cage chop

Well, there ain't no turning back now.  She's in the garage with the cage off, and 4" cut out of it.  I set it on at the rear and checked it out before calling it quits for a day or three, and I love it.  Now it is about 3" short of reaching the mounts that bolt on at the front.  What is the trick to bending it to make it reach?  I've came to far to mess up now.  How do I go about taking some of the bend out of the front Apillar sections?  Bolt the rear in place and stop being a pussy and man handle it, or should I bolt the rear down and slide a piece of pipe all the way up in it to make it easier and make sure it don't bend in the middle?

Cut it at the top in the middle and sleeve it.

X2 on what Teddy said. Use the cut sections off the front and some 1.5 to sleeve the gap that will open in the middle section.

Yup you have to cut the top and stretch it....it's not just a matter of hacking 4" out of each pillar. I've read that if you use the exact measurements above you'll be good.

And you can use the piece you cut out of the back head rest brace to sleeve it with.

Thanks for all the help guys, but I'm not going to add length to the top because I want to keep my roof as is.  I did cut the front mounts loose at the welds as James told me.  I feel that is way better than cutting it in the middle somewhere and sleaving it.  I'm thinking I will strap my cage upside down to my trailer so it can't move and slide a long piece of pipe in the a pillar to bend them out enough.  How's that for redneck shit?  I could force it by hand and weld it up, but if I ever take it back off, it will be a pain to get back on.

I just wondered if anyone else had done it this way.  Wish me luck.  I will have some pics when I get done.  I was thinking of just building a whole new cage, but I didn't want to add any weight to it.

that will work!!

Will that weaken the metal ?

I'm trying to picture in my head how your going to make this work? Isn't the total length of the cage too short at this point?

Won't the angles be off and not bolt back up in the front.

thats how mine is done with no sections

thekevin wrote:

Won't the angles be off and not bolt back up in the front.

 I cut those front mounts off right at the welds like James told me.  I then bolted them back on so I can tack the cage back to them then take it back off and finish welding them.  With it setting on there now, the front is only about 3" away from reaching.

OK.  Worked on it some tonight and now I'm ready to weld it back up.  I could not get it to bend where I wanted it to.  I ended up making a small cut on the inside (bottom area) of the bend above the windshield.  Just enough to let it bend.  After doing that, it was very easy to bend and I only needed to move the very bottom forward 3".  I cut 4" off the front and the rear.  It looks very nice setting on there, and the slightly changed windshield angle looks great.  The cut I made to let it bend only opened up 1/8" at most and will be easily welded shut.  So far so good, and I love the looks of it.  The sport roof looks really nice on it now, and where it turns down the front it still follows the bend almost perfect.  I would say I only had to change that bend 1-2degrees to get the front mounts to line up.  Very very little at the top = several inches by the time you get to the bottom.

sounds like it's working out great!
 
need some pictures, hump

I will finish it and get some pics next weekend.

This evening was the 1st time I've had a chance to work on it in two weeks.  I got it all welded up, and a fresh coat of spray on bedliner in it around midnight.  I plan on having it back together and some pics up this evening.  I didn't do a "like factory" job on it.  Got tired of not having time to work on it, and I'm wanting to ride bad.  I think it looks pretty good.  I put my windshield brace that I had on it before, and made an enclosure for my small amp and two 6 1/2 speakers overhead.  Also got a new convex 14" racecar mirror to put in it, my old one was broke.

I'm gonna get out the armor all too. 

Can't wait to see it,sound real nice.

pics!!

I got the finish of a Polaris cage with ugly welds not ground down, but I didn't have time for all of that.  I wanna ride.

looks great, Steve

Looks Awesome Steve keep up the good work!!

Sorry, didn't have time for armor all.

  

Cool, reminds me of a hot rod,T-bucket sort of.