bedcage

[Baja_XJ]

Ive had the idea floating for awhile now but had no real reason besides being a spare tire mount. But now Ive got an extra hatch that Im going to do a race cut to but I figured it would look pretty boring with just a race cut hatch into an empty back so since Ive got 5 points and dont want to do the ricer 5 point mounting to back of seat dealio I came up with this bedcage Im going to build. Im mainly serving as a harness bar and tire mount but I figured since Ill have enough left over from the sticks of tubing Ill add some door bars in there to. I havent really ever designed anything like this before so tell me where to add/ remove bars from. I know since Im going this far you are wondering why I dont just cage the whole thing, number of reasons... dont have a tight enough die for the bender; floorboards are mushy midwest rust that i dont have time to fix; and dont feel like cutting up my dash just yet since it is still somehow in almost perfect condition. I figure this would be more protection than none and would serve its purpose of harness mounts, tire carrier, place to mount an amber light, and a liceanse plate mount. Tell me what to change. BTW the back Im going to have plates the bottom to mount to the back floor like i do with the door bars, and Im also going to come off the side run tubes over to the body between the fenderwells and windows

[chris_amrein]

5 point harnesses without any kind of roll cage is a bad idea. At minimum you should bend up a "main" hoop that would go over your head, but I would say you should just finish it off.

Besides that it looks good. Will the spare tire extend past the back bumper? And the "race cut" hatch goes around the tire/bumper? MHO is ditch the hatch all-together and build a plexi-glass fire wall to keep out the elements like the I-beam jeepspeed build.

Chris

[xcm]

i got started on my cage over the weekend, but am short on tubing... so i focused on the bed cage... for now, its entirely removable, but im gonna weld the inner section to the cage, once thats in and welded up top. the shock mounts are gonna be re-done.

[silverslk]

Damn it's nice seeing people do stuff like this. If this section would have been around when I had mine......I "might" have kept it (at least a little bit longer).

[tcm glx]

Originally Posted by silverslk

Damn it's nice seeing people do stuff like this. If this section would have been around when I had mine......I "might" have kept it (at least a little bit longer).

I call BS!

[Baja_XJ]

Originally Posted by chris_amrein

Will the spare tire extend past the back bumper? And the "race cut" hatch goes around the tire/bumper? MHO is ditch the hatch all-together and build a plexi-glass fire wall to keep out the elements like the I-beam jeepspeed build.

Chris

Its not going to extend out past the hatch because for rainy days when I have to drive it I plan on putting the full hatch on. But with no A/C its nice to take it off and have the windows down and just go drive and play around when its nice and since I had this extra hatch laying that it would make it look pretty good. I would glass it off like I beam but I dont want to take it that far yet. Since you mentioned it it would be a good idea and since the main hoop right behind the seat would be a pretty simple bend I will go ahead and throw it in as well and X it. The main bars keeping me from going ahead with the full cage is the front hoop, in a year or so I plan on taking it to the local metal masterpiece creator and having him run the front bars

[grandrunner]

what does the spare hatch look like? the designs look good!! but you have to remember the rear hatch is a big part of the constuction and strenght of the rear and you can bend your frame if its not fuly caged.

[Baja_XJ]

well the hatch is the one that I used to have on it, the latch mechanism is busted out and theres no glass in it. So Im just going to cut it like this:



It will have all the mounting points of a real cage from the doors to the hatch it just wont have the hoops for driver saftey so Im not worried about it not offering enough support

[grandrunner]

oh ok, looks good. just thought it was going in the back only.

[srimes]

Originally Posted by grandrunner

you can bend your frame if its not fuly caged.

bend the what?

[Baja_XJ]

Originally Posted by grandrunner

oh ok, looks good. just thought it was going in the back only.

It is going in the back only but I am putting door bars it to add the strength to the unibody to keep it from twisting or folding, but i cant really justify the hatch adding strength to the unibody all the way up at the doors, but I could be wrong, Im not saying you are wrong, Ive been wrong before and Im not afriad to say if because without being wrong sometime or another Id never learn anything

[grandrunner]

yeah just thought id mention it to you, im sure youve seen my little bedcage, its from the backseat to the backhatch.i wanted to take my hatch off while in the desert but alot of "knowlegable" jeepers, friends from jeep fab shops and offroaders told me it would tweak the frame without a full cage tied into the frame. and hoops arent just for driver safety but also adds strength to the whole cage and frame. heres one example.

http://www.dezertrangers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=110238

[Baja_XJ]

I dont really see how a full cage being tied into the frame would be any different than just a could of bars on the back part and the same mounting points unless the full cage was fully plated into all the pillars and stuff but all Ive ever seen plated to the pillars was the bars on the A pillars which I could really see having little or no effect on the hatch area. But I am going ahead with 1 hoop behind the seats but thats going to be all I will be able to do for now. Actually since Im doing that Im doing a different version of the bedcage that will be a little different

[DieselSJ]

Originally Posted by srimes

bend the what?

I'm going to post up pics of what happens to the Jeepspeed cars even WITH a full cage. That pic of 1717 was from Henderson last year, and that was the last race for that chassis.

[Baja_XJ]

Heres kinda the redesign, dont mind that all the tubes dont line up, the computer Im on at the moment isnt big enough to run the program like it should so Im kinda doing it blind so Im actually surprised it turned out as good as it did.. anyway heres a V.2: