Building A Cage

[ILikeMud]

Alright so after getting a price on have a cage done by a professional ($2000 with tube and labor). I'm wondering how hard is it for someone to learn how to use a bender when they've never used one before? (I've used a brake line bender but that's more simple imo).

Opinions? Reading material? etc.
I figure with x-mas coming up I might be able to get some funding for a bender so
I'll just have to make up a mount to toss into a friend's trucks trailer hitch.

[SuicideTireZJ]

Kraqa has a little bending tutorial in the build thread of his ZJuggy. If I have some time to poke around, I'll find it, but it's pretty easy to find.

[MoonWorks]

I'm about in your same position. First off I pretty much refuse to pay anyone to do work on the jeep or any one of my other rides. Secondly, I like to do the work and to be able to stand back after the fact and say...yeah, I built that. And last of all...I don't have $2g to hand someone to do the work in the first place. I'm going to buy a bender at some point and get the hang of using it by building a couple of bumpers, then tube fenders, then on to exo/internal cage.

[BigDaveZJ]

2 grand isn't really THAT bad IMO, depending on what tools are already accumulated. By the time you buy a bender and toob you'll be pushing 2 grand and still have to do the work.

[jsteves]

Agree with Dave. Plus, it is the structure designed to save your ass...if you can't spend money there where are you going to spend it? On a crawl box you won't use for two years.

[MoonWorks]

Stop times it's worth spending a couple extra bucks to get it done NOW! But I still like doing the work myself.

[ILikeMud]

2 grand isn't really THAT bad IMO, depending on what tools are already accumulated. By the time you buy a bender and toob you'll be pushing 2 grand and still have to do the work.

Agree with Dave. Plus, it is the structure designed to save your ass...if you can't spend money there where are you going to spend it? On a crawl box you won't use for two years.

I do agree with you guys on that fact.
I'm sure they know how to do the unibody tie ins better then me. Plus then I don't have to worry about cutting through the dash

[paulkeith]

not to be a dick, but if you had a decent math education, bending tube is not hard. a few minutes with a degree indicator and a measuring tape, and you should be able to do it without mistakes. add in a software link bendtech, and its cake.

i think you will spend less money on buying a bender and tube and doing it yourself....plus i always view tools as an investment,. and not money wasted. You'll also have the bender to do other projects like bumpers and ish later on, or cages for your friends, etc.

For me about 80% of the fun of this hobby is the fab. just my $.02.

good luck,
Paul

[indy242003]

i think you will spend less money on buying a bender and tube and doing it yourself....plus i always view tools as an investment,. and not money wasted. You'll also have the bender to do other projects like bumpers and ish later on, or cages for your friends, etc.

For me about 80% of the fun of this hobby is the fab. just my $.02.

good luck,
Paul

I think the same way. You may end up in the hole doing it your self the first time, but wheelin' is a hard habit to break. You'll end up using it quite often, and then you'll see the diference.

[ATL ZJ]

There's a learning curve... That said, it's not rocket science- as long as you remember what you learned 9th grade math about circles you can do it.

Patience and attention to detail are essential. You'll also need between $1000 and $1500 to get started, more if you need a welder, notcher, or cutting tools.

Plan to mess up and waste tube. At $3 a foot, if you're lucky enough to find it for that, mistakes are easy to remember. My 3rd cage looked better than my first, and so on.

[adam99wj]

hey ilikemud you could always buy a bender and all the assorted tools and sell them to me for less than half!!!! hahahaha

[LILL ZJ]

i've got about 300 dollars into my exo. That includes a borrowed bender that i learned on, and a sawzall. Maybe some people are intimidated with bending tube, but like ATL ZJ said after about 50 bucks of wasted tube its not hard. Just keep it simple, with lots of bracing. But i'm a newbie so dont even listen to me.

[chadjans]

Have you read bender's bending 101 on pirate?

[Cue-Ball]

Get the EOR kit and then build from that.

[MoonWorks]

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html

I believe this is the thread you're speaking of. I haven't read it yet but just searched it out so I could. Figured I'd post it since most fuckers are too lazy to SEARCH!

But correct me if it's not the right thread chad.

[ILikeMud]

Have you read bender's bending 101 on pirate?

Believe I did ages ago. I'll have to read it again.

Get the EOR kit and then build from that.

Yea but I want something that's a tight fit to the roof and passes through the dash.

[ILikeMud]

Well I was kind of 2nd guessing paying $2000 for a cage. However on Saturday night/Sunday morning around 1am I got a car from a friend and this is the story I was told.

On my way home yesterday from work to meet the g/f back end got hit with a gust of wind putting me into a skid as it moved my back end instead of evenly as it normally does. Feared hitting oncoming car, I tried to direct the skid into the adjacent field. Unfortunately, hit the field sideways, went about 20' in and I figure when the bead of the one tire failed, I rolled it. Lucky I had the WARN bumper as I really think it stopped me from further injury. as it seems I would have flipped end over end, but instead acted like a rail and slid on it. Could have been much worse. Will be a while it looks like until I can afford to build another one up. Strangely enough, my top5 rack came through it perfectly. Go figure! Shows how well built the design is!

I think my life is worth more then $2000.
Luckily my friend walked away from the roll.

[canadian_driver]

my only probblem with that is the top five rack, grant and topfive are horrible people

[ILikeMud]

My only problem with roof racks is that they're gay.
Never met anyone from Top Five so I can't comment.

[canadian_driver]

im go hijack this thread for a minute... so everyyear for 4-5 years now theres been event called camp NL last year (2006) a friend won a top five rack from grant, ive seen him/met him a few times since she won it and asked him everytime when and where we could get it. so now this year at camp NL we all saw him and he said he sold the last of his racks and he would be willing to give her a rack from one of his competitors that he based his design off of (stole)

[Cue-Ball]

I agree that $2000 for something that can save your life when you really need it is a small price to pay.

I also would love something to go through the dash when my time comes.

There are a couple of vendors on Pirate that are local to me and are Amsoil customers that have offered to build me a cage so when the time comes I will probably hit them up for a one off custom cage.

Dirk

[ILikeMud]

Ya, my life is worth more then that imo.

Heck, even the gf agreed that it was a good idea after hearing about and seeing pictures of my friends roll over.

[Cue-Ball]

Well if the gf is down, now is the time to strike while the iron is hot so to speak.

Dirk

[alteredxj]

im more worried about getting hit by a flying D ring or some other part thats in the jeep than dying from the roll. that said i don't think a cage is a bad thing. and have wanted one for years. will it save my jeep i dout it
but if it stops one injury its worth it. i guess what i'm trying to say is build the cage think it out before you build but don't forget to tie in all the loose stuff in your jeep that could hit you in a roll.

[ILikeMud]

Well if the gf is down, now is the time to strike while the iron is hot so to speak.

Dirk

If I had $2000 sitting around, it would be done.
However, it's x-mas and I'm broke.