How much should a cage cost??

learfxr · 07-04-2008, 08:14 PM

I'm looking at buying a tube bender and doing my own work, or paying to have a cage built. I can get a good bender for around $800. What would a cage cost? I need to determine which route to go. I also need to explain the expensive tool to my wife.

**Grape Ape** · 07-05-2008, 07:52 AM

It doesn't matter what a prebuilt cage would cost you should tell the wife it will cost $5000. Plus the cost of the new bumpers you can build with the bender would be $5000 and the new rear bumper would be $5000. The stinger for the new bumper is yep you guessed it $5000. So now you have the money $20000 to go out and get a good tube bender, a nice notcher, a welder, a plasma cutter, yep see how it works. If you want a really nice (read expensive) welder and plasma cutter, etc... then just tell her everything would cost $8000 or $10000 to buy it prebuilt.

Seriously it depends on what tools you already have. Having a tube bender would be nice but if you also have to get a welder and other tools then it would be cheaper to buy prebuilt. If you have those items and a tube bender is all you have left to be able to fab up a nice cage and bumpers and sliders then by all means get the bender it will pay for itself soon enough.

As for the bender if you are looking at a manual bender you may want to look into the JD2 model 3 It runs $295 and the dies are $150 to $350 depending on size.

**redhatman** · 07-05-2008, 08:03 AM

I assume you trust your welding skills with your life?

xxxflhrci · 07-05-2008, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redhatman

I assume you trust your welding skills with your life?

The opposite side of that is does he trust the skills of a total stranger...

MLJeeper · 07-05-2008, 10:17 AM

haha touche

Dutchers · 07-05-2008, 11:07 AM

if you want i have blue prints on how to build your own tubing bender (manual if course). but youd need a welder, grinder, sander, oxyacetylene torch, and a drill press, sooooo yeah. BUT if you can make your own parts you can make parts for other ppl and the stuff can pay for itself.

**Joe Dillard** · 07-05-2008, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by learfxr

I'm looking at buying a tube bender and doing my own work, or paying to have a cage built. I can get a good bender for around $800. What would a cage cost? I need to determine which route to go. I also need to explain the expensive tool to my wife.

I designed & built my own cage with the help of a couple friends.

Material cost was ~$200, plus a few odds & ends like masking material, tarp, primer, & paint. I borrowed a really nice hydro bender and tube notcher.

Your cost is going to be geared towards how "custom" or extream you want it to be. Plus, will it be DOM, HREW, chromo, size of tubes, or a mix of all these metals? Plus, how many places will it be tied to the frame and are you going to reuse any of the old cage?

I can easily see mine costing upwards of $1,500+ if somebody else bought the materials, and did the fab, paint, and design work.

**BESRK** · 07-05-2008, 03:56 PM

I charge material and labor. For material, I do "my cost plus 20%". I have to buy at least 300ft of tubing to get a price break. My last order of 1.75"x.120" DOM was about $4.30 per foot. Last cage I did, I charged $5.00 per foot for the material. Plus, you have the mounting plates, nuts/bolts, gussets..etc. Price adds up quickly.

For labor, I charge $40hr.

There are all kinds of factors that affect the price of a typical cage... am I going off stock rollbar or doing one from scratch? Simple front add-on or something more serious? X bar? Shoulder harness bar? Hip bars? Seat mounts? Tied to frame?...etc.

If you're a competent welder, a bender will pay for itself on the first full cage you do. After that, it can make you money.

learfxr · 07-05-2008, 04:08 PM

Thanks for the replies

I was told about a few good places to find kits over on the Lone Star Jeep Club. I'm leaning towards the starter kit from here http://www.kozoffroad.com/pages_cata...jrollcages.htm

I've never been a fan of bending. I am no good at figuring bend allowance and measuring where to place the bend and have it right. I would end up with plenty of scrap. I love to buy tools for my shop, but I think I'm better off not doing some things. I'll stick to things like my bumpers, a copy off of Besrk's design. Some of my bumper pieces were bought from Besrk to make it easier too. You're top notch Besrk

**zachv** · 07-07-2008, 08:38 AM

We offer our YJ/TJ cage addition kits that work nicely and if you need to modify something on them we can do that if you order over the phone.

Doing your own full cage is definitely a viable alternative. If you settle on one size die, likely 1.75", you can get a bender setup pretty reasonably and then you will have it. The challenge is that you may do like many of us and waste some tube before you get good, but that is to be expected. Bend Tech software helps, especially when new, but I find my "feel" has taken me further.