What I have been doing with my winnings: Caging a Jeep JKU

[usmcdoc14]

Well as you remember I won a RBD-050 and a TN-250 notcher from Bailiegh Industrial right here in gen 4x4. So let me show you what I have been working on. I am putting a full cage in my 2007 Jeep JK unlimited.
Now I am copying a bunch of posts from JKOwners where I have been posting as I go. So bear with me as I post them over here as well. Some of the info may come in handy for people starting off or going to do a cage in a JK as they require some bullshit to get a full cage.

This will be me building a full out, to the floor cage, A,B,C.D pillar, dash bar, harness mounts, too much mothafucking 1.75 DOM tube cage

first we rip all the shit we don't need off.


Dont get too carried away untill you get measurements. I will saw off the rest of the factory stuff as I go.

First tool we will use is a plumb bob.


So I went and measured my maximum tube height at assorted points on the body. Mine is based on my trektop, yours will be based on whatever top you are running




That done I wanted to start tackling the bitch that kicks everyones ass. The JK A pillar.

But I am not going about this the same as it has been done before. i am NOT using a plate. I am not going to thread it through the dash because I am fawking lazy and don't feel like tearing the dash apart.
I also am not losing the defroster, vents, speaker or legroom. i am thinking outside the box, I am notching the door. Right where the A pillar goes down there is nothing in the door and can be notched in.

Here will be the tube placement

[usmcdoc14]

well this shit was getting old, almost half a week was shot due to severe thunderstorms.


so I practiced my welding for a bit as I have been doing flux core for a while (making 110v get enough penetration) and I wired up my garage for 220 and picked up a new welder.


more practice

anyway, I cleared some indoor floor area to use for a layout area. Here are some tools that will make your life suck less.
A big ass strait edge and sidewalk chalk.


magnetic angle finders (mine are digital, a 1" and a cube one) degree finder (mine is digital, also with extension plates that you will see used later) an attachment for angle of bend (home made but they can be purchased) and a large square


Next I lay out a large strait and a 90* for its center.



this will be the basis for all layout. If your wife gets bitchy lay it in sidewalk chalk. if its your motherfucking garage lay it in paint or sharpie


And seeing as this will get views:
free cat!! seriously. this is Karen, he is a fixed male, all shots, 1.5yrs old. He is a very good indoor cat and a "meh" garage cat (lazy non-killing fucker) very affectionate and does well with other animals. Will deliver.

[usmcdoc14]

I welded up some shear pins into my base plates so there is something in shear that is not in tension. (base plates from aa-mfg)


I had an issue is while setting it up in the driveway receiver the cable I had on it to lift it snapped and bent the ONLY thing on it that you can bend so I spent a good chunk of the day fixing that.




after unfucking my own dumbasseness I cut the rest of the shit away

[usmcdoc14]

I will be using the good old Tin Bender method of tube bending http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html combined with eyeball and tube rolling.


first thing first is crank a mothafucking 90 degree bend
This where my doc-o-matic digital bender thing comes in handy



mark where the bend starts


Its 7.5" on the bend so I write this down, also note the marks as this is where the bend actualy starts and not the "zero" on the die (it varies) so the new start point was marked on the die as well.


This is the basis for all my measurements on my layout.

[usmcdoc14]

Layout and plan my numbers




And sweat you ass off in the sun bending DOM, hoping you don't fuck up as its $4.50 a foot

Luckily I did not screw it up too bad


luckily I was only off by an inch or so in my cutting


Next I weld some stuff and bend metal and throw unrelated tools across the yard when things do not work right

[usmcdoc14]

So i fucked a nice piece of tube by bending from the wrong side of the line I will figure out a use for it later. So I went and measured right this time and did up the C pillar.

By setting up the die level it allows you to simplify your measurements. It takes time but its something that makes life suck less. So when you do your first bend and you set a level on the bend you can bend on the same plane.


C pillar done. I want my "overhead" bars to be the strongest of the structure, so they will have the least bends and the most triangulation. Not sating the other tubes are not as important but I could care less if the windshield bends a little, The passengers are the most important thing.


Now for the "A" pillar to the B required a bunch of off-axis bends. If I showed you how i did "my" math your head would explode so I will just give you a brief discription.
There is 24" of upright to the first bend of 10*, then the tube is rotated 2* (in or out depending on drivers or passenger side) and the next bend at 33" of 35* for the windshield angle, then the next bend at 42.5" of 60* for the horizontal bar.
And how you do this without throwing tools is use an angle of plane tool.


This way you only have to work from one side of the tube and know what plane you are bending on

[usmcdoc14]

So time for some notching with a Baileigh Industrial TN-250 pimptacular fawking notching tool

Figure the angle to need, lock it in the circular vice and cut. Use lots of oil and a slow speed unless you don't like your hole saws.


And get that bitch in there



Sorry the pictures look like ass, I had to solve a problem as I did not like where the base was hitting the floor. It was "good" but I could not get the base plate where I wanted it without the tube annoying the fuck out of me when I drive. So I made an offset mounting that I will show you later that will not give up any strength.

This should work

[usmcdoc14]

More bending and fitting. Nothing much impressive but did do some roll bending.

First I would like to show why the bend angle/axis thing comes in handy so much. If you know you are doing 2 notches on the same plane you can scribe the tube or use and existing line on it (HREW is great for this as there is an obvious line) but with clean DOM this can be an issue. or you just want to be a little more exacting.

Clamp it loose and index it to its either 0 or 90 degrees.


then when you turn the tube around to notch that side you index the whole tube to the same angle and you know your notches are on the same plane.



I love this notcher do a quick chamfer on the 12" disk sander and its ready to weld in.


THIS is where the circular chuck of the notcher shines and the axis indicator shows its full use. This is a roll bent tube so the ENTIRE tube is in an arc. you could not easily grab this in a flat vice. the TN-250 had no issues at all. also matching the notches on both ends was easy, just match the numbers.


Roll bends bitches



and the joys of quality tools

[usmcdoc14]

cross bracing on the B pillar is done, next I will be laying the saddle gussets over the joints.




C pillar triangulation. I will do the belt mounting points once I push the seats back a little.


FUCK I hate welding tube your position changes and you have to change technique depending on what surface you are on. not my best welding but it will never fail. Mig weld looks like MIG weld :thefinger:


dash bar and brace are in place.

[usmcdoc14]

Here is the center node. I dont normally grind my welds smooth but seeing as this will be constantly touched/bumped/whatever I wanted no rough edges at all. I also did not dimple die it because I know motherfuckers would be dropping pennies and shit or cheerios from small kids


fucking overkill

Here is the floor plate.
The tube buts to a SOLID 1" thick block, I went with solid instead of to the tube because I wanted to put a lot of heat with .250 thick plates and it would burn through the tube. The block rests on the little sill on the inside and then there is the boxed angle to the floor plate. There will be another gusset..maybe.. as long as it does not get in my way.

I would really have to fuck something up in order to move/bend it


Had to stop for the night, I am out of welding gas and killed another tube roller bearing.




Tube roller is out of commission for a while

[usmcdoc14]

You thing I have enough triangulation?





Free cat pimping




This is where the rear terminates, its the last flat surface past the factory mount.

[usmcdoc14]

So any questions comments or concerns?

Tomorow I will run a diagonal from the C to B and B to A and I think the main tubing will be done.

[smewhtguy]

Looking good Doc.

[Country69]

As a matter of fact I do have a comment. Holy Shit!

[usmcdoc14]

Originally Posted by Country69

As a matter of fact I do have a comment. Holy Shit!

is that a good or bad "holy shit"?

By the way, this is the first cage I have ever built.

[poorboy1]

looks killer. i like the rolled tubing supports.

[MattyB4x4]

Honest PBB Opinion....

Not sure about the rolled roof bars.

Other than that, I dig it.

[usmcdoc14]

Originally Posted by MattyB4x4

Honest PBB Opinion....

Not sure about the rolled roof bars.

Other than that, I dig it.

I wanted to give a little more headroom safety, give the soft top a higher center and maybe give a better dispersion of force.

[twentyfootdaredevil]

Quite a bit of pussy in this thread for general 4x4

Looks plenty safe to me!

[usmcdoc14]

oh and per my statement in the contest:

The bender and notcher will be available when I am done to loan to any star owning member who wants to pay shipping to/from !!

I figure if one or two people per a state loan this beast, get together a bending party to tack together a bunch of cages they can not only save $$$$ on tube (bulk order) but not have to buy a bender! (unless you need other than a 1.75" die then you only need the die !)

[Jeepman14wheel]

Looks good, but I do not like the mega gusset in the center of the B pillar.

[usmcdoc14]

Originally Posted by Jeepman14wheel

Looks good, but I do not like the mega gusset in the center of the B pillar.

but its a nice place to keep refrigerator magnets

[Beat95YJ]

No offense intended but your b tube gusset looks like ass. Should have left it as a node.

[Jeepman14wheel]

Originally Posted by usmcdoc14

but its a nice place to keep refrigerator magnets

Very true....

[usmcdoc14]

Originally Posted by Beat95YJ

No offense intended but your b tube gusset looks like ass. Should have left it as a node.

well I can't exactly "unweld" it Once i make it all smooth and happy it may look better painted....or with something mounted to it

It was one of those things that looked right in my head, I will see what I can do with it.