crappy cell pics)

All finished up with gussets and ends in.

Gussets:

 

[jeepfreak1020]

Thats pretty sick looking man. I like it alot!

Sooooooo . . . . . when are you going to help me build my cage you looks pretty good at it

 

[DutchVDub]

Almost certain to be weaker than the straight across tubing, but should still be more than capable of doing its job. I like it, although isn't she about old enough to face forward anyways?

Here is my kid facing forward in my 92 XJ on Kelly Flats. This was 25May2009 so he was about 9 1/2 months old.

That car seat is so big and adjustable he still uses it in the current Jeep, now at 3yrs old.

 

[jdbwrx]

Thats pretty sick looking man. I like it alot!

Sooooooo . . . . . when are you going to help me build my cage you looks pretty good at it

Thanks Chad, but you're the one going to school for it, right?! I would think you would have the leg up on me!

 

[jeepfreak1020]

Well welding yes, but I dont know anything about bending tube lol. I havent learned anything about that yet or gotten a chance to do it

 

[jdbwrx]

Almost certain to be weaker than the straight across tubing, but should still be more than capable of doing its job. I like it, although isn't she about old enough to face forward anyways?

She's getting close, but I think the law is one year or 20 lbs. She's pretty tiny so she's only like 17-18lbs. Isn't it still supposed to be safer riding backwards anyway though? The seat fits facing the other way too, I made sure to try it both ways (just happened to take the pic with the seat facing the rear). I am sure she'll be in this seat for a while, as it goes up to 40lbs.

 

[DutchVDub]

Yeah, that 20lbs thing sounds right. I'm pretty sure my kid was pushin 20lbs by then. Actually it might have been because he didn't fit in his rear facing car seat anymore. He was too tall. Can't remember exactly why we had him facing front so early, but I know he fit that chair well.