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cage design, seats and harnesses - looking for good ideas

18K views 103 replies 26 participants last post by  Rawkon 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi,

I've scheduled with our local fabrication shop guru, John - owner of www.HunterOffroad.com to build me a complete roll cage from scratch.

We won't start for another 5 weeks so he's given me a homework assignment to get ideas for what I'd like to have done.

It will be made to fit with my bestop supertop and it will have a cradle tied into the cage for the front seats. Aftermarket seats are part of this project so if you have good recomendations then please let me know. He gets 15% off of Corburu but I only felt comfortable in the ultra wide. I'm also considering mastercraft and anyothers you can think of.


The only thing I know for sure is that I want the cradle for the seats, a horizontal harness bar behind the seats and no tie ins to the windshield (cleaner looking and makes for quick windshield removal). And I won't be reusing any of the stock cage.

Post pics of your favorite cage designs or describe good ideas you may have seen or thought of.

I'm thinking of asking him to tie it into the frame using polyperformance stuff.

John is the best there is at tube bending and welding so I'm pretty excited. Not as cool as Jack's soon to be 10" but still cool. :D

fast back design? not sure how that would look but he mentioned it as an idea since I don't use the back seat anymore.

Thanks,

Ben
 
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#2 ·
I love the old CJ roll bars that slope in the back although I don't know if that's best for the rear seat passengers. If your BesTop soft top has a frame then you should be able to get really creative with a design.

As far as seats go I couldn't be happier with my MasterCraft Rubicon seats I bought from Joe. They've held up well and everyone who rides in the Jeep says how comfortable they are. I've also heard/read good things about PRP.

Are you planning on using a full harness? I'm working on tying a lap belt in with the factory seatbelt for the drivers side. I hate getting pinned to the seat with the shoulder strap when I need to move around some to see.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the input Scout, Ill check out the mastercraft seats at Joes shop . I think I'll try and sit in every jeep I wheel with for the next 5 weeks that has aftermarket seats so I can make a good decision. :D

For the seatbelt harness I plan on using a 5 point setup. Right now I've got the stock shoulder straps and on certain obsticles I lift the sholder strap over my head and behind the back of the seat/head rest so that I don't get pinned. With the 5 point setup I think I can run just the lap builts or clip them all in for the gnarley buggy lines :D

Anyone know the good and bad of the various harness/clip release mechanisims.

Thanks
 
#5 ·
When I had mine built, I had a couple of things in mind with it... I wanted a continuous A-C pillar so that I could slide past trees, a through-dash design, as opposed to the Poison Spyder "legs" at the A pillar, and I had to be able to install a back seat. If I was going to do it again, I would have put another bend in at the B pillar so that that front part of the cage would have been a little taller for me.

As for harnesses, I am looking really hard at the retractable Corbeau 4-point harnesses so that I can use it all the time, and still be able to reach my radio.

Good luck and keep us updated!
 
#6 ·
Thanks Jeeperman. This will be a thru the dash setup too and we are going to try and get as much headroom as possible while still fitting with the supertop.

seats I'm looking into --

Corbeau Ultra (was kindof tight for me around the hips - no comment pls :D ) They make a "wide" which actually really nice but not sure they will fit with my stock center console.

Mastercraft Rubicon - I called Joe AO and he says these would be perfect. I'm going to try them out when he returns from their wheeling this weekend. They are the same as what Scout has and the same seats that are in Joe's green TJ

PRP Competition High Back - I've only seen these on the net and hopeing I can find someone local that has em in their jeep so I can see how they feel



For restraints

Corbeau 3" 5 point with cam quick release - I'm not sure how the quick release works on it , specifically if the cam release is seperate from the straps cuz I KNOW I will loose it eventually if it is.

Mastercraft 3" 5 point with latches - I like this setup because I know there would be no worry about losing of a cam release etc. And it looks simple to use and I like simple stuff.


I've just been browsing the net for photos of cages.
 
#8 ·
Heres a few more ideas for you to chew on. Look into Crow harnesses they have got to be the most comfortable harness i have ever used over the last twenty years.
http://www.crowenterprizes.com/

I run PRP daily driver seats and after an 8hr drive my ass feels pretty good. Not that I feel my ass all the time, just want to make that clear. I personally like the Mastercraft better after having the PRP's for the last year.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Thanks silvergoat. I saw your jeeps rollcage over on the other website and its really well built. I'm going to print the pictures and use it for ideas when he builds my cage. I liked how the cradle was done.

Now all I've got to do is try out the Mastercraft Rubicons for myself. From the comments I've heard it sounds like they are the all around favorite. The only others I'd consider are the Corbeau Baja Ultra Wide but I'd have to remove my center console for them to fit.

I'm really leaning towards a fastback design that narrows/tapers in the back... incase I later decide to dovetail then the cage wouldn't be in the way :D a narrow and fastback rear cage also helps on certain trails... we have one here in the whitetank hills called "can openner" that catches on the stock rollcage location all the time:

Thanks,

Ben
 
#15 ·
Ben i think you missed a spot of piping on your roll bar design.

anyhow i hope you're not gonna use this as a DD. The 5 point seat belts will get very annoying quite fast... a week or two especially on colder days where you gotta wear a bit heavier jacket (dont see your location). As for the roll bar design, i love the fast back design roll bar like on the YJs.
 
#16 ·
I love punishment. :firedevil: Regardless of comfort, the 5 pt harness and cage is long overdue. Have you seen the trails we run? I live in Phoenix Arizona and wheel with Jack which should say it all. lol. We need all the protection and saftey we can get. And my jeep is hopefully soon to be retired to trail duty only.
 
#18 ·
I'm going with the black on black mastercraft seats and the Corbeau 5pt with the quick release cam

now for some sad new... a good friend passed away this memorial weekend in a rollover accident in his buggy. The reality of this is really hitting hard. I just talked with him last week :( and I wheeled with him just 3 weekends prior to that. I wasn't there when it happened and I won't dwell on this here/now because I don't think its appropriate to discuss "what if..." or "only if..." right after a tragic accident. I only bring it up because he was a friend and is missed alot and I think this should be top priority for all of us... good cage and harness if you use your jeep for wheeling. and always be harnessed or seatbelt buckled

Thanks,

Ben

RIP Kevin
 
#25 ·
its a start. this week Hunter will begin bending some tube and doing a competition cut in the rear fenders. Also getting some new rocker guards from Genright this week. We'll have to trim the PSC corners for the genright to fit properly.

here are the pics of the teardown









 
#26 ·
here are some sucky photos from my sucky camera. These were taken a few days ago and alot has been done since then. I'll post up better quality pictures tonight when I get home to show its progress.
 
#27 · (Edited)
the fuel evap and leak detection pump was really kindof a pain in the butt to remove from the rear corner. But its out now. Just have to figure out where to put it. I think we'll relocate it inside near the tailgate for now and then when the fuel tank gets moved inside I can relocate it onto the gas tanks "firewall" that will be built around it.

Heres pics of the cage so far.






And check out the welds, ground so smooth you can hardly see them ;) Seriously, thank you John for the quality work your putting into this.


http://good-times.webshots.com/album/564211992sQOajx

More to follow next week or so. John gets to work on the seat cradles and additional reinforcing of the cage in the back and windshield areas as well as the frame tie ins and door/leg bars. Oh yeah, and comp cut too :D. Then it goes off to AO soon afterwards to get the wheelbase stretch so I can wheel with the big dogs. I better give Joe at AO a call and see about ordering that stuff. I don't even know if the new RK strtch kits are in production yet.

By the way, this is all being done by John of HunterOffroad.com in Phoenix Arizona.
 
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