I am all eyes and ears.

 

If there was a way to do this and still retain airbags, i'd be all over it. But, unfortunately, it seems to be one or the other.

Anxious to see what you come up with. I believe sol's has a build thread for his on ih8mud or somewhere else.

 

Curious to see where this one goes. Removing airbags to replace with a cage... Ya know, there are lots more injuries from heads smacking the B-pillar than the roof collapsing on the head... just sayin'

 

I would think if you hold the bar that runs along the inside of the driver's window in far enough you could retain the air bags. They are just above the window and when activated push the edge of the headliner aside and shoot down.

 

The problem is the B pillar of the cage. In order to fit the B pillar between the seat and the door, you need to hug the door. By hugging the door with the B pillar you don't leave enough room for the bag to deploy without interfering with the B pillar. If you move the B pillar inboard it then gets close to your head. The side curtain air bags are one long bag that runs from A to C pillar and IMO would not deploy properly with a cage installed. The other issue is the headliner. That thing takes up SO MUCH room it's ridiculous. By removing the headliner you gain ~4"-5" of additional room above your melon. You can push the halo all the way up against the roof sheet metal and have plenty of room for your head and roll bar padding. By pushing the halo up it gives you a lot more clearance around your head which is a plus.

 

Sol is the man, He is exactly right about all of this! I don't daily drive my FJC anymore! ( I know its a luxury for me and I'm blessed) I'm more worried about flopping at 2mph than getting tboned in an intersection. Both my half doors and Roll Cage ideas were sprung from Sol's tube doors and roll cage. He is the Man!!

 

Just read the half door post. I can't believe I missed that one. I will be checking this one often. :bigthumb: Freakin' great job!!

 

Good luck with this. I also just went through the half-door thread and can't wait to see where this goes.

 

Crazy that people never saw the Half Door Thread! 9000 views. I thought that thing was dead!!

 

Haha, I'm loving your avatar sbechtold! Well that and your SAS FJ! All of us with semi stock FJs salute you sir!

 

I stopped in EXORR today and guess what I saw? Your doors are indeed very cool and I am looking forward to seeing the completed cage!

 

Here are some very early pictures from the project. When we got under the headliner, we noticed a very uneven surface so we are making a new roof out of a very thin piece of sheet metal and placing some high density foam in between the roof and sheet metal to deaden some sound.

We are then going to linex the new sheet metal roof for a more even and tougher look.

Project should be done by the April 18th. I'm loving the bend that is going through the dash as it saves a ton of floor/feet space. I can now finally mount my cb on the roof to the cage and going to put all new lights on the roof and run the wiring under the new roof.

Once again, another super clean job by Dave at EXORR.

 

nice

 

This looks like a really cool project.

Subscribed.

What tube type and size are you using? Are you through-mounting to the frame or are you going off the body? What guage sheet steel are you using in the headliner? Are you going to internally triangulate your cage?

 

Definitely mounting to the frame!!

Will write more tomorrow to address your other questions.

I am beat and my head is foggy after a 5 hour flight.

 

you belong in a tree

because you're a NUT!

you are the man though

 

MY HERO!

 

I think you need to paint the "Belly Krawler" pink.

 

I just stopped by EXORR today and all I can say is HOLY CRA*!*$#

I knew this project was going to turn out great because Dave was unbelieveable in making my half doors, but I have to say I was blown away with this roll cage.

I will try to post pics tomorrow and will have em up no later than Wednesday for sure. The custom ceiling is AMAZING!! and the Linex was the perfect touch to give it that rugged look inside. The detail on this project is amazing; From the Sweet LED lighting system throughout, to the new ceiling, beutiful bends on the cage, and just amazing imagination and thought put in to the design on this puppy. I feel like I'm getting a project from some reality television show like a 4 wheel version on pimp my ride even though I had to pay for it!!

You think I'm hyping it up? Just wait till you see the newest pics (not the prelims as of 4/6). You be the judge!! Thanks for all your help Dave! Not only will I feel safe now, but I have hands down the coolest interior on the planet!!!

 

OK, as promised....Here are some newbies. I will throw more up too in a bit.

 

OK, as promised....Here are some newbies. I will throw more up too in a bit.

uh dewd some one has been walking on your new roof liner :rofl:

that is a clean arse install I'd be pumped as hell myself.. great job

 

Thats Sick!!!! :rocker:

 

Freakin Ridiculous HUH? I'm so pumped. :cheers:

 

Holy JEEBUS!!!

Nice...

 

That's really sexy tube work. Is the CB mounted to the new ceiling or to the tubes? How's the space for rear seat entry? Does it look like you'd want to go in front or behind the B pillar tube to get in the back seat?

 

CB is mounted to a pice of sheet metal built in to the cage for that purpose. I will take a better pic for you later.

B pillar is set so that you can put front seats all the way back. Small kids or skinny dudes like me could easily fit behind it. Hefty dudes can slide the front seats all the way forward and go in front of the B pillar.

 

just plain awesome work!!!

 

:rocker:Awesom Awesome Awesome!! Bad AZZ rig dude!:rocker:

 

WOW he did it again:cheers: very nice! cant wait to see this pan out!

 

You don't even want to know my next project if you think the half doors and roll cage were nuts!!

I will be posting some final pics of the cage completely finished next week.

Stay tuned for more insane projects entitled "Coming Right Up!"

Whoops! Guess I ruined the teasor in the next post answering Sol's question.:rofl:

 

Looks awesome!

 

Looking good. Is there a reason the C pillar doesn't go back further? Post a pic of the frame captures when you get a chance.

 

I will give you some final close ups from all angles next week. We actually got those C pillars to mount to the body double plated through where the back wheel well was so I didn't lose any rear trunk space.

The reason it doesn't go back further is because I am working on drawings for a REMOVABLE HARD TOP and want the back of the truck to basically act as a mini truck bed. I wanted to protcet the rear passengers obvioulsy but had to take into consideration what the vehicle will look like topless on those sunny days.

SAC coming first. Removable Hard Top Project coming Nov 2010.

 

This is going really well!

Tell me about the construction technique. I see that the entire halo was fabbed on the floor and then propped up on the pillars inside the cab. Did the welds get done from the pillars to the halo at full halo height? I've seen tricks where the pillars are designed to be welded to the halo in a low position, and then they get raised up with some sort of clever insert at the base that gets welded in to finalize the shape. How did this one go?

 

Yes, Halo built on the floor! No tricks on the pillars, It was welded at full height and just propped up with wood during the welding. No clever inserts, just double plated to the body.

Like I said before, I will take some detailed final pics next week and show you guys some of the intricacies of the design.