Cage questions

[dirtman13]

Looks good. Nice work.

[Tumbleweed13]

Cage is coming to nice.

Are you making your sandwich plates, on the underside of the tub, bigger then the plate on the top side? If not, you should. If they are the same size, they could fatigue the tub, and cause a tear, just from the stress of wheeling.

Also, if your running 35's, and have OBA, then you can lay your spare tire flat, in the back. just deflate your tire.

Just a couple suggestions. Keep up the good work.

[daniel_buck]

I've not thought about deflating the tire. I have an electric air pump, so yes I could inflate it. I wonder if I could slide the tire out the back with it deflated?? I like your thinking, I'll give that a try.


The sandwich plates, yes I've heard of that! I've not made them yet, but I'll make sure to make them sized differently. Is it better to have the upper plate larger? or the lower? or doesn't really matter, just so long as one of them is larger?

[6spdYJ]

With sandwich plates you'd want the under-side bigger to have more resistance to tearing through during a roll. Granted, tying into the frame does more, but every little bit helps keep it all in one piece.

[daniel_buck]

So here's a question I've got. I'm contemplating the idea of brush painting the cage, instead of rattle canning it. It's usually fairly breezy in the later part of the day, and I feel like I could get better coverage with brush painting it.

Anyone know of some paint that would be good for this, and not leave huge brush marks? I've seen park benches, swing sets, and other metal tube objects painted in outdoors areas (public parks, what not), and I assume they are brush painted. And they seem to hold up real good. Any suggestions?

I'm thinking Rustoleum High Performance Protective Enamel, I have heard that stuff is real strong

[dirtman13]

POR-15. I used it on my frame when I stripped it down.

[daniel_buck]

How much of a pain in the butt is that process? I've heard it's not fun, haha

I picked up some primer and some of that Enamel. I'm doing it on some test pieces. It takes a while to dry, alot longer than spray paint. They say 2-3 hours until it's dry to the touch, and 24 hours until it's fully dry and ready for the next coat. We'll see how it goes. If the test piece works out, I think I'll give this a go.

[Trailabite]

I don't know if there's a facility around here that can handle a full cage or not, but I took my cage to place when I was in MN and had it powder coated for around $300.

[Tumbleweed13]

I'm a big fan of the Rustoleum Hammered finish in the qt. cans. I used a mini roller, and a brush. There are never brush marks, cuz it creates it's own textured like surface. So, brush marks disappear. It requires no primer. It can go on, over light rust, and stop it, from spreading. Best thing, is touch ups are virtually unnoticeable. I painted my car trailer with it. I use it on anything, that I think will get scratched, and need touch ups, now and then.

Last week I had to reweld the spare tire mount. ( No trashing my crappy welds. ) You can only see the touch up, cuz its clean. When it gets dusty like the rest, you won't notice.

So here's a question I've got. I'm contemplating the idea of brush painting the cage, instead of rattle canning it. It's usually fairly breezy in the later part of the day, and I feel like I could get better coverage with brush painting it.

Anyone know of some paint that would be good for this, and not leave huge brush marks? I've seen park benches, swing sets, and other metal tube objects painted in outdoors areas (public parks, what not), and I assume they are brush painted. And they seem to hold up real good. Any suggestions?

I'm thinking Rustoleum High Performance Protective Enamel, I have heard that stuff is real strong

[daniel_buck]

I used hammer finish on my original bolt-on parts, but I didn't like the way it turned out because a year or so later it started to rust. HOWEVER, I only did one coat, and it was in a spray can. I didn't realize they made it in a roll/brush application too, I think I'll definitely go that route, I like the hammer finish look. Thanks for bringing that up, I thought it was only available in spray.

How long did it take for the roll/brush on hammer finish to become dry to touch?

[Tumbleweed13]

On my recent touch up. I painted in the morning and left it all day. I didn't have to wait on it. So, Im not really sure, on the , Dry to Touch time. The can says 1/2 hour. I remember that being about right. I painted my whole car trailer in a day, 2 coats, cuz I started early. Look on the rustoleum site for color choice. Lowe's and Home Depot usually carry white or black, in the quart cans. If they don't have the color you want, order from amazon. I ordered thru Lowes, and it took 2 weeks to get it. After I did mine, a friend decided to do his. He ordered from Amazon, and got it 3 or 4 days. Also don't waste your money on expensive brushes or rollers. Cuz it creates its own texture, anyway. Just get the cheap, disposable stuff.

I used hammer finish on my original bolt-on parts, but I didn't like the way it turned out because a year or so later it started to rust. HOWEVER, I only did one coat, and it was in a spray can. I didn't realize they made it in a roll/brush application too, I think I'll definitely go that route, I like the hammer finish look. Thanks for bringing that up, I thought it was only available in spray.

How long did it take for the roll/brush on hammer finish to become dry to touch?

[daniel_buck]

I was planning on just brushing it on, is it easier or quicker with a roller? I guess you still need to brush it in the corners. Thanks for the info Yea, black is what I want, so I'll order some if I can't find it local. I won't be done with the cage for probably a month or two (if it keeps on raining on the weekends, LOL!)

[Tumbleweed13]

I was planning on just brushing it on, is it easier or quicker with a roller? I guess you still need to brush it in the corners. Thanks for the info Yea, black is what I want, so I'll order some if I can't find it local. I won't be done with the cage for probably a month or two (if it keeps on raining on the weekends, LOL!)

A sick day, after the paint shows up, seems to be in order. My trailer is mostly flat stock. Rolling was fast and easier. I used the 4" wide mini roller, that comes with the plastic roller pan. I would still use it on the tube. I think it will still go on faster, then with the brush only. Yes you'll need a brush for corners and areas the roller won't reach.

[daniel_buck]

Yea, may have to do a sick day

Wouldn't be the first time I've taken a sick day to work on my jeep. :hide:

[daniel_buck]

So, back to the cage! I'd like to put a tube connecting the base of the driver and passenger C pillars together, across the tub. This obviously would not be good for getting the spare tire out (probably impossible) or if I ever needed to haul something large in the back of the jeep (like a motor, or a transmission or something).

So, rather than just leave this bar out, what about a removable bar?

TMR sells these very beefy looking pieces, where the load is taken off of the bolts for the most part. Looks really strong. My concern however, is that if/when the cage ever gets tweaked by even a little bit, it'll be hell trying to get this bar back in, as tight of a fit as these pieces look.

I like that you can access both bolts from one side though, and you don't need a wrench on the back side, and the nuts on the back side are replacable, incase they get cross-threaded. This would probably be real nice, until the cage gets a little tweaked, or heck even if I'm not parked on a flat surface that may be enough frame flex to make getting this on and off difficult? Granted, I would NOT be removing this bar very often.



And quite a bit more light duty would be a removable door-bar setup, like this. I guess replacing the pin with a grade 8 bolt would probably do better. Not as strong as the clamps from TMR, but would probably be easier to actually use in the long run, after things start to tweak a little bit?

Part of me thinks, nah this isn't really all that strong. But the other part of me thinks, well... it would be stronger than not having it there at all?