Dutch's (Unfinished) Cage Pics

Just recieved these...

http://www.jcroffroad.com/misc/boyinkcage/

Overall it looks to be coming together pretty well.

My biggest concern is how the 'cage ends short of the body in the rear. It's really just a visual thing - there's no saftey concern as the backseat should be well within the cage. This design also allows the softtop bows to fold down w/o removing them, and gives the softop a place to lay when folded down.

I'm just not sure I care for the way it leaves some of the body sticking out. Brian - The fabricator - thought extending it to the rear of the body looked goofy as it made the 'cage look so long...but I'm not sure. One impression I have is that the cage doesn't look made to fit this way.

What do you guys think?

 

Looks fine to me.

 

Looks good Mike. As long as the cage is over the rears seats I
think it's good to go.

 

I think it is growing on me...what I do like about it is it's pretty symmetrical looking from the side. I note that the rear rollbars in TJ's don't go all the way back either. I really gotta see it in person to really decide, I guess.

Hansh - I'm not the one doing the fab work...it's way past my skills..

On the "support bar", if you mean a side to side bar at shoulder height behind the front seats for the shoulder part of 4-point harnesses to attach to, no way. I have kids, and such a bar would be a pain in the rear for getting them in and out of the back seat. I had 4 pt harnesses in my 5 and never used them anyway -- too much of a hassle to get in and out of.

What I'm doing insted is having TJ seat belts put in all 'round, so all seats will have the lap/shoulder belts. Also all the seat mounts will be incorporated into the cage - that's the part that's mostly unfinished.

 

I like it as is too. I don't think farther back would look as good.

 

No wonder I liked it. The TJ does that too. R)

I forgot. Duh, the top fits in the tub behind the sport bar when it's down.

 

I like it. For me, I like to be able to fold the soft top bows down. I do it quite often in warm seasons.

 

The rear bars kick in, I think, to keep them parallel to the body sides and to keep the bars as high as possible.

If you look at where they attach to the center hoop, it's inboard a bit because in order to attach at a higher point they have to grab at the center hoop's inward bend. If the rear of the sidebars didn't match that they would not be parallel - they'd get wider apart towards the back of the Jeep.

I haven't seen it with the top on, I'm hoping this approach keeps the rollcage from blocking the windows.

I'm going to see if I can get him to use bigger plates, but not sure if it's worth going full fenderwell since it's just the one bar mounting there.

 

Just for comparison's sake, this pic (which I hadn't seen before) is pretty darn close to what I was thinking originally:



Compared to: