Just a little project i have been working on. It is a 85 Suzuki Samurai with 32x12x15" Mud tires. View attachment 24492 View attachment 24493 This is how it came to me. My girls Brother in law decided to go around a turn and roll this once perfect samurai 3 times. So after many conversations with my girlfirends dad i convinced him that this wasnt a total loss. After long debate and many beers we came up with the idea to make a full cage and scrap the body. I thought it would be rather funny and if it didnt work we could still scrap it. So we began cutting the body off. I decided to leave the Firewall and the floor as they are both in great condition. Now to the pics of the body being cut off. View attachment 24494 View attachment 24495 Once i got the body all cut off i removed the leaf springs which were all separated and had them rebent and i received them last week along with new lift shackles, bushings, and u bolts. After installing all of these the Sami now sits at 29" from the ground. I also decided to remove the front inner fenders and bumper and decided i will make new ones. View attachment 24496 View attachment 24497 View attachment 24498 On thursday i picked up 60' of 1 1/2" 120 wall tubing for the cage. I also picked up a model 3 bender. View attachment 24499 and a tn-100 tubing notcher View attachment 24500 I am starting the cage this weekend. I will updated as i have more progress. Nick
I had some progress over the weekend...The only picture i could find that i could show you a design of the cage was with the body still on. There is more bracing then shown here but this is the basic design. I have all the ones marked in red already bent i will post pics tomorrow sometime. View attachment 24522
It will be fun... Not sure if it will be done by the 21st i have to redo all the wiring because some idiot hacked it all together and it is bugging me and i also need to make sure the connections are all water proof because the engine will be exposed a ton more than stock. All the brakes, and brake lines need to be redone off road lights need to be installed and the bumpers need to be made. I am putting a 2" receiver in each bumper and installing plugs so i can put the winch either in the front or the back depending on how i get stuck :biggrin: then i need to build flares, rivet some sheet metal on the roll cage for some protection from the dreaded red mud.
Oh and btw does anyone have an idea on how i can notch the pipe. My drill press is too small to use the tubing notcher.
put the tubing notcher in a vice. attach a regular drill to it. That's how I used mine to do pin-stands
mod the drill press? does it not have enough travel? or is the space between the table and the bit (notch er) too small to fit?
yeah it is just a baby drill press so it is too small to fit the nocther in there i think i may just either do carls suggestion...
Here is some progress from tonight... Somehow one side of the hoop that goes over the dash is like one inch shorter which is going to make welding it a bitch but ill make it work. the cage height is 3" taller than the original body but the other driver is 6'3" so it works... View attachment 24538 View attachment 24539 View attachment 24540 View attachment 24541 View attachment 24542
Some more progress from the past two nights I ended up making a stand for my tubing notcher and then the friken whole saw broke. Does anyone have a recommendation for a better metal whole saw. View attachment 24695 View attachment 24696 View attachment 24697 View attachment 24698 View attachment 24699 View attachment 24700 View attachment 24699
So i need some input on the cage design... I dont know if this is overkill the less tubing i need the better... Would the one with less tubing be strong enough or not? View attachment 24725 View attachment 24726
If you're building this simply for rollover integrity, you're already using too much tubing. Incorporate some good bends into the tubes on the windshield roof line, and the rear roof corner bend. Cant the A-pillar towards the rear slightly, so that it matches more of the door line and strengthens the roof bar. The tube going from the A pillar to the rear is overkill, and unless its for aesthetics, the body of the car has enough strength for lateral movement. the tube in the doorway really accomplishes nothing but making it very difficult for you to enter and exit the vehicle in both designs - it adds no strength to the roof line or torsional rigidity. I loaded a picture, but since I didn't have the original, I just used light blue to indicate what you MUST have for a roof cage, and the pink is what you could add if you want. Or if you cut out a lot of that material - you'd be in better shape welding some box or angle iron in to reinforce the chassi. More tubing in a lot of cases will make a design "stronger" but if you roll over off road, its more important that the lines of the cage flow (distribute the roll evenly) than the cage just being rigid all over and impossible to escape from when rubber side up. I'd pay more attention to your cross bars, and center members in the A-frame. They will add that strength that you're looking for from the triangular designs that you're incorporating.
Jack here is a better drawing of what im working with... I have 3 main hoops(GREEN) and i need to figure out how to brace them (RED) View attachment 24728
Yes sir i am i think when the drill bucked one time it broke a few teeth and the rest just followed behind those... but i tack welded the hole saw to the check so the threads dont strip out again
Here are some progress pictures... Im not sure if i like how high the rear hoop sits i think it looks kinda goofy i might shave a foot or two off of it... Input would be great View attachment 24731 View attachment 24732 View attachment 24733 View attachment 24734
Turns out when you put the rear seat in the top of the cage is only 6" away from your head... So i will leave it the way it is
Some more progress was made today... The body is going to end up following the lines of the cage so the rear will be more narrow... Everything that i have put in thus far is now finish welded. I just have to do the windshield hoop and the braces and then the fenders then this bitch is done. View attachment 24751 View attachment 24752 View attachment 24753
View attachment 24781 View attachment 24782 View attachment 24783 View attachment 24784 View attachment 24785 I cant figure out how to make the driver and passenger more secure and still easy enough to get in... Maybe a bar on a hinge going across the middle just for a little extra safety
Just do a bar behind the seats and install 5 points I have some expired ones that I cant use in my race car $50 bucks but leave the door open Also Personally on my cage truck I ran the window support bar forward not backwards and mounted it to the front frame/bumper mount then ran your door bar oppisit. sorry I dont have the tools to draw you a picture. Run the door bar from the mid B pillar to the front where the A pillar meets the floor.
I get what you are saying but i wanted to brace the window support a little more cause it is two pieces
With the way you have it bent and welded if you did roll it would all push forward anyways and break. I would for sure do a forward brace in my opinion.
So you think i should cut the brace that angles from the A pillar to the B pillar out and reverse it? If i do that how should i reinforce the two piece a pillar? Perhaps a gusset?
I would use the gusset and then the front brace would also support the weld as well. Think of it as a wish bone if you do roll it again the cage is already bent and even with the piece you have in there now it will just pinch and fold. So I would reverse it build a gusset and the a bar from the pinch point to the front bumper frame support.
View attachment 24790 Thats a cage and wheels see the front bar will support your window frame and the door bar will protect the rider
OOOOO i gotcha now i still have to do the tube fenders that tie into the front bumper and i also have some work to do to make the hood sit on some tubes as well so the front will be good but i will reverse the front a-b support thanks for the help man
