Well Paul and I have been talking about doing a cab cage for his explorer every now and then since meeting him at an explorer get together at his place a while back. The plan got put into motion and he brought her over to 360 Metal Fab for some lovin
The main structure of the cage was built out of 1.75"x.120 wall DOM tubing, with some 1.5"x.120 thrown in the mix for miscellaneous bracing and reinforcing. Paul provided some insight on particulars of the cage(which always helps) and we decided the best route for his needs would be to build a simple 4-pt cage focusing on the driver and passenger areas, and opting not to extend the cage all the way to the rear. I left 6-inch or so "tails" extending past the B-pillar on the overhead tubes so Paul could sleeve any "future expansion" onto the existing cage down the road if he wanted to. We decided tying the cage into the floorpan and not going to the frame in just a 4-pt would be a better solution than going to the frame, as there will still be a good deal of frame flex not going to all the way to the rear of the cabin. We also decided to stay out in front of the dash to minimize the impact of cutting through a dash and vents, headlight switches, fuse boxes etc.
I started by tacking some 3/16"x6"x6" baseplates to the floorboard. Then bent up and fitted the A and B pillars with some cross tubes. Then the two overhead tubes Front to Rear.
The main structure of the cage was built out of 1.75"x.120 wall DOM tubing, with some 1.5"x.120 thrown in the mix for miscellaneous bracing and reinforcing. Paul provided some insight on particulars of the cage(which always helps) and we decided the best route for his needs would be to build a simple 4-pt cage focusing on the driver and passenger areas, and opting not to extend the cage all the way to the rear. I left 6-inch or so "tails" extending past the B-pillar on the overhead tubes so Paul could sleeve any "future expansion" onto the existing cage down the road if he wanted to. We decided tying the cage into the floorpan and not going to the frame in just a 4-pt would be a better solution than going to the frame, as there will still be a good deal of frame flex not going to all the way to the rear of the cabin. We also decided to stay out in front of the dash to minimize the impact of cutting through a dash and vents, headlight switches, fuse boxes etc.
I started by tacking some 3/16"x6"x6" baseplates to the floorboard. Then bent up and fitted the A and B pillars with some cross tubes. Then the two overhead tubes Front to Rear.