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I've had my Cherokee for about 2 1/2 years now. I've always thought a cage would be a cool idea for my Jeep but never actually thought I'd do it. Recently I got myself a Denali XL for a daily driver and towing rig. Also I'm into my fourth month as a welder. (20 years old) So since XJ can now sit in the garage, and I have a good resource for steel and help I've decided what the hell and started going for it. For notching I've just been using an angle grinder and setting up the tube where it needs to go. I'll fill in the gaps and clean up the connecting points with weld at the end. As for welding, I'm not very good at all with flux core, that being all I have in my garage, I'm using that to tack it all together and I will take off the rockers and into work where I'll weld it on a miller 450. Any criticism is appreciated as the point of this project is to protect my lady and myself and my beloved jeep in the event of flop. :P
Havent got my rear bumper yet so dont know exactly how that back bar will attach yet. Might do a cut and fold and get something that folds all the way around like the OR Fab. Also the very top bar isnt notched yet just mocked up. I'll be removing the roof rack when I get that far.
Last edited by AlienAstronomer; 08-09-2016 at 07:11 PM.
Im building close to the body, but i have that bar sticking out a ways across the rear quarter. Think itll look kinda cool, and obviously helpful. <br/>
With the front im thinking im going into the fenders like this because of my snorkel. Also i accidentally made my rockers too short at the front to connect anything to it so i figure the front will go into to the unibody. Im going to build across the hood and into a stinger too.
Not a bad start. It definitely has potential. That last pic you posted is probably one of the best examples of a hybrid cage I've ever seen, super clean.
What are you using for steel, and how are you bending? Just curious...
Its hard to see but on your rear quarter sliders, it looks like you bent them to short. If you are doing the effort of an EXO, i would do the Cut and fold, and make your own rear bumper. you obviously have the skills, that way you can fab it to mount to your cage how you want rather than trying to work with someone elses design.
For steel I'm using 1.75" round tubing with a 3/16 wall. And the rockers are 2x6 rectangle tubing, also 3/16 wall. Believe it or not im bending with a 100 dollar 12 ton hydraulic jack bender from harbor freight. With the thickness of the wall it really doesn't make the bends look all that bad. It's just a real pain in the ***. Also first time I tried going to 90 degrees on it, all the welds popped on it. So I rewelded it, and it holds up fine now. Yeah the sliders i come out about an inch or two short, but like you said, I figure a cut and fold mod, with a bumper that wraps around will do the trick
For steel I'm using 1.75" round tubing with a 3/16 wall. And the rockers are 2x6 rectangle tubing, also 3/16 wall. Believe it or not im bending with a 100 dollar 12 ton hydraulic jack bender from harbor freight. With the thickness of the wall it really doesn't make the bends look all that bad. It's just a real pain in the ***. Also first time I tried going to 90 degrees on it, all the welds popped on it. So I rewelded it, and it holds up fine now. Yeah the sliders i come out about an inch or two short, but like you said, I figure a cut and fold mod, with a bumper that wraps around will do the trick
those benders work pretty good, used one on my steering, bent 1/4 wall DOM no problem.
Do you think it'll be that bad? As in, bog my engine down or anything? I don't plan on going crazy with tube, keeping it simple. I would guess about 500lbs in steel all together give or take
no, you'll be fine. im just not a fan of adding a bunch of unnecessary weight to a jeep. my cage, which is built out of 1.5" OD 0.120" wall, added about 200 lbs of weight.
Its hard to see but on your rear quarter sliders, it looks like you bent them to short. If you are doing the effort of an EXO, i would do the Cut and fold, and make your own rear bumper. you obviously have the skills, that way you can fab it to mount to your cage how you want rather than trying to work with someone elses design.
I decided to comp cut/fold the lower rear quarter, and started making my own bumper. I still have a ways to go with the bumper before I'll be ready to move on. Should be done this week. I still have to make a piece to fill the gap under the taillights. Also, going to figure out how to trim the bottom of the c channel (orange steel) on the quarters. Gonna put some d ring mounts on it, then figure out how to mount this thing. I know I'm going to make two beefy *** mounts to take the c channel directly to the unibody. Then off to work to weld out.
08-09-2016, 07:00 PM
Working on my exocage
