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WILLYS Cage Inspiration Thread

43K views 96 replies 35 participants last post by  shopteach 
#1 · (Edited)
Let's do an official cage building inspiration thread. It's one of those items that we all need no matter what our diffs/tires/engine combo may be.
I am getting ready to build my cage and have been looking at a lot of build threads for ideas. It would be easier if we had one thread for ideas. I do not care what the cage is made of (dom,hrew,pipe) this is not the spot for that disscussion. I am looking for design pictures that will help others build their cage. Also pics of the frame tie ins.

If you have pictures that you stole from some other post or if it is not you cage, I do not care just post the pics for build ideas.

Useful links that I have found:

link to bendin' tube 101

Link to the TJ Cage Inspiration Thread

tube size vs strength and other info

Roll Cage 101

Chop saw notching 101

chopsaw notching calculator

how I sleeved a splice

I found a tube contour gauge at speedway motors. Thought this might help someone else.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Pipemaster-P-T175-Contour-Gauge-for-1-3-4-Inch-OD-Tubing,9695.html
 
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#44 ·
I have used about 100' of 1.75 x .120 dom on the structural portions of the cage as seen in the below picture.



I then plan on using about 40' of 1.75 x .120 hrew on the front and rear seat mounts and the straight bracing tubes. I have started on it, in the pics below.







I was able to get a hypertherm plasma cutter, and it sure makes the saddle cuts a lot easier. I have been cutting the saddles onto the cardboard from a toilet paper roll and then tracing it onto the tube. It has been coming out pretty nice. I was trying to find a tube contour gauge for marking tube, but I can not find one. I have seen them in the past, but do not know where to buy one.

 
#48 ·
I bought one of these:

Affordable Tube Benders, tube notchers, metal fabrication welding
It does pretty decent bends and its reasonably priced. It has its quirks, mainly the radius is 7"......although my buddies JD2 dies are 6.5". It really only makes 85 degree bends. Its a lot slower than a real bender, but if your only doing the occasional bend here and there it gets the job done. Mine spends 99% of its time gathering dust in the garage.
 
#49 ·
Cage mounts?

I bought some cage mounts that are concave on the sides. Is it better to make and use square mounts underneath the body, where they bolt through the sheet metal floor, to keep from shearing the floor?
 
#50 ·
I think that as long as there's a plate on each side of the floor you are good with the concave ones, as long as where the bolt holes are it's a flat surface perpendicular to the floor. If not then I don't think I would be using them. Does that make sense??

chris
 
#51 ·
Be sure that the plates are of different sizes, ie one bigger than the other. Most I've seen will run a larger plate on the underside. This is to keep the edges from putting additional stress on the floor and creating a shear point (much like scissors).
 
#53 ·
Nope, the two plates sandwiching the body need to be different sizes. I've read it here a few times and Ian on Xtreme has talked about it. If they are the same size then the two edges create a shear point that can tear the body as everything flexes. I'd imagine if everything were solidly mounted, no body bushings, then it would take a loooooong time to tear. That would depend on the rigidity of the frame, which the cage helps stiffen. But if you have body bushings and the sandwich plates then the body is gonna want to flex but can't and there will be stress at the plates edges.

Hope that makes sense. I'm not to eloquent in my explanations.
 
#56 · (Edited)
It's not tied into the frame yet, but the above-body part of the cage is done. Friend of mine Kurt did the work, it turned out very nice! :)

It's not a hardcore offroad jeep, so for now I'll probably just leave the cage as is, mounted to the body. Later on if I get more silly with it, I'll tie it into the frame, and add a bit of triangulation to the cage, and harnesses. But that's not the plan, the plan is a street jeep and mild trails. :)





 
#57 ·
DanielBuck, you do more silly with your Jeep than you realize... if you really daily drive in southern California, you're taking as much risk or more than driving on a trail. The roads and freeways down there are crazy. I would be more scared of the other drivers than something happening on the trail. Just sayin
 
#59 · (Edited)
Thanks Rooney, photography actually got me into jeeps, giving me the ability to get off the beaten path :)




That's actually the reason for the cage, haha! It was fun driving around with no cage, but I realized it's probably pretty dangerous, if I ever got hit this thing would probably flop right over. I'm going to get retractable shoulder belts soon. While driving my TJ, someone merged lanes right into me, didn't hurt my jeep at all, they just bounced right off the tires. Tore their car up in the front though! If I would have been in the willys, I wonder if it would have just flopped me right on over? don't know.

I don't take it on the freeway though, I can't go fast enough for that. maybe one morning reeeal early I'll take it on the freeway when not many people are on, just to say I did it :D
 
#62 ·
nice! I like the "A" bar going from the bottom of the c-pillars to the connection bar of the b-pillars. This was something I originally was thinking about for mine, but figured it might be a bit overkill. Later on however, I may add something like this. :smokin:
 
#64 · (Edited)
I am pretty close to having my cage finished. I still need to add my seat belt tabs, center console mount, and steering column mount. All the current joints are fully welded and gusseted. If you see anything I should add, please make the suggestion.

I feel it turned out pretty good for my first cage and never bending a tube before.







Finished

 
#66 · (Edited)
this is the bender I built:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/shop-tools/376183-homebuilt-tubing-bender-32.html#post11356643

I bought the plans and built my bender, and I bent my first tube last night. I have never used a bender before, but I have found a lot of good info on this sight that made it pretty easy (stressful, but easy). I thought the easiest way to lay everything out was on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and follow the lay out instructions from tube bending 101 in the tech section. My digital angle finder made it very easy to make two identical hoops. The first hoop took a little longer to make, but I used a speed square to get my angles off the plywood. I wrote down all the angles from the first hoop and bent the second one exactly to the same degrees on the digital angle finder.

Lesson learned with the digital angle finder: always keep it in the same direction. do not take a reading from were the angle finder has been spun 180*, you will be reading the back side of the angle.

Homemade bender


lay out


fit test :smokin:
 
#67 · (Edited)
Here is mine, the bends follow the body line from A-B pillar, then cut to 45* bend down. Tied into frame.





 
#71 · (Edited)
Just the plans. I welded the pieces that needed to be drilled together, and the drilled them in my press. That way everything would line up. $200 for materials and $330 for the die.

I spoke to frank takacs today about the holes for the following block drifting a little bit. There is some room for error, but not much. After speaking with frank, I ordered my pro tools 105 die 1.75" x 6" x 240* and decided to wait on welding the pivot tab on the uprites, until I get my die. This way I can make sure it will be set up perfectly for the die I will mainly use. I also had a few hours to work on it tonight and I took some photo's. the die cost me around $330 with shipping.











 
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