SW Roll Cage Installation

[Bluegoose972]

Ok guys......Just finished installing the SW Rollcage system in Goose. Was a little apprehensive about starting this project without some help, but I made it and I'm very happy with the results. If I can do it, anyone can do it. But I would recommend another set of hands and eyes to make sure that everything is lining up the way you want it. Following this will be some of the things I did and the sequence I followed. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions regarding this installation.....I highly recommend it!

[Bluegoose972]

First off, you need to decide where you want to mount your rollcage. I decided to mount mine about 3" back from drop down between the front and rear areas. I placed the plates up against the wall. The main hoop ended up centering in just slightly under 2" from the wall. This may very depending on fluctuations in the fabrication process. I'll place a similar plate underneath the bed with four bolts sandwiching the original sheetmetal between. In addition, the SW kit provides some 2"x3" tubing for connecting the bottom plate to the frame section. I haven't tackled that part yet.

[Bluegoose972]

I wanted more of a "sporty" look to my rollcage and wanted to increase both head clearance and the ability to recline my seat back more. So, instead of mounting the main hoop vertical, I angled the hoop back, as shown in the picture. As you can see from the other picture, the main hoop now sits just inside the front hoop for the soft top. It isn't much of an angle, but I think it made a big difference.

One other thing, the main hoop is about 7.5" too long for our application. I originally cut off 6.5" fron each side, then trimmed another 1" off after testing the fit. You will also need to cut the bottom at an angle to maintain a tight fit and make welding easier.

[Bluegoose972]

The SW kit comes with straight bars that already have round cuts in one end and an angle cut in the other for easy installation. But the bar is straight and I had angled back my main hoop. I took these bars to a muffler shop and they put a 40 Degree bend in each bar, 12" from the end, as can be seen in the attached picture. I like the look of the bend, which is what Smittybilt used. This also let me mount the bar along the edge of the bed, maintaining as much passenger clearance in the rear seat as possible. The rear bar is 35.5" from the floor to the bottom of the bar and the rear floor mount is 6" from fender wall to outside of bar. This is a good spot for an extra set of hands.

Oh yeah.....DO NOT FULLY WELD ANY BARS UNTIL YOUR FINISHED!!! Your going to walk around, checking clearances many time and also making sure that things look good. Just a couple of tack welds will be more than enough at this point and they can easily be cut loose if something looks wrong.

[Bluegoose972]

This is another great spot for another set of hands. I debated for two days whether to install the front hoop or not. I just wasn't sure if I would like the way it looked. But it turned out better than I expected and I'm very happy I installed it.

First off, since I angled the main hoop backwards, the front hoop just barely fit. My hoop was 32" in total length. As a matter of fact, it was actually too short. I wasn't able to round the ends to make a tight fit, but had to leave them squared up. This required some extra work on the welding end, but it turned out fine. Attached are some photos showing how I lined things up on the top bar and how things sat with regard to the convertible top and front window. It sits flush with the front window frame and comes back level until it hits the main hoop bar. NOTE: THE FRONT HOOP IS NARROWER THAN THE MAIN HOOP BAR. Not a big deal, but your limited on where the front hoop is going to hit the main hoop....Where it hits is pretty much where it has to stay, without more bending.

[Bluegoose972]

You have alot of options on how you want to install the front verticals. But one thing I did decide was that I didn't want to remove the rocker boxes again, so I would need to have the SW bars bent so that thew would come out just above the point where the rocker boxes stopped. This required a 20 degree bend, 16" from the end, resulting in an "S" curve look to the bar.

Driver's Side: You have four five things that your trying to avoid blocking.
1) Vent Handle
2) Parking Brake Handle
3) Parking Brake Foot Lever
4) Dash Bezel
5) Window Crank

I'm happy with where everything fell. With minimal adjustments, all items should work fine. One thing thing that I did do was leave a couple of inches of room between the window frame and the rollcage tubing. Since the tubing is only 1 5/8" dia, it should work well as a grab handle for getting in and out of the blazer. At least that's what I'm thinking at this time.

Passenger Side: I figured I had it all figured out after missing all the stuff on the drivers side, but I was wrong. Without trying to rebend the vertical bar, I had to cut off a portion of the glovebox door in order to open/shut it past the tubing. I messed with this for an hour or so and finally decided to just cut off little of the corner. It is kinda messy right now and I'll clean it up later when I start work on the interior.

[Bluegoose972]

Just A couple of last pictures. I'm very happy with the final results. I could add a couple of other braces (still thinking about them), such as a dash brace from verticle to verticle or a horizontal brace from the main hoop to the front of the front hoop, half way between the driver and passenger. While I still did some fabricating, it was personal preference types of stuff. Overall the kit was of high quality, the directions didn't have pictures, but were fairly easy to figure out, and I'm very happy.

Good luck to all!

Rick

[ljbear]

Great work BlueGoose, thanks for sharing the ins and outs of the install.

[orangeuavol]

Where did you get the kit?

[Bluegoose972]

I purchased the kit from SW Race Cars. Here is the link that another member provided:

http://www.swracecars.com/

There are a few places that I still need to weld, but access was poor. I'm going to pull the whole cage out of Goose today, weld up the few remaining places and then prep everything for powdercoating. I'll post some pictures once I have it ready to install back in Goose.

[ljbear]

Looking at the installation I was curious if the kit would allow you to install the front verticals through the dash behind the pad? I know this would present a number of other problems, but with a little planning I think it wouldn't be too difficult. I'd really like it away from the front of the dash, a/c vents, and window controls. I doubt I'd ever want to remove it, so that wouldn't be an issue for me. No way to powdercoat it, but I think I'd like to wrap it anyway, my head don't smack into things like it used to.

[Bluegoose972]

Well, anything is possible, given the want and need. I looked at my blazer since it's all torn apart.

1) You would probably have to relocate the parking brake framework, since I don't think there is enough room to get past it in the stock location.
2) You would also have to cut through some of the main supports for the dash. Not a biggie if you just add more supports to maintain the structure that you removed. But getting the bar through the dash without butchering everything would be difficult, since you would have to come up through the corner and access is tight.
3) You would be adding a blind spot where the bar comes up by the windshield. Right now, with where I positioned my bar, from the drivers or passengers seat, the added bar is no bigger than the windshield frame. But in order to come up through the dash, you would be adding to the windshield blindspot.

Good luck if you try it.

Hey...Just an idea. What about mounting the bar to the top of the dash and then reinforcing the dash from underneath for transfer of the load. You could still remove everything for powercoating.....Just an idea!

Rick

[orangeuavol]

was the kit specifically for a K5 Blazer or did you get one and modify it?

[Bluegoose972]

The kit is specifially for a K5, but there is still some fabricating that is required. Mainly, just cut to fit your application type of fabrication. I ended up with several tubes left over because I really didn't want all the extra bracing, such as the dash brace, seat brace, door brace, etc. I purchased the 10 point system, but only ended up with 6 points and just installed the outer structure. The system is designed for a racing application, which explains all the extra bracing.

[Yukon Jack]

Great pics of the install. Looks like quite a project. What were you using to weld it?

[Bluegoose972]

Visited the powder coaters today. Dropped off the rollcage and also all the brackets and hardware for the STC soft top. Having them apply a coat of semi-gloss. I think the black will look better than the aluminum color.

Yukon....I used a Lincoln wire feed welder 110v...one of the cheap ones from Home Depot. I'm no where close to being a good welder, but good enough for now and learning. A touch up with the grinder made for good results!

[1970blazin]

Can't wait to see the pics of it powdercoated and installed. Nice work! My hubby made us a roll bar out of aluminum and I love it! Strong, light and safe!!! Good job!
Diane

[3wbdriver]

I'd really be interested in some pics of the 2x3" lower braces after you get them installed. I've been trying to think thru how I was going to do that. I've built 2 roundy round dirt cars with that Lincoln 100 welder. It's a good buy. If you need a hotter weld, I'd go with the flux core wire, but other than that I use the gas feed (makes purtier welds).



BURN IT UP!!!

[michigank5]

Looks great Rick, thanks for the pics and detail.

Has anyone gotten the 8-point cage from SW? A bit larger tubing, $70 cheaper, and I don't think I need all that extra bracing, 6 points is all I'm really looking for. If someone's put in the 8-point, could you please post a pic?

Jed

[Bluegoose972]

I asked about their 8 point unit. It doesn't include the overhead rollcage portion for the driver. Basically, the 8 point is just a reinforced rollbar. To get a rollcage the extends to the windshield, you either have to purchase the 10 point system or purchase the 8 point system along with the conversion kit.

[Bluegoose972]

Originally Posted by 3wbdriver

I'd really be interested in some pics of the 2x3" lower braces after you get them installed. I've been trying to think thru how I was going to do that. I've built 2 roundy round dirt cars with that Lincoln 100 welder. It's a good buy. If you need a hotter weld, I'd go with the flux core wire, but other than that I use the gas feed (makes purtier welds).



BURN IT UP!!!

I've been thinking about it and I've decided that at this point, I'm not going to install the 2"x3" tubing. I really don't have any intentions on putting this thing on it's roof or even putting the truck in a position where I might. For now, I'm installing 6" backing plates and sandwiching the floor sheet metal between them. One of my concerns is that the tubing would be a rigid mount, yet I have poly body mounts that are going to want to let things flex. Ideally, if I decided differently, I'd mount the tubing down far enough to allow a body mount to be installed between the tubing and the bottom of the body. Then I could run bolts through the two layers to snug up everything. Maybe a project for next winter?

[michigank5]

Thanks Bluegoose, after I read they're description again about the 8-point as a roll bar instead of roll cage, that's what I was thinking, but thanks for the clarification,
Jed