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2 questions? Fiberglass and O-R Fab Cages

Well my not so totaled YJ is now in my garage. With a few days removed and a new perspective thanks to you all here, it really does not seem as bad as it felt. I have begun tarring parts off, (damn those torx bolts on in there good, and painted over by the last owner).

My two (or so) questions: Other than weight what are the advantages to the fiberglass or kevlar body part replacements over the steel. I like the look of the whole one piece front end, or even replacing the fenders with glass or kevlar, but is this really better than steel, and when painted will the glass portions match the steel tub.

Next part. Because of the accident, I want better roll protection. the bar above the drivers (me) head buckled down into my head because the top drivers side corner of the windshield frame a main point of contact. It pushed straight back and down causing the buckling of the bar. I was looking at the O-R Fab sport cages, and would like some feed back from anyone who has used them. Better yet anyone used them and roll over?

Thanks all.

Reply to
Chris
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This link is to a Toys By Troy sport bar install, but its pretty much the same thing as the O-R Fab one:

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's a link in there to a video of a TJ with this sort of cage rollingtwo or three times over. The driver lived through it nicely and apparentydrove the Jeep off the trail. In my opinion this sort of protection is quite adequate for anything but competition use, and I'm planning on picking one up soon.

Sorry, I don't know much at all about the relative merits of fibreglass or Kevlar body parts.

/Peter

Reply to
Peter Pontbriand

fenders with glass or kevlar, but is this really better than steel, and when painted will the glass portions match the steel tub.>

In my experience fiberglass components never seem to look as good as steel and are a bear to install due to weird fits, etc. It's simply a lot easer to source & install steel replacement parts.

I installed an O-R Fab cage last Spring. Quality is excellent and (knock on wood) although I haven't had a chance to "try it out" it looks to be far better than the stock setup it replaced. Installation was relatively straightforward, a bit more involved than than I'd expected, but was really no big deal. As I recall the main issues were the front lateral bar being too snug in the side bars (used some white grease) and the attachment brackets at the upper windshield points had to be ground off a bit in the corners to match up with my Bestop soft top. You'll need to get a special anti-tamper Torx bit to get the old bars off. (I got one from the local Snap-On guy. You may be able to borrow one.)

One other bolt-on bar I've seen that's quite good is by Rock Hard 4x4. It's a bit more expensive but very stout. Finally, if you have soft doors, Mountain Off Road makes a great one that bolts to the floor. It interferes with the window crank handles however.

Reply to
SoK66

Depending on the type of 'glass and it's coating ...try and get one with that 1/4" coating stuff ...they are EXTREMELY strong and of course they never rust. Our local Jeep guy here brings em in and sells em at $2500 CDN/peice. Apparently, they are alot easier to install then most and fit very nicely. If you are really interested in knowing the type and where he gets em (brings em in from Calgary I think), call him at 204-453-JEEP (5337). If I had the time and extra $, I'd probably put one on my CJ. I've seen them on his Jeeps and they are very very very nice ...and like I said ...TOUGH!

As for rollcages ...just make sure it's actually BOLTED to the FRAME if it comes down beside the driver/passenger. I saw one on a CJ awhile back that was bolted to ...yes ...the FLOORBOARDS. I couldn't help it and had to ask the driver how he figured this would offer any protection in a rollover and he confessed that it was purely aesthetic. It was probably actually more of a hazard than anything.

Reply to
griffin

Don't know much about roll bars, but I have a glass body, metal doors and metal front end, you can't tell the metal from the glass.

Reply to
Greg

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