Builds Joez's Built Thread/Recap. Hybrid Cage, 4Ds

[GW Nugget]

Thanksl for sharing your jouney.
This is one of the better 80 series builds I've seen on mud.

So on 40s & a 2.5" lift what is your frame height at the crossmember?
Mine with 3" lift & 37s is 20"

 

[joez]

I appreciate that, really wish I had better documented a lot of stuff over the years, but oh well.

Just measured, I'm sitting right at 21" just behind the crossmember.

 

[2fpower]

Spring 2016. By now this time our daughter was 1, and to get ready for her 1st birthday party i had spent zero time on the cruiser. On the bright side, the deck was stained, house was painted, kitchen had new cabinets, counter top and appliances, and the main floor bathroom was gutted down to studs and floor joists and now 100% new.

By May everyone in our group all decided that right before a long drive to South Dakota from Chicago, we would all take on ridiculously complicated projects with zero extra time. One Solid Axle swap on a tacoma, one FJ60/80 axle swap under a 2nd gen 4runner, and i decided to longarm my 80 and convert to Y-link steering.

Got the 80 in the garage where it was going to be parked for a little while, built some risers for my jack stands, pulled the front bumper, got ride height set, figured out where i was set for caster, and busted out the impact and grinder. While i was waiting for a all of my parts to arrive from RuffStuff and Down South Motorsports, i went ahead and installed my Daystar Stingers since i blew my air bump budget on a kitchen counter top upgrade. Really simple install, i just cut the factory bump mounts to where i wanted them set, and welded the threaded mounts to what was left of the factory mounts. figured at this point i would be moving forward with my 30mm spacer on top of the OME springs as well.

Try not to be jealous of all the rust, after all this was a DD through several Chicago winters before picking up my 3rd gen.

Parts list for this phase:
-RHD Steering Arm
-RuffStuff DIY universal Long Arm Kit
-RuffStuff 1-Ton GM Y-Link steering
-RuffStuff front diff armor
-RuffStuff Knuckle Ball gussets
-1.5" per foot tapered reamer
-Daystar Stinger bumpstops w/weld on mounts
-Fox 2.0 Factory Series Remote Reservoir shocks front and rear
-GM Single shear stud style shock mounts
-"The Cure" steering bushing

I ordered my Trail Gear hydro assist setup at the same time, however i was not able to get it installed by the time we had to leave for SD, so it got shelved for a later date.

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What is the length of those Daystar bumpstops?

 

[joez]

What is the length of those Daystar bumpstops?

8.25" Extended, 5.5" compressed. So far i have been happy with them, but i think after close to 2 years i have to change out the foams for the first time. I can tell they have gotten a little softer

 

[joez]

Cage Time!

Picked up 220' of tube, expecting to have extra for other projects. At this time i still wanted to do a swing out carrier, and was entertaining the idea of tube doors. Tube doors are still on the table, but not sure if/when, and the swing out has been abandoned. I am not lifting 150lbs of tire onto a swing out.

Also decided to finally change up my bender. When i had originally assembled it 12 years ago, it had 4 legs and was mounted on a 4x4 piece of box tube, with an air/hydro ram. Now that SWAG off road has a new mount, i decided to re purpose my bench grinder stand for the bender. I could use it for both still, its not like i use them both simultaneously. I am very space challenged in my house and garage, so any footprint i can save i will try for.

I had a general idea of what i wanted my cage to look like in my head, but that was it. Let me start by saying I hate exo cages, and really wasnt keen on building one. But, being 6'6" tall and wanting this to be functional in case of a rollover, i knew to keep my head room a full internal was going to be tough, and wanting functional a full exo was out of the question. Through the roof i would go.

I wanted it low profile, but also wanted the entire thing flat on top, almost to mimic the new styles of roof racks that have emerged with the overlanding crowds. Plus, i do use this thing to haul random things, and while i have three other 4Runners to take, i just like driving the 80. Maybe a roof rack would work out for me. So, i wanted to build it almost halo style, with one main hoop along the perimeter, A-pillar bars tied to the firewall and sliders, and down bars through the roof approximately at the B, C, and D pillars. Goal was minimal bends on the down bars for maximum strength, tied into the body near or over the body mounts with 6x6" plates, and again to the sliders.

Started with a single 21' piece of DOM, a ladder with a couple blocks of wood, a tape measure, a level, and my 90° bend to determine draw lengths. I figured since i was able to knock out a XJ cage back in the day in about 16 hours, building this thing should be cake, right? I was way off. For reference, the actual cage build stated the morning of 4/22

 

[joez]

7 bends in the top and it was done. Originally planned to have it end just in front of the rear hatch, but did change my mind after i thought more about it. Main two bends at the A-pillars, 7° in the center above the windshield, and each side at the B-pillar to taper it in and try to match the rain gutter. First full weekend working on it with @clund21 got a lot accomplished. Main roof structure was laid out and tacked together, and the interior was mostly out. The three main cross bars were positioned where i wanted to punch through the roof, and i had started working on the A-pillars. These would probably be the most time consuming of the whole project. Also cost the most wasted tube.

Ratchet strapped the cage onto the roof, and pulled it in the garage until next weekend.

This brought us to the end of weekend #1, 4/23.

 

[Technician1985]

jOEZ That's a lot of work... Bending is a tube is a PITA and there is math behind it. Good job on your fab work!

 

[joez]

Weekend of 4/30 nothing got touched. I ran to Traverse City in a quick up and back to pick up some parts for my 1st gen 4Runner on saturday that took the whole day, and had a friends kids 1st birthday on Sunday.

Back at it weekend of 5/7. I wasnt happy with the 1st version of the A-pillar bars, and knew this would probably be the most time consuming part. I wanted the bars to fit tight against the windshield frame, but with enough gap that it would not whistle, fit tight against the door frame/a-pillar structure, and tie into my sliders. Oh, and be placed in a way where i could still get a windshield in it if i ever have to. I trashed quite a bit of tube getting one i was happy with, but thats why you buy extra tube. It also didnt help that the lines against the body behind the fender are not the same on both sides. Both pieces just had to be done by eye. 4th attempt got me something i was happy with, and was able to duplicate it in one shot for the other side.

 

[joez]

Weekend of 5/16. Time for the point of no return. Drilling 6 holes in the roof and gutting the rest of the interior. Pulled everything else that wasn't the dash or the shifters. Tacked the A-pillars in place, and ratchet strapped the top of the cage right so i could break all of the tacks holding the cross bars in place. Getting everything lined up with where i was wanting to drill through the roof and where i wanted the down bars to land took a lot longer than i planned. Like everything else. Marked where the bars fell with marker, pulled the top off, and got the hole saw out. Definitely tight getting it around the sunroof.

Weekend of 5/21. Now that the holes are drilled, time to get this thing supporting itself. Got all 6 floor plates cut out, and started on scraping off the sound deadening/insulation. This could be constituted as cruel and unusual punishment. What a PITA getting that stuff off. Ice definitely helped with cracking it off, but it still took forever to get it all off. Got the plates all welded down to the floor, and the D- and C- pillar bars going. By the end of the weekend the top of the cage was resting on the D and A pillars. New front seats were ordered at this point, now i was just waiting. Needed the seats to be able to get the B-pillar going.

 

[joez]

6/2 came home from work to a wonderful sight. A big Corbeau box on the front porch. Time to make progress.

Got seat brackets modified, seats installed, B-pillars cut, bent, notched, and tacked in place. Started on more of the cross bars and gussets for the roof as well.

 

[joez]

Main structure is in place, weekend of 6/10 lots of welding wire got used.

 

[joez]

Trying to keep the joints nice and tight. By 6/18 i was ready to pull the top of the cage back off for final welding. Whole interior was done and one piece, time to get the top welded and ready to drop back on.

At this point i decided that i wanted the end of my cage to extend past the D-pillars to provide protection to the rear hatch if i decided to use the cage as a slider. Since one side was short, i took some 1.75x.120 wall DOM and slugged it with 1.5x.250 wall DOM leftover from my suspension build. These got pounded into the cage, rosette welded, and welded fully. The long side just got slugged with the same length DOM, to keep it from collapsing if i leaned hard into something.

This would also provide a spot to eventually build a hammock mount off of.

 

[nukegoat]

Heat gun and a putty knife removed my sound deadening in minutes. Then a little brake cleaner and I was done.

You didnt use sandwich plates? Just plates tacked to the floor? Probably fine but less ideal in tension...

Btw i love my cage and joez inspired its feasibility. But i entirely agree that its a big undertaking and your interior will never be the same. But if you value your life and want to wheel harder with the 80, its sort of a necessary step. No way around it IMO. Accidents can happen to anyone. I felt safer on my last trip but I also still drive like I dont have a cage

 

[joez]

No sandwich plates. Being a street driven hunk o junk I didn't want to have to worry about vibration turning my sandwich plates into a shear when I roll it in 3 years. Almost every cage I've done has been this way, plates welded to the floor above places of structure. With 6-6x6 plates, and it being tied to the body mounted slider in 4 places(A and B pillars), if it rips off the floor in tension Im probably already dead.

 

[nukegoat]

No sandwich plates. Being a street driven hunk o junk I didn't want to have to worry about vibration turning my sandwich plates into a shear when I roll it in 3 years. Almost every cage I've done has been this way, plates welded to the floor above places of structure. With 6-6x6 plates, and it being tied to the body mounted slider in 4 places(A and B pillars), if it rips off the floor in tension Im probably already dead.

I dont understand the shear comment? Nor what being street driven has to do with it?

 

[joez]

I dont understand the shear comment? Nor what being street driven has to do with it?

Long term vibration. Bolting two plates sandwiching ribbed metal means you will never get the bolts tight enough to eliminate the chance of it vibrating, causing fatigue around the permiter of the smaller plate. You could weld both plates, but this is more than strong enough.

If we had completely flat sections of the floor like a jeep, absolutely take two different sized plates and sandwich the body. But we don't.

 

[nukegoat]

Long term vibration. Bolting two plates sandwiching ribbed metal means you will never get the bolts tight enough to eliminate the chance of it vibrating, causing fatigue around the permiter of the smaller plate. You could weld both plates, but this is more than strong enough.

If we had completely flat sections of the floor like a jeep, absolutely take two different sized plates and sandwich the body. But we don't.

That doesnt make much sense. Any vibration in the cage relative to the body is going to be minimal. Secondly i dont see how stitch welding to the super thin sheet metal and creating a large heat affected zone is going to be better for 'fatigue' than a clamp load around the perimeter of the sandwich plate. Thirdly the sheet metal is so thin it collapses anyway when bolting together so its sort of moot.

Yeah its probably fine but I dont think its remotely superior to sandwich plates

 

[joez]

That doesnt make much sense. Any vibration in the cage relative to the body is going to be minimal. Secondly i dont see how stitch welding to the super thin sheet metal and creating a large heat affected zone is going to be better for 'fatigue' than a clamp load around the perimeter of the sandwich plate. Thirdly the sheet metal is so thin it collapses anyway when bolting together so its sort of moot.

Yeah its probably fine but I dont think its remotely superior to sandwich plates

Yes, it should be minimal, and chances are it would be fine for a long long time. Maybe I was just gunshy after watching an older bolt in cage go through the floor of an ls swapped foxbody rolled in a street race about two weeks before I started my cage. Guy was lucky to be alive, but still took a ride in an ambulance.

Anywho, 6x6 welded plates to a floor are what NHRA specs for up to 8.50, and I can promise that the body of an 80 is every bit as strong as a G-body GM or a fox platform.

There is a whole lot of material that has to be torn to get those plates to to separate completely from the floor.

 

[nukegoat]

Yes, it should be minimal, and chances are it would be fine for a long long time. Maybe I was just gunshy after watching an older bolt in cage go through the floor of an ls swapped foxbody rolled in a street race about two weeks before I started my cage. Guy was lucky to be alive, but still took a ride in an ambulance.

Anywho, 6x6 welded plates to a floor are what NHRA specs for up to 8.50, and I can promise that the body of an 80 is every bit as strong as a G-body GM or a fox platform.

There is a whole lot of material that has to be torn to get those plates to to separate completely from the floor.

Truth

 

[GW Nugget]

That's a lot of tube in there.
13.5mpg to boot.