Bed Cage

[RaceRanger97]

haha got ya well if you run across any rears for a gen 1 let me know, need some for mine.

One question though, why leave a big shear point where i circled? i know the cage aint done yet but if you roll (which no one wants ) but if you dothe cage would shear right there and the rest of the cage would fall back and do no good. The more tubes you have intersecting at the joints the better to keep form shearing. Looks damn good though and im just givin a suggestion but i know your also not done yet so

hhmm good point, i never really noticed that as a week spot. Ill figure something out.

This was going to be my next step on the cage, it would help the problem but def. not eliminate it:

 

[RaceRanger97]

some structural plate work i did last night:

 

[84projectFORD]

hhmm good point, i never really noticed that as a week spot. Ill figure something out.

This was going to be my next step on the cage, it would help the problem but def. not eliminate it:

here is what i would say to do and it would be very stout. I wouldnt put the one brace down to the bottom of your external b-pillar, id put that at the frame very close to where that external b-pillar connects.

a good way i think of doin cages is try to triangulate all your tubes as much as you can and make as many tubes intersect with one another as much as possible so you have no shear points. now granted its not needed everywhere but its how i think of it and you learn by doin ya know! atleast your makin progress, more than i can say. Gotta get my ass back to workin on my ranger next weekend

sweet braces though. have you thought about takin a hole saw and makin some small to large hole in that plate to give it a bit of style?

 

[koda6966]

Another thing to consider though, is you want the truck to stay pretty light (usually) so you want to get a good mix of strength vs weight. Personally, I would keep it like this..

if you really feel the need to have horizontal crossbars on yours (the blue x in your diagram) I would do it using two cross bars starting at the farthest corners (all four) to the center of the bar in the middle (red horizontal bar, my diagram) like your triangulated cage against your cab, only horizontal. They provide the BEST strength vs weight combo IMO. I tried to draw it up, but it came out looking a little funny with one or two of the bars. Here it is shown in blue.

Overdoing cages can be very easy, you start to look at it and see "flaws" that you want to fix, only realizing later on that it was already fixed by a different part of the cage or that the forces needed to make that flaw happen are not likely to happen at all.

 

[RaceRanger97]

here is what i would say to do and it would be very stout. I wouldnt put the one brace down to the bottom of your external b-pillar, id put that at the frame very close to where that external b-pillar connects.


a good way i think of doin cages is try to triangulate all your tubes as much as you can and make as many tubes intersect with one another as much as possible so you have no shear points. now granted its not needed everywhere but its how i think of it and you learn by doin ya know! atleast your makin progress, more than i can say. Gotta get my ass back to workin on my ranger next weekend

sweet braces though. have you thought about takin a hole saw and makin some small to large hole in that plate to give it a bit of style?

yeah, i have been reading alot on dr and im going to try and tie in a few more intersections...im using the driver side plate to hold my new gas tank filler neck set up im doing with a boat style chrome gas cap..and ill probably drill a similar sized hole in the pass. side.

 

[RaceRanger97]

Another thing to consider though, is you want the truck to stay pretty light (usually) so you want to get a good mix of strength vs weight. Personally, I would keep it like this..

Quote]

Koda I really like ur first drawing ^^^ i think it looks simple and strong. thanks for the idea.

 

[koda6966]

Its looking good! Are you going to do a cab cage and an engine cage?

Not sure here, but I think he has an engine cage in it already. He has a thread around here somewhere.. I'll see if I can find it.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21112

Yep. He puts one in sometime around there.

I also want to know when a cab cage will come into play.

Pre runners are the shit.

 

[84projectFORD]

Yeah koda i like your idea too. i was gunna say that at first but i figured id just show what it would look like with his idea combined.

Race i would definitely do like dave said and cage the cab to make it all one. hell you made it a bit easier dependin on how you look at it by puttin the b-pillar out side the cab. few more bars and you got a whole cage! lol. teh cracked frame is definitley a true statment, thats why im boxing my whole frame in as well as the front to back cage for racing.

 

[RangerRocker]

Did you use the engine enamel on your wheels too?

 

[bmxryder]

your welds look nice. are you using flux cored? a bottle would help with those diggle berries and you wouldnt have to wire wheel it.

 

[84projectFORD]

updates Racer! we need updates! lol hell i got my 8.8 in!

 

[RaceRanger97]

updates Racer! we need updates! lol hell i got my 8.8 in!

lol sorry i havent been posting in a while..i broke my 7.5 carrier on new years so that has been taking all my time recently. ill be posting more soon hopefully, gotta make a trip to the metal yard.
hows your truck comin.

 

[RaceRanger97]

your welds look nice. are you using flux cored? a bottle would help with those diggle berries and you wouldnt have to wire wheel it.

thanks. most of it was done with my miller 250 mig but ya i was using a lincoln 110 flux on some of those welds

 

[RaceRanger97]

Its looking good! Are you going to do a cab cage and an engine cage?

Thanks, yes for sure. hopefully it will be caged front to back by this summer. I dont feel safe driving it the way it is.

 

[84projectFORD]

lol sorry i havent been posting in a while..i broke my 7.5 carrier on new years so that has been taking all my time recently. ill be posting more soon hopefully, gotta make a trip to the metal yard.
hows your truck comin.

its gettin there. got the 8.8 under it and finally got rid of the exploder for some extra cash, also started on the 64" leafs. lookin for someone to by my d-bike so i can buy daves front end kit and start to cage it and such.