Topic: Need some Ideas?

[Oilsmoke]

Most of my Jeep Mods came from here. Thanks Jeffy Your tips have saved me Alot of Money and wasted time.
Here is a list of my mods.

JB corvison Transfer case With SYE.
Tom Woods Rear drive line.
Ford 8.8 with disk brakes.
Skyjacker 2.5 with Hydro's
15 gallon to 20 gallon filler tube mod.

Smooth Bore 1" TBS Match ported to a 4.0L TB.
Hand built 3" Aluminum intake tube and K&N Xtream cone filter.
Banks Power Torque tube. 2inch exhaust to cat, cats burned out, turbo muffler I think (came on it when bought). And 2.5 after cat to tail pipe.
Nieoff brass cap & rotor.
Optimal red top

DurBak lined tub.
Rivet glove box. Looks tuff too.
Stainless steel stereo plate polished.
Pioneer Stereo & Speaker system.

Rusted Chrome hooks on the Front.

Project I am doing right Now is the rear Bumper With hitch And D ring mounts.

After that B&M Shifter to install.

I am looking for some New ideas :idea:  to ponder.

[StefanBidi]

Do you do any water crossing?  Whenever I stop being lazy, I think I'll want to get a snorkel and water-proof the electrical system.  It's a good idea to do this here in FL.  I've had quite a few experiences with water, and most of them weren't fun.  The first time it happens you start shiting your pants, but then you get used to it.  A few months ago a friend of mine was in the middle of a trail for 4 hours before I showed up to dry is dizzy out :roll: .

[Jeffy]

I'd consider some safety items. A 6pt cage would be good.  Seats, then maybe recovery.

Snorkel is a waste unless you're willing to seal everything else.  Otherwise it's just a Cold Air Intake.

[Oilsmoke]

6pt cage? Hmm this after market type add to stock or Compete setup?

Not alot of water crossing for me But a snorkel would get alot less dust than my setup.

[Jeffy]

You can either scrap the stock cage or built ontop of it depending on what you want to do.  If you want to do teh DIY then you'll need to have a welder or have access to someone who welds and has one.  You will want to make they they are a good welder since this is your life we're talking about.

You can go with either a complete weld-in cage or else go with a partial bolt-in.  Many call these 'Starter Cages'.

Otherwise, you can go with a cage from scratch.  You'll really need to know how to use a bender.  The nice thing about going this route is that you can build the cage to however you want it.

With TJ, you'd really want to reinforce the center hoop and make it one piece. One way is to make collars that will fill the gap and weld the tubes together.  This is how a friend of mine makes cages for TJ's.

Some things to consider;

I've seen a few after shots of some cages that had the front legs bolted to the dash.  I wouldn't recommend them.  A few of the picts showed sheared legs which is not good.  Properly reinforced, a cage that bolts to the dash shouldn't be a problem though.  I beleive the cage that sheared was the OR Fab.  Poison Spyder also makes a more complete cage that has better leg support.



I went the cheaper route and bought a starter cage from J&L/MORE.  THe cage bolts-on but can also be welded.  Since my cage is what many call a 'Family Cage' with rear passenger coverage, I decided the front really needed more help.  The biggest downside is that the front leg's take up a lot of leg room.  It will interfere with the parkbrake release on a YJ unless you rotate the handle.

There are two schools of thought here.  One is to bolt the cage through the body to the frame.  The other is to have the cage independant to the frame.  The reasoning being, the body/cage will have less mass.  If the accident/roll is strong enough to shear the body off, you might be better off without the extra mass.

A floop or slow roll won't matter which way you do thought.  Although, you will want to make sure the body bolts are in good condition.  Since the bolts are hidden in sleeves it's hard to check them.  This is a problem becase the metal sleeve traps moisture and hides any damage.  In any case when I got around to adding my body lift, I noticed that several of the bolts has about 1/4" eaten out of them.

Here's the cage I have; http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/reviews/jl99/.  I still need to have it welded in and some bars added.  I want to conenct the front legs with the main hoop and mount the seats to that.  A 'V' over the driver are and a crossbar for the main hoop.

[trailblazer95]

I beleive the cage that sheared was the OR Fab.  Poison Spyder also makes a more complete cage that has better leg support.

There was an article posted recently about how the Poison Spyder trail cage actually re-uses factory parts... I don't know how much I'd trust reusing the factory stuff.

I've got a cage similar to the ORFab, it's a Toys By Troy cage, similar mounting point, and it's been proven to survive many rolls.  There's clips of it on their website.  You can purchase spreaders, and add them yourself.  It's a bolt-on kit, but I plan to weld all the points up just to be on the safe side.  

But as far as structural strength, if you plan to wheel hard and roll hard, you'll need a fully welded frame-mounted cage.

[Jeffy]

The stock bars aren't that weak.  You can lift a Jeep by it's main hoop as long as the body mounts are in decent shape.  But like I mentioned a friend who's done numerous custom cages is fine with reinforcing them.

As for the OR Fab, here's one in action.

http://users.verdeonline.com/ace/jeep/rolling.wmv

(Just ignore the fact that the guy almost loses his leg.)



From what the owner said the screws that hold the cage to the firewall all sheared off.  The cage collapsed on the letters ORF which are laser cut into the cage bracket.  Drilling holes in your support bracket is not a good idea.

A day later he got the cage fixed.  Much better design.