Getting Caged: A hard hat for our TJ.
Project Teal-J II, Introduction
Project Teal-J II, Part 1
Project Teal-J II, Part 2
Project Teal-J II, Part 3
Project Teal-J II, Part 4
Project Teal-J II, Part 5
Project Teal-J II, Part 6
Project Teal-J II, Part 7
Project Teal-J II, Part 8
Project Teal-J II, Part 9
Project Teal-J II, Part 10
Project Teal-J II, Part 11
Project Teal-J II, Part 12
Project Teal-J II, Part 13
Project Teal-J II, Part 14
One of the most important additions you can make to your rig is a stout rollcage. We firmly believe that every rig should have some kind of cage to protect its occupants. Nobody ever plans to roll on the trail, but rollovers do happen, and without a proper cage the results can be ugly. Even if the vehicle doesn't see much trail time, a cage is still a good idea, as a road accident at highway speeds can result in a very hard tumble.
Here is how the cage kit arrives from Poison Spyder. It comes with prebent tubes and everything you need to add serious protection to your TJ. All that is needed is a competent welder to handle the install.
While the Jeep TJ comes with a factory cage, we knew we would be hitting some very challenging trails, and we wanted more protection than the factory cage supplies. Last month we added protection to the sides of our TJ with some armor from Poison Spyder Customs. That same company also makes a nice weld-in cage kit for Jeeps. The kit completely replaces the factory cage with a stouter one. Poison Spyder also makes a cage kit that utilizes the factory cage as a base, but we wanted maximum strength, so we opted for the full replacement.
The first step is to strip the factory cage out of the Jeep, along with anything else that might get in the way of the install.
The cage arrives in a weld-together kit form and once we got our hands on it we headed to the pros at Rock Star Trux in San Jose, California to handle the install. The guys there fired up their welder and zapped it together. Pressed for time, we dashed off to Moab and stopped by Moab Off Road, who is under new management. The technicians there finished off the install by adding the kit available from Poison Spyder to utilize the factory seatbelts. With the stout cage in place, we then hit the trails of Moab with confidence that we would be OK if we took a tumble. Follow along as we show you what is involved in putting a stout, good-looking cage into your TJ.
Next, the many tubes of the cage are fitted into place and then tack-welded into position. The fit of the tubes that comprise this kit was excellent, and there were no gaps to fill. | 
Once the cage was assembled and tack-welded, it was removed so that it could be fully welded. Then once the welding was done, it was reinstalled. | 
The folks at Moab Off Road handled the installation of the piece that allows retention of the factory seatbelts. Basically, a hole is drilled in the cage and then a threaded bung is welded to it to accept the bolt that holds the seatbelt assembly. |
Here you can see some of the extra tubing. Properly placed tubing helps to triangulate the cage and keep it from collapsing during impact. | 
While it might sound simple, installation of the Poison Spyder cage kit is a lot of work, but the finished product is well worth it. As you can see, the new cage adds a lot more strength through more tubes positioned in the right places when compared to the stocker. | 
The Poison Spyder cage goes around the dash to tie into the floor. This makes the cage much stronger than it would be if it were just attached to the dash or windshield like the stock cage is. |
Project Teal-J II, Introduction
Project Teal-J II, Part 1
Project Teal-J II, Part 2
Project Teal-J II, Part 3
Project Teal-J II, Part 4
Project Teal-J II, Part 5
Project Teal-J II, Part 6
Project Teal-J II, Part 7
Project Teal-J II, Part 8
Project Teal-J II, Part 9
Project Teal-J II, Part 10
Project Teal-J II, Part 11
Project Teal-J II, Part 12
Project Teal-J II, Part 13
Project Teal-J II, Part 14