Galactica - 2018 JL
- Thread starter WNDR-XJ
- Start date
don't you already have that reason????
mbryson
Utah visitor
I just signed up to congratulate @Galactica and @WNDR-XJ on their JLL build. I enjoyed meeting them at EJS along with @OneArmedSaint as well in his snazberry JT. Hope to run into them again for EJS 2024.
It has exceeded expectations! We had such a fun time getting it built and learning to drive it has been a blast! We have a few changes planned, but all of those are seemingly minor compared to what we have done so far.
So the next big project has begun! Time for some interior modifications - and we are going to start with a proper roll cage. The factory roll cage absolutely provides some level of safety but as we find ourselves doing more and more challenging trails a stronger cage offers a bit more of insurance in the event we ever need to use it. I hope we never have to - but it is nice knowing it is there.
Should come as no surprise that we landed on the GenRight cage - the attention to detail, is seemingly second to none, and their sales and tech teams are awesome. They helped to a bit of pre-checking in CAD and helped identify the areas where we would have to do some custom work given the JLL's unique construction.
We started by removing the wheels, and getting the vehicle as low as possible, since you have to climb in and out many times during the process. We then leveled the vehicle front to back and side to side - some screw style jack stands helped immensely. We then had to remove pretty much all of the interior. While we had removed the rear of the interior during previous stages of construction, we never disassembled the dash. I found these video's particularly helpful for getting everything apart without damaging it.
We then had to pull out lots, and lots of plastic and trim. It is amazing how much plastic trim is on the interior - literally buckets and shelves worth of interior pieces.
After the interior was removed - we started on the factory cage. Before making any cuts, and risking the cage moving on me too much, I used some woodworking clamps to push up on the cage to give it a little pre-load. This helped ensure that the cage would not clamp down on the angle grinder and band saw when I was making the cuts.
The C pillar is pretty straight forward, just cut off flush above the factory weld seam.
For the B Pillar, we know that we are going to have to do some custom work here as the GenRight cage is designed for a 4-door. While the front and rear clips of the vehicle are identical, everything in between for us is a bit custom. So we left these long, and will document what we have to do to make everything fit nicely once we get there.
For the A-Pillar, they provide a great template that bolts into the factory cage that you then use to trace your cut line. GenRight recommends using an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to make this cut. A 6in would likely have helped quite a bit, my 4in angle grinder was not quite able to make the full depth cut, and you can't really access the interior side of the A-pillar due to the dash being in the way.
After everything is all said and done - it gives off a bit of a CJ-5 vibe
Should come as no surprise that we landed on the GenRight cage - the attention to detail, is seemingly second to none, and their sales and tech teams are awesome. They helped to a bit of pre-checking in CAD and helped identify the areas where we would have to do some custom work given the JLL's unique construction.
We started by removing the wheels, and getting the vehicle as low as possible, since you have to climb in and out many times during the process. We then leveled the vehicle front to back and side to side - some screw style jack stands helped immensely. We then had to remove pretty much all of the interior. While we had removed the rear of the interior during previous stages of construction, we never disassembled the dash. I found these video's particularly helpful for getting everything apart without damaging it.
We then had to pull out lots, and lots of plastic and trim. It is amazing how much plastic trim is on the interior - literally buckets and shelves worth of interior pieces.
After the interior was removed - we started on the factory cage. Before making any cuts, and risking the cage moving on me too much, I used some woodworking clamps to push up on the cage to give it a little pre-load. This helped ensure that the cage would not clamp down on the angle grinder and band saw when I was making the cuts.
The C pillar is pretty straight forward, just cut off flush above the factory weld seam.
For the B Pillar, we know that we are going to have to do some custom work here as the GenRight cage is designed for a 4-door. While the front and rear clips of the vehicle are identical, everything in between for us is a bit custom. So we left these long, and will document what we have to do to make everything fit nicely once we get there.
For the A-Pillar, they provide a great template that bolts into the factory cage that you then use to trace your cut line. GenRight recommends using an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to make this cut. A 6in would likely have helped quite a bit, my 4in angle grinder was not quite able to make the full depth cut, and you can't really access the interior side of the A-pillar due to the dash being in the way.
After everything is all said and done - it gives off a bit of a CJ-5 vibe
GOOSE3
Member 2024
What a machine!! I had not followed the build from the beginning and last night started from your first post and looked at the progression-WOW, what a build, I am envious and in awe. Would love to see it in person someday. I also want to borrow all of your garage space and tools-