Cab cage tie-in

[In_the_works]

Has anyone used this method to link their cab cage to a bed cage? I like the idea of having the bed cage be modular so that it could be removed for repairs/additions. Sorry if the pic is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea. Is it just a couple of radiused tabs attached to the c-pillar halo, then protruding through the skin of the cab? Also, what kinnd of bushings would you reccomend for this type of set up?

[In_the_works]

Another of the similar

[hoeker]

i do all my street stuff like that. my CORR sportsman stock was also built that way. i use energy suspension leaf spring bushings on the street stuff for a little flex and had delrin bushings in my stocker to make it more rigid. i also use these to tie the cage to the frame everywhere factory sheet metal is involved.

www.rosshoek.com (http://www.rosshoek.com)

[matt_helton]

people have been doing that kinda thing for years. i think its ok to do for a truck that will only be used mildly in the dirt. i think that making the mount like that at the top would be more likely to tear off over time or in a harsh roll over due to the shear forces on the small tube that comes up through the cab skin off the rear hoop. i would much rather have it be a single tube welded right in there with out that almost vertical tube with the tabs on it for the bushing mount. on my cages i actually prefer to use a single tube that starts from the floor at the a-pillar and goes up over the door opening, through the back of the cab lid and down to the top of the frame where the axle bumps out at. and then join each of those tubes together across the roof of the cab. but we can debate for hours about the best cage design. just do what works best for your situation and how the truck will be used.

[In_the_works]

The single tube from cab to bedacge would've been ideal, but that's not how my cage was built. I just thought the bushing idea might be simpler than running the tube from the rear hoop to the frame. What advice can you offer on going the standard route, like this...

[matt_helton]

thats the way that i would prefer to do it on my truck if the interior rear hoop was allready there. i think its much stronger. just dont weld the cab to the tube cus it will tear apart right quick. rtv silicone workes pretty good to seal it up and will still flex a bit. the hardest part is gettin in there to weld the tube, but its just as hard with either the single tube or the tube with the bushing mount. im not a big fan of the whole "flexing" cage idea i prefer to make the whole chassis rigid, but i have a toyota with a boxed frame. i think alot of ford guys like to make bushing mounts due to the inherent frame flex of the ford c frame design. i dont have alot of experience in ford chassis design, i just know ive seen alot of this on fords and also bolt together joints on the frames rather than welded ones.

[elcaprerunner]

True it could be stronger. But with alot of the trucks I've seen the movement of the chassis/tubes/cab will ovalize the holes that those tubes come out of, even when welded to the cab where they come out, alot of times the welds break/crack and it will still ovalize. One of the main ideas in the design that uses bushing is that you don't have tubes running though there to ovalize, and also that bushing help with the movement of the chassis/tubes/cab.

[Ryan B]

The Newhan truck in skunk works looks pretty clean.

[SpareChangeRacng]

A straight tube w/ no bushing is used on a solid mounted cab and cage where you want the rear cage to be solid too. If everythnig is solidmounted, and the cage is welded to the fame and cab so there is minimal flex. You can weld filler plates around where the tube come out of the top of the cab with silcone bronze rod and it will allow for what minimal flew you have w/o cracking.
The bushing mounts are typically used on a truck who's cage is not solid mounted to the body and/or frame (in this instance the cage would be bushing mounted to the frame). Therefore you want the whole assembly to be able to flex, which is why the bushings are used at the upper connection.
You do not want to mix and match solid, and non solid mounting/ If you do you will get flexing of the body and/or frame in one section of the truck and not the other and it will lead to cracks. Steve

[tim_krueger]

this is how i did mine
it was welded to the cab whare it went through both places

[tim_krueger]

i also tied in the a and b pillor to the cage with plate
this was fairly easy because i has spent countless hours cutting out the double wall so i could get the cage as tight as possable to the outer body
as of the time that i sold this truck none of the welds to the body from the cage has cracked

[In_the_works]

Could you post some pics of the plating you did?

[tim_krueger]

sorry i dont have any pics of that
all i did was weld plate from the body seems on either the forward or rear of the side window to the corresponding part of the cage