Daily drivers and Cages?

[Ekrub7788]

I am curious to see how many people out here use there EB as a daily driver and have there Roll cage 1. connected to the frame? 2. and have there seats and seat belts built into the cage? I am trying to decide whether or not to keep try and mount the seats to the cage which i already have the mounts for or just bolt it to the body. Its gonna be a mild wheeler, most likely every other weekend. Its gonna be my daily driver since its gonna push out a little ;D black smoke and get half way decent fuel economy... that is if i ever finish it.

 

[lowbush]

I am curious to see how many people out here use there EB as a daily driver and have there Roll cage 1. connected to the frame? 2. and have there seats and seat belts built into the cage? I am trying to decide whether or not to keep try and mount the seats to the cage which i already have the mounts for or just bolt it to the body. Its gonna be a mild wheeler, most likely every other weekend. Its gonna be my daily driver since its gonna push out a little ;D black smoke and get half way decent fuel economy... that is if i ever finish it.

If you have a cage, bolt the seats to the cage, think of the cage as a shell that protects you, anything that connects to you, should connect to the cage and then the cage should connect to the frame. This makes the cage completely independent of the body, the entire cage could be ejected from the vehicle and you would still be protected within that shell. Should the unlikely event of the cage coming out happen and you have portions of seat/restraints attached to the body the force of the body and cage separated will be applied on those points that are crossing the bounds of the two. You don't want to be in the middle of that force. Personally I think any fully convertible truck or SUV that does not have a cage is a death trap even if you are only using it for street driving, it is too easy to roll a truck in a collision and fully convertible trucks offer no support in a roll over.

 

[Pearlcoat]

Both of mine are steet legal and one goes off road as well. Both have full 6pt cages tied to the frame. Seats are not mounted on the cage, driver is too tall to allow for this. Steel plates were added under the body of the fiberglass one that the seat bolts go thru. Seat belts are bolted to the floor, with extra reinforcement under the fiberglass tub again.

 

[bknbronco]

I wouldnt worry about having the seats mounted to the rool cage. Way over kill unless you have unlimited money and time! I have no top and dont even plan on having a rool bar for a few years. It might not be the safest decision but neither are my lap belts. I have never seen a convertable car with a rool bar unless there at the track and even then they dont need one unless they make a certain time.

If you have everything to mount the seats to the cage then id go the extra mile and do it, but if your starting with just a plain cage then skip it. You can always add it later. And what does it matter if its a daily driver or not? All it takes is a bad decision of another driver and you gona have a accident. Being a daily driver or one driven once a year should not make a difference in your decision.

 

[Izzy]

I have 6pt cages in both of mine which are both used (or planned) as daily drivers. I do not currently have either of them connected to the frame but that is in the plans. I also do plan to have the seats and belts all mounted to the cage as well. I figure why not and it's really not that expensive to go the extra step for safety.

It only takes one bad accident to regret not doing it. Money can be replaced, the lives of my loved ones and myself cannot.

 

[Ekrub7788]

I feel like it's better to over build it them under build it ?

 

[blazinchuck]

I feel like it's better to over build it them under build it ?

sure, as long as funds arent an issue...some build according to what their wallet says lol.

all i have is a 77 for a daily driver, it has a protofab family cage with the lower seat mount tubing,beard racing seats fr/r. currently has 5 point seat belts front and retractable rear lap belts. planning to upgrade to 3 points all 4 corners.

 

[Greg_B]

Mine is no longer a daily driver but I also dont wheel much anymore either so most of its use is on the road. I have a full cage with the seats mounted into the cage. It really isnt hard to do and I feel like provides more safety than tieing the cage to the frame.

If I were to do it over again I would have used 1-3/4 tube for the main cage instead of 2". I think 2" is over kill and very heavy. I saw a jeep roll a few weeks ago and hit extremly hard on a rock and it took tremendous sheetmetal damage but the 1-3/4" roll cage held up great without any damage to it at all.

I used 1-1/2" tube for the seat tie ins and I think it was plenty.

There are pics in my gallery.

Greg

 

[Ekrub7788]

How do you guys tie your seats in to the cage without making the seats sit too high? Also do you keep the front of the seats in the front higher then the rear of the seat?

 

[Greg_B]

See my pics... I used a plate that sits about a 1/2" off the floor. So yes the seats are a 1/2" higher.

Greg

 

[dirtslinger]

Greg,
Nice ride, what lift/tire combo are you running?

 

[BluebroncoNC]

One of the first stops my Bronco will make, the local welder, I don't trust my own welding skills to put the tie in kit, for my frame to roll bar addition.

I won't drive a high center of gravity truck without this addition, although I did consider a low bar run accross the seat back roll bar at the bottom, as a way of preventing the roll bar pushing through the floor.

But,

Decided better to tie it to the frame. Bought a bronco kit, but needs to be sized, cut and welded by someone who's certified for my tastes.

 

[NateMob]

I daily drive my 74 with a full cage and have the seats and seatbelts tied into the cage. The only way to go in my opinion.

 

[00gyrhed]

most cages are way overbuilt, and that can add up the a lot of weight and raise nyour center of gravity. i rebuilt my floors so that i could lower the drivers seat and move it back to the rear at the same time. I had to fabricate a new middle body mount behind the front seats. the cage and floor are all ONE framework welded or bolted together and then the floor is bolted direct to the frame. all connection points the the body also are structurally connected to the frame.

My original intent was to put the rubber body mounts back in and use the homemade metal spacers just for setting up the cage and floor but the ride quaility did not really seem to be affected much and i just left it all bolted direct to the frame.

eitherway would have worked well and my cage is faily light weight. I took the approach that the cage was there to protect people and not every piece of sheetmetal. it is acceptable for it to bend and move in an accident. the main thing is dont bolt your seat to the floor and cage to the frame and then bolt the seat belt to the cage, or vice versa. You don't want one going one way and the other somewhere else.

 

[rjlougee]

Its gonna be my daily driver since its gonna push out a little ;D black smoke

Sounds like a diesel project!

Tying the cage into the frame generally results in significant vibration being passed into the frame. Tying the seats into the cage passes even more into the driver. A diesel is going to exacerbate the issue.

If you plan to go that way, make sure you're not planning a set of fiberglass racing seats with thin covers, you'll beat yourself daft in no time flat. Spend some $$ on good suspension seats.

I do have one rig with the seats tied into the cage, but I'm not a big fan of tying the cage into the frame. If you want to go that route, get rid of the frame and go tube chassis/skins.

The most miserable day of wheeling I've had lately came from spending a day in Moab riding in an oil-burner, on old school seats and nearly stock suspension. I now euphemistically refer to that day as "coilover appreciation day".
Joe

 

[Ekrub7788]

I have some seats from toms the procar seats. I am debating whether or not to get some expensive seats. I just have to figure out how to lower the seats if they are built into the cage.

 

[Bronco Biff]

6pt cage bolted to the floor, soft top and daily driven 45 miles each way to work each day, or night until I feel asleep after back 12's and rolled at about 65 mph on the back roads back in 1989. Shoulder belt seat belts scavanged out of a Fairmont bolted to original floor mounts and roll bar, seats bolted to the factory floor holes. Roll bar and belt saved my butt giving me the oppurtunity to type this and wheel the Bronco for another 22 years!!!

 

[lowbush]

Sounds like a diesel project!

Tying the cage into the frame generally results in significant vibration being passed into the frame. Tying the seats into the cage passes even more into the driver. A diesel is going to exacerbate the issue.
Joe

An option that is not talked about alot when talking about cages is floor bars. If someone does not want to tie into the frame they can have a cage built that uses floor bars. For those that are not familiar with them they are basically the same thing as the top hoop just run across the bottom. Floor bars work well because if downward force is applied on the cage, the floor bars run across the frame rails therefore supporting the cage independent of the frame but still utilize the frame as the point where pressure is applied on the frame. A lot of race guys use floor bars because the entire vehicle can disintegrate around you and you are still left with the cage around you it's a really good design but it does not seem to be as popular in 4x4 applications.

 

[Broncology]

I didn't have a roll cage in my daily driver bronco and eventually rolled it on the street. It was stupid for me to be out on the road when I was (bad weather..it really wasn't that bad %) ), but just a freak slip up that happened at the blink of an eye. I almost learned the importance of a roll cage the hard way. Luckily I walked away unharmed, but I am not taking the chance this go around. It won't drive out of the driveway without a cage. There are too many fools driving around that are more concerned with getting their moca frappachino at the local starbuck's than to stop at the light that just turned red. If you survive, the ride in the ambulance on the way to the hospital will cost more than the best roll cage money can buy ;D. Just my opinion, but no amount of money is worth the risk.

Also, an overbuilt roll cage can work against you, raising your center of gravity with the non-needed braces/support (as stated in an above post).

 

[rjlougee]

An option that is not talked about alot when talking about cages is floor bars.

Agreed, this is actually how mine is built.

Thinking about the way a "normal" 6 point is built, mine is run with an additional 1.75" bar from the 'A' bar to the 'B' bar on each side, then 1" square tube between the floor bars. Seats mount to the square tube.
Joe