the cage is going in a yj, going to be 1 5/8 diameter .120 wall mild steel.

mandrel bent
tig welded
custom seat mounts
installation
powdercoating

i was quoted 2600 by a speed shop who builds 7 second cars and will meet SFI 25.1d standards ( whatever that means) will be six point, and mount to the frame.

what do yall think? i thought that would be the full cost of a tube chassis nowadays. i think avalanche has some for under 3000 total.

JUST THE CAGE????

Good lord, glad I can bend it and weld it myself. Damn stuff is getting expensive.

PM Tinbender, he should be able to tell you if your estimate is good or not.

that seems a bit high. For $1000 you can buy a bender/ stand/ die etc, then the metal bend it all up and have it welded for you (if you cant) and still be less than that.

Who gave you the estimate? I have a friend that has a a shop off I-70 and Peoria that builds some of the best stuff I have seen. Check out his web site. 4x4 Iron (www.4x4iron.com) I know he would make a sick cage for way cheaper than that.

You guys are retards!!!!
Mandrel bent, Tig welded, Powder coated, mounted through to the frame. Do you have any clue how much time that takes? Consider the cost of a real mandrel bender, Tig welder, then consider the cost of powder coating, then consider the time to design, build, remove, send to get powdered then reinstall, there is also allways mods to the body or maybe interior that needs to be done. $2600.00 sounds fair if not cheap. He is obviously not talking about some jack ass in his own garage with some sort of pipe bender and a stick welder. You get what you pay for!

Just my opinion:flipoff2:

Originally posted by mrtwstr
You guys are retards!!!!
Mandrel bent, Tig welded, Powder coated, mounted through to the frame. Do you have any clue how much time that takes? Consider the cost of a real mandrel bender, Tig welder, then consider the cost of powder coating, then consider the time to design, build, remove, send to get powdered then reinstall, there is also allways mods to the body or maybe interior that needs to be done. $2600.00 sounds fair if not cheap. He is obviously not talking about some jack ass in his own garage with some sort of pipe bender and a stick welder. You get what you pay for!

Just my opinion:flipoff2:

I agree!!!!!!!!

Of course I have a tig welder and a mandrel bender in my garage, and I'm a jackass!:eek:

Why do you want a cage to be that bitchin in a jeep? If you want those features, you're gonna pay for it, but do you really need it?

Originally posted by foley

you're gonna pay for it, but do you really need it?

What you have never seen a Jeep do the 1/4 milein the mid 7s @ 175MPH! :D

i just figured if i'm gonna have a cage try and save my life, somebody should install it who still has all his teeth. i am in texas after all.

i just figured if i'm gonna have a cage try and save my life, somebody should install it who still has all his teeth. i am in texas after all.

So you answered your own question, $2600.00 is a fair price.:D
You get what you pay for.

Originally posted by mrtwstr
You guys are retards!!!!
Mandrel bent, Tig welded, Powder coated, mounted through to the frame. Do you have any clue how much time that takes? Consider the cost of a real mandrel bender, Tig welder, then consider the cost of powder coating, then consider the time to design, build, remove, send to get powdered then reinstall, there is also allways mods to the body or maybe interior that needs to be done. $2600.00 sounds fair if not cheap. He is obviously not talking about some jack ass in his own garage with some sort of pipe bender and a stick welder. You get what you pay for!

Just my opinion:flipoff2:

I agree, sounds like a nice cage to me. One thing to consider though is how much you actually plan on using your cage? If you are going to compete or expect the cage to see a lot of use, this may be a bit much to spend, considering a couple hard hits could force you to rebuild it or build a new one. The drag racing specs are probably a bit overkill for rockcrawling, but to each their own.

Aaron,
I know this guy who will do it cheap. His name is gabe and he said all you need is two bolts and .000098 walled pipe. It sounds good to me? Let me know and I'll set up an appointment for you.

Did a cage on my landcruiser about 15 years ago, almost a full comp cage tied to the frame and all, I also helped on a lot of the fab, just about 25 hours on my part alone, still cost out of my pocket was almost 1500.00. I thought I got away cheap at that time, like they said above you get what you pay for. Is your life worth the money you put into the cage?

That's what I would charge without the powder coating.
Someone will do for half that and a bag of weed though, but do they really know what there're doing. Probably not, they just do what looks good to them.

Originally posted by mrtwstr
You guys are retards!!!!
Mandrel bent, Tig welded, Powder coated, mounted through to the frame. Do you have any clue how much time that takes? Consider the cost of a real mandrel bender, Tig welder, then consider the cost of powder coating, then consider the time to design, build, remove, send to get powdered then reinstall, there is also allways mods to the body or maybe interior that needs to be done. $2600.00 sounds fair if not cheap. He is obviously not talking about some jack ass in his own garage with some sort of pipe bender and a stick welder. You get what you pay for!

Just my opinion:flipoff2:

I agree. That is a real good deal (depending on quality) I would drop the tig and powder coating and just mig and rattle can it.

WELL I BUILD CAGES IN MY GARAGE.......I HAVE ALL MY TEEETH......I KNOW WHAT IM DOING........I DO NOT ACCEPT BAGS FOR PAYMENT......AND YOUD BE SAFE IN ONE OF MY
CAGES :D
LOOK AROUND ......YOU COULD PROBABLY GET A NICE CAGE BUILT BY A GUY IN A GARAGE WITH ALL HIS TEETH JUST LIKE ME FOR A LOT LESS THAN 2600....:D :D

Originally posted by 71RCKCRZR RYAN
WELL I BUILD CAGES IN MY GARAGE.......I HAVE ALL MY TEEETH......I KNOW WHAT IM DOING........I DO NOT ACCEPT BAGS FOR PAYMENT......AND YOUD BE SAFE IN ONE OF MY
CAGES :D
LOOK AROUND ......YOU COULD PROBABLY GET A NICE CAGE BUILT BY A GUY IN A GARAGE WITH ALL HIS TEETH JUST LIKE ME FOR A LOT LESS THAN 2600....:D :D

Got all my teeth, + $4K worth of orthodontics to make them look purdy...

Drop the powder coating and I'll build that cage for you for $2100

I thought you were in CO?

How fast do you need it? I am known to be somewhat slow.

If you are near dallas I know a couple shops that do work I would bet my life on (if I didn't know how to do it myself) that I can recommend.

Hit up www.baertrax.com or www.uniqueconceptsoftx.com

Baertrax, talk to Russ

Unique, talk to Chuck or Chris, tell any of them that I referred you.

san antonio

I would never pay over a GRAND for a cage, Why in the hell would you powder coat a cage, its going to roll over, and get torn to shit anyway, Spraypaint does the trick just fine, You do get what you pay for, but that why from now on I will build my own shit, and it will all be safe cause I would have anything less for my ass.:flipoff2:

Originally posted by aaronlosey
i just figured if i'm gonna have a cage try and save my life, somebody should install it who still has all his teeth. i am in texas after all.

Powder coating isn't going to help save your life. It might knock quite a bit off the price to loose that option.

I could bend it, weld it and rattle can it for $1000. But, all I have is a plain old JD2 and a mig so it definately wouldn't be safe.

EDIT: I still have all my teeth too :D

Ask em for a price MIG'd and rattle can'd.

Originally posted by Shrock
Ask em for a price MIG'd and rattle can'd.

I agree, TIG looks killer, but is not really worth the extra expense in this case, on non chromoly tube. MIG and rattle can will be more than sufficient.

I agree that it's about right. I have a guy that will build them for you here in texas anyway you want but if you want all that stuff then it's a fair price.
Check out YellowTJ.com and look at his cage.

Why would you have mandrel bends on the cage? This would make it weaker because of hte thinner wall of tubing with a sleeve pushed through the tube for a uniform bend? (I don't know if that makes sense). You don't NEED it to be tig welded either, thats just to make it look purdy. :D

That's a fu(k load of money for a cage, but for it to be done as described it is not a bad price. Depending on what you are doing with the Jeep I would consider not powder coating it (shoot it yourself) and that should save you the better part of $400 and mig welding instead of tig because the mig will take them less time so it will be cheaper and a good mig weld is plenty strong and looks nice.

By the way my cage builder has the best looking tooth I have ever seen!! LOL

My cage is DOm tubing and mig welded... it ran me 1200... I think i didn't do too badly. I have complete faith in its strength. The guy who built it has all his teeth, but he would take a bag as part of payment. :flipoff2:

Doug

http://www.offroadrepublic.com/gallery/albums/album11/aaa.sized.jpg http://www.offroadrepublic.com/gallery/albums/album11/aab.sized.jpg http://www.offroadrepublic.com/gallery/albums/album11/aae.sized.jpg

Seriously... I'd ditch the powder coating in favor of a couple of cans of spray paint, and consider it a good price on a badass cage.

Alot of shops send everything out to be powder coated because it is cheaper for them than dealing with the EPA regs for painting, but if you paint it yourself you should save some $$$. I got a quote from a local 4x4 shop on a cage for my Bronco-It was $1600 and they do very good work. Shop around and you'll probably be able to find a competent shop that has more reasonable pricing.

Can I ask why you want it mandrel bent, tig welded and powdercoated?

umm... I can get an 8 point cage through these guys for $227. They put out 14 point cages for just over 300.

http://www.cachassisworks.com/

Too high of price...opinion of course

I too though would never tig or power coat a cage either!

even if I had the $$

If you're adamant about powdercoating, shop around, you can get it for FAR cheaper than that. A buddy of mine just had a 6-point cage *double* powdercoated here in Austin and it ran him $245.

Originally posted by HighToy
umm... I can get an 8 point cage through these guys for $227. They put out 14 point cages for just over 300.

http://www.cachassisworks.com/

anyone have any experience with these guys or their cages?

That guy there, James, Im sure can give you what you need in a cage.

The guy at West Texas Offroad does some incredible work. Also check www.JKcustoms.com in austin, he does nice work also.

If you have Elmer (West Texas Offroad) do your cage get ready to wait a while.

Doug

Originally posted by aaronlosey
i am in texas after all.

Well, that explains alot!!:flipoff2:

Well, I have build a few cages now...one for a friend, and two for me. I have a bender, mig, chop saw, hole saw, and most of the fun gagets you could get to bend a cage. I use 1.75" .120 wall DOM. It is strong, and works great.

I will admit, my cages don't come out perfect every time, and I find myself rebending some stuff. So, my cage is not perfect...not even close. But the only person who knows it is me...unless you get out there with an angle finder, protractor, and a tape measure. My cage looks good, and will withstand the beating I plan to dish out on it.

So in conclusion...if you want to spend the time, and the money on building your own cage...(you could buy a nice welder and bender for the $2600)...you would then need an extra$400-$500 in tube...less if you don't make mistakes. You spend a touch more, but you gain experience, a welder, and a bender. However if you want the "perfect cage" have someone else build it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rfrey


I will admit, my cages don't come out perfect every time, and I find myself rebending some stuff.

Need a bending program? no more scrap tube. check out "starting
another comp buggy "thread.

i got a quote for a full cage for my Willys wagon for $1200

Elmer may take a while, but he builds some bad ass cages. Of cource the more you pay him the faster he works. Built my cage and I love it.He has rolled several times and seen many roll overs and knows what works. Also just built a bad ass buggie in no time at all.