After several years of running round with mangled wings i decided to build some extensions to my cage to protect them.Made a start today but would be interested to hear from anyone that has done this to see how they braced the corners to stop them pushing in?.Oh forgot to mention that mine are removeable with the front bumper
Watcha think so far(be gentle with me,its a work in progress
Paul

Well this is how I braced my bars, The brace isn't ideal as it has a bend in it but they seem pretty strong and have stood up to some very heavy abuse!

Well after much head scratching i have sorted my bars and cross bracing.Just got to finish them off now and sort the panelling and paint them then onto the next project
Paul

I want to keep the inner arch complete
so the supports need to work around that.
nice work on yours BTW
any pics of the bar along the wing top section?

Apart from trimming along the front edge my inner wings are complete.Trimmed the front cos the tyres used to foul them on full lock/articulation but wanted them to be as complete as posible to retain the strength despite them being really heavy.No more photos at the mo but will post them up as i do the work
Paul

Cheers
I have winch solenoids fitted to the inner wing and don't want to move them again.
does the tube follow the top/front section curve fully?
how have you attached the top to the tube?
and finally could you take a pic of the cage mount on the outrigger please

The tube is not fastened to the top or front of the wing in any way.The top is mounted on the upright plate on the inner wing about quarter of an inch inside the tube and the front is mounted on the rad panel as usual.The cage is mounted on a plate that bolts to the bulkhead outrigger,it has a high tensile m16 allen key capscrew into a captive threaded insert in the down tube(will take some pictures tomorow).I have tried to keep everything removeable from the start just incase of repairs(glad i did now!)
Paul

Started doing my wing bars today , After a lot of thought we came up with this, Hope to be completed tommorow.

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I know the feeling Paul , some people are so inconsiderate,
The outer skins are made from Forex its 5mm thick foam plastic type stuff , Its flexible as hell and so light and I can get 5 skins out of a 8x4 sheet which costs around £15 so ive been told.

Will post up more pics when finished.

May be of no use to any one but here are the a few pics........
The pale orange motor is mine, and the red and yellow motor is of a mates motor, whilst it was being modified last winter by me.
The skin is 1.5mm flat sheet ally.
These wings work well for us. one has been proven, a tree jumped out at 40-50mph, the wing bar was wrecked but it saved the front axle and shock!






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Considered using 1.5mm ally sheet but thought that after all the work on the wing bars i would use something that could shrug off light knocks without any lasting dents
My car seems like a magnet to trees/fenceposts/walls etc. and soon looks shabby so i think i will go for plastic outer wings

Paul this is the stuff http://www.alucobond.com.au/html/s02_artic...79&dsb=394#
It takes knocks and bumps ,I have made a template and have 3 spares just incase it breaks .and being flat they dont have to be handed and can be fitted in 20 mins .

I used to get so fed up with changing wing skins , not just the cost but the time it takes swaping them over.

Not sure how many colours the Forex comes in but i guess you can cover it in vinyl to suite your colur choice.

Just finished the O/S , Didnt think it turned too bad ,Hopefully will get the N/S to match now .

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sorry about the picture quality they were taken on my phone.

Managed to get a couple of hours on mine today.Got the replacement second had panels cut, painted and fitted,made a filler panel for between the bulkhead and cage and cut and made brackets so that the bars can be removed individually without removing the bumper(in one piece as it was,it was too heavy/awkward to fit without at least 2 assistants )

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The N/S today.

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Just a bit of riveting and tidying up to do.

Sorry Steve but we didnt copy yours so you are still quite unique,

Jase
how did you attach the top and front section of the original wing to the new bar?
any close up photos?
and are the additional pieces of steel to support the flexible arch?

Well,just about finished them just a bit of trimming and some painting to finish

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Now to start on the other end

Yep hopefully,got to do something with the back end, now the front is straight it shows the back up .Not got any events planned yet,hopefully ready for muddy truckers but might get something entered before then.Good luck at the weekend,is it a single entry or 2 car team?
The wing skins are an aluminium/plastic laminate that i got from Daz(my co-driver)whos a sign maker.Its about 4mm thick,plastic(wheelie bin!)center with thin ally on each side so its really easy to work with,flexible,easy to paint and best of all FREE

Handy having mates in the sign trade innit? .Yep it is a long way to northumberland from bristol ,hopefully we are organising a challenge somewhere in derbyshire bit later in the year(same one we introduced Steve and Pikey Mark to challenges last year) only this year it will be more of a challenge ,So if you fancy a trip up i will let you know

Jase/Steve

hopw did you attach to the cage at the bulkhead? weld or bolt into some sort of receiver?

I scolloped the wing bar out to about a thid of the diameter of the tube to fit over the radius of the cage tube and welded it , Very strong , I did think of making brackets and bolting them on but thought that If they are strong enough I wont need to be taking them off , Even if I had to its only 10 mins with the disc cutter .

Somit like this!

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There's another tag below the bar, behind the wing so its bolted top and bottom!

Jase,

you asked how they were going, heres some shots of oneof mine::


general view


Positioning of strenghtening brace, we decided to go down in front of the inner wing but behind the headlight


ready for panels (i hope)


they are bolted at the front to the top of the bumper.

In all 12man hours to do bith sides on mine less the side panel fitting.

I suppose you coudl say the front support is going the wrong way, but we figured on having some give in the bars rather than transmitting the load to the chassis, hence the location!

A few of mine

finshed the forex today, so the FARRS BARS are finsihed on my truck!







Glad its all done now, a couple of not so good bits like bulkhead to cage mounting but overall pleased with it.

Thank Jase for letting us browse ofver your truck and supplying the materials, and cheers Lardy for bending the bars up for us.

mine now finished bar the TDI stickers to go on

see also here for more info

Notching/bird mouth calculator/instruction etc

http://www.northoffroad.co.uk/challengewings.pdf