Well, I couldn't do it. I couldn't sacrifice my beautiful visors for the safety of a roll cage, so i bagged the front roll cage.

Not really.

But, I did move my top spreader bar back away from the windshield so there is room to flip the visors up and down. plus, the way i have mine set, I can open and close the glove box. now ain't that sweet.

Top spreader bar is on the horizontal part of the smitty bars, before the bend downward, dash bar goes right across the top of the dash, with plenty of room between it and the steering wheel so i don't catch my fingers between the wheel and it. (Thanks Scoutillac ;) ) Haven't decided if i am going to pad the dash bar yet. :D

Smitty bars come inward toward the middle of the rig centerline from the windshield to the rear, so they meet the main hoop in about 4 inches or so from the inside edge of the main hoop legs. Two stringers from main hoop forward to front spreader.

Other nice thing is that I can still use my SSII soft top hardware. no interference.

have all the bars tacked in place, kind of. Gotta talk to the man with the firestick about getting a good bead on it all.

Got time on wed to glue it all together for me Rick? :) All that is left is to cut/cope the dash bar (straight cut, no angles), I think you said you had a chunk in your garage we could use for that, then we can weld her all up.

Hey Jdjanda, pictures this week, soon as we get her stitched together and I get her painted. I promise :D

Hey hooptie!!!!!!!!! If ya spent half as much time working on that bar as ya do talkin about it,,,,it would have been done a month ago:flipoff2: So will ya have it done in time to go play at funny rocks? You and I could have our vary own newbie run:rasta:

Originally posted by Scoutillac
Hey hooptie!!!!!!!!! If ya spent half as much time working on that bar as ya do talkin about it,,,,it would have been done a month ago:flipoff2: So will ya have it done in time to go play at funny rocks? You and I could have our vary own newbie run:rasta:

And while we are talking about it, what did YOU get done on your rig this weekend??? :D

I don't have a firestick, and I have done all I can till I go bug Rick again. Took me a lot of time with the grinder making that jigsaw puzzle fit the way I wanted!!! Even wearing safety glasses, I still caught a pc of hot metal in the corner of my eye. I flinched at the last second, and I think that is what kept in in the skin and out of the eye. Stung like a bee laid into me!!!

Neglected the kids enough for the weekend, so I came inside to play with them for a while. :) But I had to see what you newbies were up to todat, so I turned the computer on for a quick check... :D

I've been hacking up black loogies for two days now. Every time I sneeze, it looks like i have been snorting fireplace ashes.

Pretty happy I don't have to ditch my visors though. I don't have the luxury of trailering my junk around, so I need those sun blockers on both sunny days during the summer.

I think the cage will be done this week if Rick has time. I have a little while before funny rocks, so i may even drop the valve body and rebuild it before then. Depends on how ambitious I get!!! It works fine the way it is, but it could work better. I should throw a deeper pan on before then, though. Don't want the tranny cutting out on me on a steep climb. Or, I could just throw in an extra quart once I get over there. I think that would solve the problem also.

Need to remember to ask Rick to lay a bead of weld on a couple spots on my winch bracket also.

What did I get done? well I ordered a thick D60 diff cover to replace the one that gave it's life at the hammers, did some design work on my new core support and polished a bit of chrome in the engine bay:flipoff2: and still found time to mow the lawn, spray the balckberrys, drink an unreasonable amount of Molson Ice (I'm still at it too:D ) sit in the hot tub, and even play with the boy:D Still working out just how I'm gonna mount the carseat in it so ha can go wheelin on the 4th....Ya know come to think of it I bet I would have had time to weld your cage up down at the shop, but you would have had to call me:flipoff2: You and Marky Mark wanna go out and play next weekend? I'm itching to get out and break something:rasta:

Originally posted by Scoutillac
What did I get done? well I ordered a thick D60 diff cover to replace the one that gave it's life at the hammers, did some design work on my new core support and polished a bit of chrome in the engine bay:flipoff2: and still found time to mow the lawn, spray the balckberrys, drink an unreasonable amount of Molson Ice (I'm still at it too:D ) sit in the hot tub, and even play with the boy:D Still working out just how I'm gonna mount the carseat in it so ha can go wheelin on the 4th....Ya know come to think of it I bet I would have had time to weld your cage up down at the shop, but you would have had to call me:flipoff2: You and Marky Mark wanna go out and play next weekend? I'm itching to get out and break something:rasta:

You were a busy little beaver. All that chrome polishing really wears you out, eh? :D

Not this weekend, the weekend following. this weekend is Boy Scouts, but I would be good to go break something the following.

How about it Marky mark. Lets go get dirty.

Reminds me, i need to pick up some rattlecan, flat black, to paint this baby up with.

Hoop, when are we going to see some pics of the setup? I'm waiting.

Joe

Originally posted by Hooper
Well, I couldn't do it. I couldn't sacrifice my beautiful visors for the safety of a roll cage, so i bagged the front roll cage.

Not really.

But, I did move my top spreader bar back away from the windshield so there is room to flip the visors up and down. plus, the way i have mine set, I can open and close the glove box. now ain't that sweet.

Hey, Patty,

why didn't you just mount the visors to the spreader bar?

NQS

Originally posted by jdjanda
Hoop, when are we going to see some pics of the setup? I'm waiting.

Joe

I talked to scoutaholic this evening and coordinated. Problem is this week is so dang busy for me, it is hard to find 2 or 3 hours in a row that we can work on it, on my end. Going to have to wait till Thursday before I can drag it up there. just no time till then. But, should be all done and painted up by the weekend, so i'll have pics then.

Hey kevin, guess what idiot whacked his head on the side bar while climbing in to measure for the dash bar today??? Gotta order up some foam tomorrow!!! That's gonna leave a mark!!

Still, it is a good feeling sitting in the driver seat, and being surrounded by massive steel tubing. Much better than before where I knew if i went over, I better duck, fast!!

I'm going to finish welding up my Smittybilt cage today too. I am trying to keep the top spreader bar as far forward as possible so I can run one of those Tuffy overhead consoles. My SSII ragtop is being built as we speak, so I dont really know what I need to "miss" with the side bars for it to fit correctly. I can open the glove box and the light switches are no problem. It looks like it will miss the windshield channels, but I was wondering if there is something on the soft top itself I need to prepare for.

Originally posted by NotQuiteSane


Hey, Patty,

why didn't you just mount the visors to the spreader bar?

NQS

Thought about it. But, with the bar as far forward as it would go, and still not block daylight view, the visors would be too close to my face I think. I put a pc of cardboard up on the spreader while I was mocking it up, and the visors felt a little claustrophobic.

Try these -----> :cool:

Originally posted by SSIIprop
I'm going to finish welding up my Smittybilt cage today too. I am trying to keep the top spreader bar as far forward as possible so I can run one of those Tuffy overhead consoles. My SSII ragtop is being built as we speak, so I dont really know what I need to "miss" with the side bars for it to fit correctly. I can open the glove box and the light switches are no problem. It looks like it will miss the windshield channels, but I was wondering if there is something on the soft top itself I need to prepare for.

How far forward do you want it? You can run it right in the corner of the bend, and that puts it less than an inch from the windwhield frame.

If you can open your glove box, that means your smitty bars are a long way to the outside. Did you run straight back, or angle inward? If you went straight back, you might have trouble with the pc for the softtop that runs from the windshield to the rear hoop. On the whitco hardware, the bars would get in the way if run straight back, part of the reason I angled mine in some. That, and I wanted to keep them as high as possible, and that meant attaching them to the horizontal portion of the main hoop.

Then again, what are you using for a main hoop and where does it sit? Mine is a stock SSII hoop, and it sits on the step. Makes a difference for angles and such.

Looking at how mine lays out, I cannot really see any negative with having my spreader bar on the horizontal portion of the smitty bars, rearward of the windshield a bit, rather than in the bend, or below the bend. Especially since I will have a dash bar anyway.

Otherwise, can't see anything about a soft top that would care one way or another where that bar sits. I don't *think* my soft top will contact my roll cage in any case. The bikini top might, however, which is fine.