Front cage hoop with plate steel bottom half instead of tubing

[half cab]

How did I get in this? If you want pictures just ask. I did not want to mess with your thread. Im good with it.

Hey I thought your name was Chester now ?:?

 

[JeepGuy]

How did I get in this? If you want pictures just ask. I did not want to mess with your thread. Im good with it.

I checked your gallery and saw nothing like what the OP is doing. I'm a bit lost. Did you do a plate structure up front similar to his? Pics or a little guidance to a link or section to check would be appreciated.

 

[bax]

Jeep guy, check the chat

 

[bknbronco]

sorry BAX.....just wantd to point out to these guys that similar ideas have spawned and actually turned out great.

I had my idea for many years and then one day I saw your pics. No more name dropping!

 

[half cab]

Hey I like what you did with your ashes tray .

 

[rjrobin2002]

I also question the strength of a tube front cage leg after it has 4-5 bends in it to follow the dash line tight compared to a 1/2" piece of high quality plate steel bolted to the door post and then the front leg can attach to it with only 1 bend at the roof to windshield angle. I think of the door post as preventing bending of the plate also.

 

[lowbush]

How did I get in this?

Trouble just follows you around.

 

[STD]

I also question the strength of a tube front cage leg after it has 4-5 bends in it to follow the dash line tight compared to a 1/2" piece of high quality plate steel bolted to the door post and then the front leg can attach to it with only 1 bend at the roof to windshield angle. I think of the door post as preventing bending of the plate also.

It's would question that front leg too

 

[Apogee]

I also question the strength of a tube front cage leg after it has 4-5 bends in it to follow the dash line tight compared to a 1/2" piece of high quality plate steel bolted to the door post and then the front leg can attach to it with only 1 bend at the roof to windshield angle. I think of the door post as preventing bending of the plate also.

That wouldn't be a legal A-pillar design in any form of racing that I'm familiar with. It's a right hand drive car and who knows where from, but properly engineered and designed, there are dozens of ways one could build equally effective cages, each with its own pros and cons. I applaud those who want to think outside the box, however would encourage erring on the side of caution and understanding one's own abilities versus limitations when the personal safety of you, your passengers and potentially innocent bystanders is involved.

 

[BroncoMabry]

This is a heavier duty version of the same idea. The main difference being that they put a custom dash into this Bronco. But I think you could put an original style Bronco dash in with this cage, it would just need have a couple inches shaved from the edges.

I would not question the strength of this bad boy. Those pillars look stout. But less intrusive than your standard tube pillar at the drivers foot.

 

[Steve83]

That Nemesis cage looks great, but it fails at its points of attachment. As an independent cell, it looks stout. But it puts all its weight (& that of its occupants) on the FLOOR of the Bronco, in places where there's not much (if any) factory structure. That puts the body tub in shear at several places; most of which are known to rust out & collapse, even WITHOUT the weight & stress of a cage.

They went to the trouble of building the dash into the cage - why didn't they add the door pillars in? And why not add a lip to the front hoop so the windshield gasket would fit right into it? And why not put a floor under the seats, and behind them? Why not build a "cage" that totally replaces the old body? You'd have all new metal, less overall weight, more internal space, lower CG, and more functionality. It would be really easy to add mounts for the original quarter panels & t/g, and for the original hood & fenders so it would still look right from the outside. You could also integrate the half-door design into it if you wanted. It wouldn't be a "tube buggy" because it would still be built on an eB frame. But it would simultaneously become an exo-cage. Instead of adding fender flares, you could incorporate tube there to match your lift/tire combo. Even a body lift could be integrated...

IDK why no one has done it yet. If I built cages, that's the only way I'd do them.

 

[lowbush]

This is a heavier duty version of the same idea. The main difference being that they put a custom dash into this Bronco. But I think you could put an original style Bronco dash in with this cage, it would just need have a couple inches shaved from the edges.

I would not question the strength of this bad boy. Those pillars look stout. But less intrusive than your standard tube pillar at the drivers foot.

If you look at both of these cages though they are not plates, the bottoms are small low profile boxes, which have been dimple die-ed as well. So basically they are custom sized square tube and they dimple- die-ed and sleeved them to give them further 3D structure. These are not really examples of plate bottoms because structurally they are tubes but they are a clever way to get away with needing 3d support, they made the tube wider but narrower and then added the holes on the wider axis to give the box tube the same structural characteristics as the traditional tube. This is a really slick design.

 

[BroncoMabry]

If you look at both of these cages though they are not plates, the bottoms are small low profile boxes, which have been dimple die-ed as well. So basically they are custom sized square tube and they dimple- die-ed and sleeved them to give them further 3D structure. These are not really examples of plate bottoms because structurally they are tubes but they are a clever way to get away with needing 3d support, they made the tube wider but narrower and then added the holes on the wider axis to give the box tube the same structural characteristics as the traditional tube. This is a really slick design.

Precisely. And those are actually the same cage. 2nd pic is of that very cage installed.

 

[bknbronco]

ya I seen that cage before, and its one sweet piece of equiptment!...its a tad overkill for me....im trying to keep it simple. That's about a $10,000 cage!

Im building a roll cage not a impact cage.

 

[BroncoMabry]

I agree that cage is overkill overall. However, I think you could just incorporate the A pillar design from that cage & leave the rest of your cage as a standard roll cage. Leave the dash mounted in its current place, minus shaving a half inch to an inch from each side of the dash for the A pillar placement.

 

[ntsqd]

Yikes!!
A tube bender is a tool, not an obligation.

 

[u10072]

Ya that's something alright...

 

[Joker11]

^^^^^ What he said ^^^^^^^

 

[half cab]

Looks like it done got squated in the back.

 

[bknbronco]

so if I take my lower legs and bolt through the side firewall and on the other side there is also a plate, but that plate has a piece of tubing running from top to bottom that's cut in half.....would that provide some decent 3 dimensional strength?????

Its cleaner and easyer to find room on the outside of that firewall area I think. Besides anything welded on the inside leg makes removing the cage impossible without removing the dash if you wana keep it all tight. That's pretty much why im at a stalemate with my mock up.

A chunk of tubing cut in half lengthwise on a outside plate steel leg be sufficient for strength?

only problem is that the frame tie ins start getting further and further from the frame when you get out to that side firewall. Ill have rocker sliders that are all tied into the frame and into the cage tie-ins as well, and probably some external fender sliders tied into the rocker sliders and the bumpers front and rear.