The Beast

[Hauls Assington]

[Hauls Assington]

I am in the meat of the roll cage project now. It is really a learning experience for me, and it is taking me far longer than someone who already knew what they were doing, that is for sure.

Slow progress. I still have a long way to go, it took me 2 weeks to get the a-pillars fitted to my mounts, right now my B pillars are straight, but I am going to bend new ones that will take less interior room. I have everything just tacked in, so I can get all the roof pieces cut and bent, and the windshield/dash bars. After all that is done, I can pull the b-pillars, lean it back and weld all the way around all the joints, push it back up, install the b-pillars, and weld the cage to the mounts, that go to the frame. Then I am going to run my shock tower support bars through the firewall, and complete my engine cage. After that is done, it will be time to finish the rear section of the cab cage.

I wish I had a team of roll cage fabricators that would work for beer for a day or 2 lol!

[Hauls Assington]

Is there a way to change the name of your bronco on here, I haven't figured out how to edit my posts, so if anyone has the ability, I would like it to be called "Black Project".

My Dad and I have a Carwash in Las Cruces called Outer Limits, and one of our wash options is "The Black Project". I am going to use my bronco as a promotional vehicle for the Carwash.

[Hauls Assington]

[Hauls Assington]

Cab cage and engine cage are in, have some more welding and gusseting to do.

So i installed the a pillar mounts to the frame, then put in the a-pillars, then got the b pillars and mounts in, after welding the mounts in, i tacked the a&b pillars in place, and did the cross. Bar at the rear of the driver and passenger head area, then bent up the upper and lower windshield bars, and added roof supports and the windshield A. Then i removed the b-pollars and was able to get the rest out, to weld all the way around everything. Put it back in, welded the b-pillars on, and welded everything to the mounts.

Then i cut some holes through the firewall and ran tubes from the a-pillars to the shock towers, and a cross bar from tower to tower.

[Hauls Assington]

I fired some bed liner all up into my floorboards, and bed area today. It looks soooo much better.

The racing seats I got were fine for me, but no one else who is going to be riding shotgun liked them, so I ordered some corbeau baja ss seats. Just waiting on those to come in so I can finish up the cab cage.

I am going to wire everything up, and get it going, and then finish the dashboard.

Need to install the winters shifter, and get the driveshafts installed. I got a custom length rear driveshaft made, and I hope it fits. I have a driveshaft off my f-250 donor vehicle, that I am hoping will be just right since it had the motor and tranny that are now in the bronc.

I still have to clearance the passenger side axle joint, and put the straps on the rear end.

Man it feels good to be getting close to driving this bad boy, I can taste it!!

[Hauls Assington]

Here are my new seats.....



And seat mounts......



And some guy hauling ass, like a boss......

[Wrightracing.net]

Looking good!

[Hauls Assington]

I got the seats installed! I got a new welder, and I have been getting better at welding. As you can see, some of them are just ugly. I am starting to do a little better job. You guys can check out some of my welds(and comment on how my bronc is going to fly apart the first speed bump I hit lol).

[dtbback]

I really like the rear seats?

[dtbback]

meant to put an !

[Hauls Assington]

The rear seats are actually the front seats, they were just hanging out back there while I installed the seat mount structure of the cage.

[Hauls Assington]

Got my driveshaft back today, fits perfect! I ended up having a front shaft that would work, put new u-joints in and installed it as well.

when I initially got my driveshaft back it would barely go on, I only had a 3/4" of slip yoke at ride height, they took 1/2" more off for me, and now we are money.

[Smith racing]

Whens going to be its first outing to the desert.

[Seabass]

At the risk of sounding like a prick I'm going to critique on the harsh side. Good on you for actually getting out there and working on your rig and making parts come together. That's huge and how you learn, I wish i had the means and motivation to make the progress you are. Your b pillar tube is going to turn into a baseball bat and kill someone in a roll. Those 90*s are weak and need triangulation to add any real structural support. Shape and design are more important than material for a roll cage. Most sanctioning bodies show whats required to pass tech. While you may not be building a race legal rig there's tons to be learned from their books... and they learned the hard way.

On to the welds. Looks aren't as important as people emphasize. Don't chase "stacking dimes" by stacking tacking. Every time a weld is stopped there's an invitation for porosity. And while it's to late now this is not the project to learn on. Cages kill people. Seriously. There's giant chips in my helmets from professionally build score legal cages that would have caused serious injury from just bouncing around in the dirt. Prerunner cages need tons of room between bodies and metal. Harnesses are now absolutely needed to keep squishy stuff away from hard stuff.

[Seabass]

Look into plating the frame where your outriggers land.

[Hauls Assington]

Yeah, I am not finished with the cage, I have a lot of gussets and triangulation left to go. I got harnesses, they are of the 5-point variety. I am planning more b- pillar support.


Also where the outriggers go, I am going to run a tube between the b-pillar, and a-piller outriggers, with a triangulated outrigger in the middle.

I am far from done, and still have to do the rear portion of the cage.

I appreciate criticism, and I am admittedly a novice fabricator.

[Hauls Assington]

I think there is plenty of headroom, with harnesses, to avoid head bonking. The b-pillar is several inches behind the back of the front seats, and i can't get high enough in the seat that my head would be able to go behind the seat in any way. Same with the passenger side. I like a low reclined seating position, and i an average sized guy, 5'8", so there is tons and tons of headroom.

In any kind of high speed desert situation, full blown helmets will be worn, and no one will be riding in the back.

This thing may be used as an actual pre runner/chase vehicle, as i plan on helping with the Smith racing efforts in the future in the TDRA series, in Texas.

Other than that, I am going to drive the piss out of it around town for a good while and get all the monkeys and gremlins out before i do anything too crazy with it. I put in about 100 miles a day for work.


I probably should have bent the b-pillar outward for more interior room, but I wanted it to be a perfectly straight piece of tubing, in case of some insane 100mph roof landing.

[Hauls Assington]

I got the joint on the passenger axle clearanced, I left it on to do it, and used a die grinder. I was able to get it to travel farther than my steering would allow, I think about 18". I ended up strapping it at just under 16". I think the steering problems start at about 17". So I left some room for strap stretching.

Also I had to clearance the window on the beam where the axle goes through. So I'm happy to have gotten that done. I'm still scratching my head about where to start on the dashboard, and brainstorming ideas on how to make it all come together cleanly.

I;m going to chop off my monstrosity of arc welded birds@*& front bumper and start over while I have the bender.

And I am going to do a tire carrier on the back bumper.

The factory rear seat is no longer an option after I installed the harness bars behind the front seats.

I may either get 2 more of the baja ss seats for the back, or get a baja bench. I have 2 scat racing seats I got from summit, that are too small for most people, and I may see if I make them acceptably safe for kids to ride in.

I finished the engine cage and beefed up my upper shock mounts.

I got a set of steel braided front brake lines, and associated fittings.

Driveshafts are in and the right length.

The rear portion of the cage is done except the seat mounts.

I have a lot of gusseting to do, and I still need to finish the outrigger portion of the cage to frame mounting system.

[Rmc]

This thing is looking good man!