peachyracer
March 20th, 2009, 10:25 PM
I'm finally getting around to posting these pics if anybody's interested. Jim Pace (a forum member here), my wife and I ruminated a lot over the design, and basically, the goal was to protect the rear passengers (in four jump seats) and look consistent with original factory bits. It was fabbed up by a local guy named Leroy who really did a spectacular job. (He also fabbed up a winch mount, but I'll save that for the sequel.) It actually protects the front passenger much better, too, because the POE's didn't come with a B-pillar bar over the top--the external cage is just bolted to the aluminum top with no real support on the inside as most of you already know.
As you can see from the pics, it's tied to the W-bar, the external cage, and to the original cage structure that goes under the truck amidships and aft. The little tabs in the top corner of the B-pillar bar are gone. Originally I planned for the tabs to be the seat-belt anchor points for the forward-most jump-seat occupants. As I was installing the belts, I found a better point right on the vertical part of the same bar. I just drilled and tapped a hole where the steel is double thick at the connector collar. I have no empirical crash-testing data, but it just looked like that tab might want to find it's way into a front occupant's head in a catastrophic situation. The tabs in the corner of the C-pillar bar work perfectly for seat-belt anchors.
I had to make sure the C-pillar bar was forward enough so the rear-hatch hinges would have clearance to allow the hatch to close. The two bars on top running fore and aft between the B- and C-pillars were located there to give the jump-seat passengers as much head room as possible, and also so the alpine windows would not be obstructed. For lack of a better alternative so far, I've since put cheap pipe insulation on the bars as padding. Not ideal, but a head saver for sure.
The bars are all removable except the B-pillar vertical bars. Those had to be welded to the existing bar that comes up from the W bar, because Leroy didn't have enough clearance to weld a collar in between the bar and the aluminum top. All the collars are bolted together with two "C" type deals just like the factory's cage joinery. One of them is welded to the end of a bar on either side of the joint, and when assembled they meet and mate and bolt together in wedded bliss. It's a beautiful ceremony. (I told myself I wasn't going to cry...)
BTW, these photos show some stuff that's not right but have been fixed--like the twisted seat belt, rusty brackets, etc...just so you know.
Big thanks to Jim and Leroy for all their help. Now we can get dirty safely!
Pete
As you can see from the pics, it's tied to the W-bar, the external cage, and to the original cage structure that goes under the truck amidships and aft. The little tabs in the top corner of the B-pillar bar are gone. Originally I planned for the tabs to be the seat-belt anchor points for the forward-most jump-seat occupants. As I was installing the belts, I found a better point right on the vertical part of the same bar. I just drilled and tapped a hole where the steel is double thick at the connector collar. I have no empirical crash-testing data, but it just looked like that tab might want to find it's way into a front occupant's head in a catastrophic situation. The tabs in the corner of the C-pillar bar work perfectly for seat-belt anchors.
I had to make sure the C-pillar bar was forward enough so the rear-hatch hinges would have clearance to allow the hatch to close. The two bars on top running fore and aft between the B- and C-pillars were located there to give the jump-seat passengers as much head room as possible, and also so the alpine windows would not be obstructed. For lack of a better alternative so far, I've since put cheap pipe insulation on the bars as padding. Not ideal, but a head saver for sure.
The bars are all removable except the B-pillar vertical bars. Those had to be welded to the existing bar that comes up from the W bar, because Leroy didn't have enough clearance to weld a collar in between the bar and the aluminum top. All the collars are bolted together with two "C" type deals just like the factory's cage joinery. One of them is welded to the end of a bar on either side of the joint, and when assembled they meet and mate and bolt together in wedded bliss. It's a beautiful ceremony. (I told myself I wasn't going to cry...)
BTW, these photos show some stuff that's not right but have been fixed--like the twisted seat belt, rusty brackets, etc...just so you know.
Big thanks to Jim and Leroy for all their help. Now we can get dirty safely!
Pete