HOW DID YOU TIE YOUR CAGE TO YOUR FRAME?

I've seen people weld their cage to their frame...
I've seen people use bushings, etc.

So, what setup works best? Is it really necessary to have bushings between the frame and cage?

Lets see some pics of the good, the bad, and the UGLY

Mine follows the OEM body mount design.
The main bolt goes to a caged nut inside the base of the front hoop's tubing ...

http://www.monsterslayer.com/jeep/images/Cage3.jpg

I welded mine solid.

For the front hoop I bent the tubing and swept it back.

I'm sure you'll get all the usual suspects with spring bushings, grommets, and plates. I just thought I would throw out what I did, something I haven't seen before on a crawler. I hulled out (removed the spot welds) the floor supports that the body mounts attached too. They were originally formed with channels of heavy gauge stamped sheet and spot welded to the floors and fire wall. These were replaced with a much stronger subframe of square tube which sets on the factory body mounts. My cage attaches to that subframe and it also provides integral raised “rocker knockers”. The body no longer mounts to the frame, rather it is bolted inside the cage, which is still isolated from the frame. In a catastrophic failure of the mounting hardware, the body, floor, cowl, seats, cage, etc. should all separate as a unit letting the chassis fall away.

This also (theoretically) provides me with an easy path to redo/replace parts as needed. This is my first cage so, I figure I’ll likely want to redo it for technical or aesthetic reasons within a year or two. If so, the whole thing simply unbolts at the mounts and I can build what I want, or bolt on a stock cab. I can also easily replace a tweaked frame with a junkyard unit if needed.

Not sure how the others will like it but, I thought it was a valid and unusual approach…

http://www.members.cox.net/russhuffman/junk/sub3.jpg
http://www.members.cox.net/russhuffman/junk/sub2.jpg
http://www.members.cox.net/russhuffman/junk/sub1.jpg

Originally posted by BadDog
I'm sure you'll get all the usual suspects with spring bushings, grommets, and plates. I just thought I would throw out what I did, something I haven't seen before on a crawler. I hulled out (removed the spot welds) the floor supports that the body mounts attached too. They were originally formed with channels of heavy gauge stamped sheet and spot welded to the floors and fire wall. These were replaced with a much stronger subframe of square tube which sets on the factory body mounts. My cage attaches to that subframe and it also provides integral raised “rocker knockers”. The body no longer mounts to the frame, rather it is bolted inside the cage, which is still isolated from the frame. In a catastrophic failure of the mounting hardware, the body, floor, cowl, seats, cage, etc. should all separate as a unit letting the chassis fall away.

This also (theoretically) provides me with an easy path to redo/replace parts as needed. This is my first cage so, I figure I’ll likely want to redo it for technical or aesthetic reasons within a year or two. If so, the whole thing simply unbolts at the mounts and I can build what I want, or bolt on a stock cab. I can also easily replace a tweaked frame with a junkyard unit if needed.

Not sure how the others will like it but, I thought it was a valid and unusual approach…


Mine is done the same way. The rear legs of the cage sit on a peice of 2x7 C-Channel that run the width of the vehicle. The fronts are all tied into heavy suports. My front seats are even bolted to the cage via a sub frame under the floor. My though is if the roll is voilent enough to rip the frame from the body let it. Less weight boucing around with me attached.
Back to the guys original question. THe bushings do several things. the most important being a place for some give between the cage, body and frame. No room for give and stuff starts stress cracking. Now if your building a super ridged cage and tie into the frame that's not so bad because the cage becomes part of the frame and stiffens it up and pretty well eliminats a lot of those problems but there is another problem that may or may not be of any concern on your particular vehicle. NOISE. a full frame truck isolates noise by the body mounts. If this is a daily driver it might be a major irriatation to you. A trail only vehicle then it's probably not a big deal. My truck see's a little of both and I could not believe how much the noise leve increased with Poly body mounts. I can't even immagine how bad it would have been if I welded the cage to the frame. For a street driver if I ever needed to change out mounts again I'll be going back to factory rubbers, it's that loud. THis truck is a toy so it's not as big of a deal.

http://www.beast40.com/JeepPictures/j241.jpg

Basically added another body mount for the cage

Originally posted by Jaffer
Mine follows the OEM body mount design.
The main bolt goes to a caged nut inside the base of the front hoop's tubing ...

http://www.monsterslayer.com/jeep/images/Cage3.jpg

I would box in the bottom of those mounts....mine is similar and I never boxed it in. They now have to be redone because the rocks have bent, twisted and generally destroyed them.

You guys that made another body mount-style tie-in, how is the tube attached to the body mount? Do you just use one bolt?

My cage is welded directly to my frame, but its not as pretty as some of the pics here. You sure can hear every moan and groan from your springs, etc. I was looking for some new ideas on using a bushing.

Do most of you sandwich the tub with two plates and run bolts through to the tie in?