Seat Mount to roll cage. Pics and suggestions

[TJK74]

Well finally underway with getting the seats mounted up to the new cage. Here are a few progress pics. All my tabs are ordered and should have be here friday. The rear seat will be removable yet still tied into the cage with its own sub structure. When the rear seat and structure is out a gargo rack will be able to put in in it's place.

 

[matt69]

Looks Good. Is the hoop behind the seat for seatbelt mounts? If so, are you going to put anymore support in the hoop behind the seat?

Matt

 

[brian72]

Looks good...

 

[TJK74]

Looks Good. Is the hoop behind the seat for seatbelt mounts? If so, are you going to put anymore support in the hoop behind the seat?

Matt

Yep the hoops behind the seats are for the shoulder harness mounts. I was thinking of running a support tube the the left side of the hoop to the main mid hoop but after laying in the bed and leg pressing against the hoop I couldn't even get the thing to budge or flex the slightest bit so I think it should be good on its own

 

[crawln68]

Hey Tevor,

How's it going? Your cage is looking awesome! I didn't see this thread until now so this might be a little late, but here are some pics of how I did mine. Regarding your harness hoops, I thought about that same thing with that design. That's why I did mine differently. How much do you weigh? About 175? If you are in a high speed highway accident you can probably multiply that by 10, so that hoop will need to withstand a 1750 lb. yank without bending. Do you think that it will do that? Your life may depend on it. (now of course your lap belt will be holding some of that too) Just something to think about when you are designing a cage and seat belts. ;D My middle name is "overkill" so I would brace the sh$t out of it. Just my .02.

 

[TJK74]

Hey Patrick
Thanks... I like the way you braced yours and was thinking of doing something similar but had to keep in mind that at times i'll need a fully fuctional back seat with easy access for my two boys. I'll probably end up adding something but at this point I'm really trying to get the necessities all mounted up and have my rig ready in time for SOB. Thats probably going to include a quick and temporary primer and rattle can job on the cage and the bare metal spots on the tub for now to hold off the rust. I had planned to have the thing painted and bedlined but that will have to wait till after SOB

 

[crab]

Looks like you pretty much have it together now. Here is a pic of our seat kit set up with mastercraft seats. The only thing I would suggest is to really try to keep the back of your seat as close to the floor as possible and slope your seat about 12-15 degrees for comfort. Sorry it took so long, but you know me by now:-X

 

[TJK74]

Hey Rob
Thanks for the pic, It's hard to tell from the pic I posted but I have the back end of the mount sloped 3/8" lower than the fronts. That was about all I could go being 5ft 9 and keeping everthing feeling comfy and within reach;D

Looks like you pretty much have it together now. Here is a pic of our seat kit set up with mastercraft seats. The only thing I would suggest is to really try to keep the back of your seat as close to the floor as possible and slope your seat about 12-15 degrees for comfort. Sorry it took so long, but you know me by now:-X

 

[TJK74]

Well the fronts are done. Now just need to get busy on the back section.

 

[matt69]

Looks good, I would still add some reinforcement to the hoops that the shoulder harness is attached to. The welds look real nice.

matt

 

[DebosDave'72]

Hey Tevor,

How's it going? Your cage is looking awesome! I didn't see this thread until now so this might be a little late, but here are some pics of how I did mine. Regarding your harness hoops, I thought about that same thing with that design. That's why I did mine differently. How much do you weigh? About 175? If you are in a high speed highway accident you can probably multiply that by 10, so that hoop will need to withstand a 1750 lb. yank without bending. Do you think that it will do that? Your life may depend on it. (now of course your lap belt will be holding some of that too) Just something to think about when you are designing a cage and seat belts. ;D My middle name is "overkill" so I would brace the sh$t out of it. Just my .02.

I am not a design engineer, but I know they do crumple zones these days for a reason. I personally wouldn't want 1750 pounds (my case 2000) of force right on my body. IF, and I say IF those hoops were to bend in a high speed wreck, I would be thankful that they gave a little and absorbed some of the impact, intead of transfering it to my shoulders via the harness.... Like I said I am not a design engineer, just my uneducated thoughts on the matter... These roundy rounders all wear helmets and neck braces, so they can handle the high speed impact a little differently in a solid cage....

Dave

 

[IronBenderII]

It would take an amazing impact to deform those hoops w/ your body weight. You'd be dead anyway (brocken neck and more). And I agree w/ the last guy, you'd be glad they gave a little if that was the case.

I'd be more worried about the B pillar collapsing and getting crushed from the seat belts. Not that it's likely but I'd be more worried about that myself.

Cool cage Trevor!

Jack

 

[TJK74]

Thanks Jack
It will be even cooler once your done adding your special addition to it;D

Well as far as the hoops bending I'm not too worried about it at this point yesterday evening I stopped by a local shop down here with the bronco to drop off 8 cases of oil and talked to them on what they thought about the hoop set up and the possibilities of it bending under impact. Phil the chassis fab guy there just laughed and said "Dude you would have to hit a rock solid wall at well over 70mph to get those to bend and even then maybe and inch at most" So I asked then why in the race cars were the harness mounts set up with a horizontal cross bar and bracing and his answer was that in the race cars behind the thin sheet metal the chassis cross bracing is all you have for high speed side impact protection to keep it from caving in if your were to be t-boned plus it adds to the over all rigidness of the chassis which greatly helps the handling or the cars
So with the hoop worries set a side now its on to the back seat set up;D

It would take an amazing impact to deform those hoops w/ your body weight. You'd be dead anyway (brocken neck and more). And I agree w/ the last guy, you'd be glad they gave a little if that was the case.

I'd be more worried about the B pillar collapsing and getting crushed from the seat belts. Not that it's likely but I'd be more worried about that myself.

Cool cage Trevor!

Jack

 

[crawln68]

I agree 100% that crumple zones in bodies are a great idea and save lives, but I personally don't want to build in crumple zones into my cage. I want my cage to be as strong and as rigid as possible. That's just me though.

Your Bronco is looking awesome Trevor. I'm so glad that you are finally getting your cage installed. Now lets go back over to Hollister Hills and break it in! ;D