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Toys by Troy Sport Cage

Toys By Troy Sport Cage

Part #:

I decided that I needed a little bit more protection than was offered by the stock cage. I looked around at a few of the cages. There was two primary differences between the cages. Bolt in, and weld in. Lots of argument on both sides of the house on which is better than the other. Since I'm not racing Nascar here, I didn't feel that I needed something designed to withstand 200mph into a wall, especially since 70mph was plenty fast for me in the Jeep. I didn't want to cut holes in my dash or give up leg room like I did in my '86 CJ-7 that had a weld in cage in it. So I decided that I would do one that bolted to the dash at the front pinch weld area. This is a fairly strong area in itself. So that left me a few decisions out there. OR Fab, Toys by Troy, Poison Spider Customs, or RockHard. I just never liked the look of the PSC cage, no offense, but wasn't a fan of the big spider on the side. Rockhard was just a little bit expensive for me, though I may go with their rear cage bar in the future. Now OR Fab and TBT are basically the same cage, though TBT had one thing that OR Fab didn't have. A grab handle in the front for my Jeep ingress challenged friends. Though OR Fab had one thing that TBT didn't have, floor supports. So I may get those at a later date also.  The first TBT cage didn't arrive without it's issues.  Skip to the bottom if you want to read my issues.

Additional Parts:
(2) Spreader Bars
Dash Bar
Tools Needed:
Phillips Screwdriver
Vise Grips
T-40 Torx
T-30 Torx
9/16" Combo Wrench
Ratchet
9/16" Socket
1/2" Socket
Allen Wrench
Drill
1/8" Drill
5/16" Drill
3/8" Drill
Hammer
Center punch
Scissors

 

Installation:
Here are the parts.   Look at all the openings, and all the drill holes.  Debur or remove any access powdercoat. DSC02554.JPG (62019 bytes)
Sport Cage
DSC02555.JPG (62788 bytes)
Spreader bar (1of2)
DSC02556.JPG (63327 bytes)
Dash Bar
1. After you remove the hard top or put down the soft top you will need to remove the door surround.  Undo the two hand screws from the top and pull the surround off.  DSC02557.JPG (63843 bytes)  DSC02558.JPG (63622 bytes)
2.  Now remove the visors by taking out the Phillips screw that holds them to the windshield frame. DSC02559.JPG (59047 bytes) 
3.  Now remove the plastic surround from around the windshield.  Their are 3 phillips head screws holding it to the windshield frame and 1 push retainer on the top.  You can just pull the rubber seal around the retainer to get it off, but you'll need to get the retainer out of the plastic surround later.  DSC02560.JPG (61399 bytes)  DSC02561.JPG (58005 bytes)
4. Now undo the Velcro from around the center bar and unzip the cover from the front roll bars.

DSC02562.JPG (61909 bytes) 

5. Remove the foam padding from the roll bar.  It is in with 3 push retainers.  They are marked by an X on the underside.  Carefully pull down on the padding and it will come off. DSC02563.JPG (60374 bytes) DSC02564.JPG (61688 bytes)
6.  Now remove the roll bar to windshield frame Torx bolts.  This requires a T-40 Torx. DSC02566.JPG (60997 bytes)
7. Remove the windshield wipers so that you can lay down the windshield. Lift Them into the up position and pry out the clip on the bottom. DSC02568.JPG (60713 bytes) DSC02569.JPG (60803 bytes)
8. Once you have the clip out just pull the wipers off the mount. DSC02570.JPG (62858 bytes) DSC02571.JPG (60948 bytes)
9. Remove the Windshield retainer bolt from each side.  This requires a T-40 Torx.  It may be easier to pull back on the windshield slightly to remove these.   DSC02567.JPG (63129 bytes)
10. If you have the electronic compass mirror your wiring is most likely to short to support laying down the windshield, so to prevent damage. Pry up the defroster cover. DSC02572.JPG (60323 bytes) DSC02573.JPG (61444 bytes)
11. Undo the wire from the slip on the right.  This will give enough slack to lay down the windshield. DSC02574.JPG (62304 bytes) DSC02575.JPG (62950 bytes)
12. Lay the windshield down against the hood.   DSC02576.JPG (60855 bytes)
13. Jeep decided that putting a nice T-55 Security Torx in the roll cage was a nice feature.  Though it works well to maintain the length of the stock roll cage bars, we will need this for the new cage.  So you can either knock out the center pin, go buy a T-55 Security Torx, or grab a good pair of vice grips and just turn it out. DSC02577.JPG (63968 bytes)
14. Undo the strap holding the door in place, fold the mirror in and open the door all the way, you will need the extra room. DSC02587.JPG (61704 bytes)
15. I decided to do a little test fit at this point with the bars before I went any further, just to see how things would fit.  
16. Remove the 3 screws holding the dash to the fire wall.  These will require a T-30 Torx.  Don't worry about the nuts, they are actually clips behind the dash. Dsc02579.jpg (55439 bytes)
17. I slid one of the bars up onto the nibblet that was still mounted to the rest of the cage.  Of course it didn't go on.  I took a look at the factory part and saw that they had welded the threaded insert off center and part of it was sticking out, so I ground it down and the bar slid right on.   DSC02578.JPG (60608 bytes) DSC02582.JPG (62330 bytes)
18. Now line up the holes in the TBT bar with the holes in the dash.  Be careful of the door light button, it's only plastic and you can break it.  It also pops out if you hit it just right.  I screwed it into the dash temporarily to check the fit. Dsc02584.jpg (55563 bytes) Dsc02586.jpg (57679 bytes)
Here is what it looks like so far. DSC02583.JPG (61324 bytes)
I decided to fit in the upper bar at this point.  Hmm don't line up. Don't worry, your supposed to put it all together first, and remember I still have the nibblets in the stock locations, so the bars are not lined up. DSC02589.JPG (62364 bytes) DSC02593.JPG (57437 bytes)
19.  Now unzip the roll bar pad from the center bar and remove the center pad.  This is the same as the side bars.  So just pull down at the X's DSC02598.JPG (61791 bytes) DSC02599.JPG (62377 bytes)
20. Remove the nibblets by removing the 2 T-40 Torx bolts holding them on.  The lower bolt is a little hard to get out since they have big washers on and it is just slightly behind the foam padding. DSC02600.JPG (60904 bytes)
Assemble the cage.
21. Assemble the spreaders, by sliding the end into the bar, and inserting the bolt.  I placed the nut and washer towards what would be the inside of the bar when it was installed.  Do not tighten the bolt DSC02591.JPG (63840 bytes) DSC02592.JPG (62449 bytes)
22. Insert the Nibblets into the respective ends of the side bars and screw in the T-55 Security bolt that you removed earlier. DSC02601.JPG (62324 bytes)
23. Bolt the center bar to one side of the cage.  Do not tighten the bolt. DSC02602.JPG (61873 bytes)
24. Slide the spreaders onto the bar.   DSC02603.JPG (63414 bytes)
25. Bolt the dash bar in.  The instructions say to have the nuts on the inside, but as you can see they don't quite fit well.  I decided to flip them around and put the bolt heads on the inside.  Works better this way.  It may be a little harder to get out. DSC02605.JPG (59610 bytes) DSC02604.JPG (62502 bytes)
26. If you have any intentions on removing the center dash surround remember the two screws that hold it in on top.  Here is how close they are to the underside of the bar.  You also won't be able to remove the defroster cover once the dash bar is in place, so remove them now if you want to. Dsc02629.jpg (47051 bytes)
27. Now for the fun part (you can do this by yourself, if your really careful).  Pick up the entire cage and put it in the vehicle.  Having a friend to grab it from the other side helps to protect the paint, and a few other parts of your anatomy.  I installed the top and bottom bolts on either side into the dash first.  I then loosely installed the T-40 Torx's to bolt the nibblets back to the center bar.  You will need to push, pull, put a little weight into getting everything to line up.  Getting the last bolt into the nibblet was the hardest.  While you have everything loose, pick up the spreaders and fit them over the center bar, the half moon piece will slide up and over if you push on the cage.  Once they are up, take a look and bolt everything down starting with the dash.
28. I decided to work on the window surrounds before I finished up installing the spreaders.  I wanted to have some good light left to be able to see what I was doing.  There are a few places that the 03 and up windshield surrounds will hit on the TBT cage.  
Dsc02645.jpg (47513 bytes) DSC02646.JPG (61158 bytes) DSC02647.JPG (61592 bytes)
I figured I could use this neat contour gauge that I had in the drawer... yea right.  Oh well out came the dremel, and a lot of lift the windshield, lower the windshield, cut, lift the windshield....... Get the idea. DSC02648.JPG (60609 bytes)
So after much pain I came up with these cuts.  I made some templates, and I'll put them up as links below once I get them on the computer.  The main one worked really well on the other side.   The bottom ones were still a work in progress.  If someone uses them, let me know what the needed corrections are.
DSC02649.JPG (62304 bytes) DSC02650.JPG (62909 bytes) DSC02651.JPG (60923 bytes) DSC02652.JPG (61017 bytes)
DSC02653.JPG (59672 bytes) DSC02656.JPG (62259 bytes) DSC02655.JPG (59987 bytes)
29.  Cut your windshield surrounds so that they fit around the bar.
30. Reinstall the windshield surrounds the same way you removed them.  Don't forget the little push retainer on top to hold down the upper seal. DSC02657.JPG (61486 bytes)
31. Reinstall the sun visor. DSC02658.JPG (62649 bytes)
32. Now put the windshield up.  Now since you don't have the bars to actually pull the windshield back like stock, I improvised being able to put the windshield retainer bolts back in.  You can have a buddy push while you screw these in, but I was out of friends for the day.  So out came the ratchet strap. DSC02660.JPG (60765 bytes) DSC02661.JPG (60254 bytes)
33. Now reinstall the windshield wipers.   DSC02659.JPG (61013 bytes)
34. Measure and mark the center of the roll cage bars.  This will help you to not get them off center, or misaligned.  Now measure and position the spreader bars where you want them.  I had two bars so I decided that I wanted them 7in apart.  6 1/2in's will allow for most CB's.  My intentions are for a power inverter up here. DSC02662.JPG (61887 bytes) DSC02664.JPG (61702 bytes)
35. Center punch the drill hole on the front bar.  You will need to drill these out to 5/16".  I recommend drilling a pilot hole first.  After I had the hole drilled I screwed in the Self Tapping bolt from Troy.  I didn't tighten it up, just used it to hold the front of the bar stable while I marked the rear. Dsc02663.jpg (67785 bytes)
36. measure the position of the rear bars and center punch the drill holes.  Remove the front bolt and slid the bars aside so that you can drill the holes.  After the holes are drilled install the self tapping bolt in the front of the bar and then the rear of the bar. DSC02665.JPG (62283 bytes)
37. Fit the foam pad back around the center roll bar and mark where it needs to be cut to fit around the spreader bars. DSC02696.JPG (59073 bytes) DSC02695.JPG (62714 bytes)
38. I decided to just cut the roll bar fabric and zip tie it around the bars.  I intend to remove the entire cover later and sew 3 individual zippers into it. DSC02697.JPG (62566 bytes)

< Rock Hard Rollbar Pads >

Now for the issues with Toys By Troy. I originally ordered a sport cage, 2 spreaders, and a dash bar. Once everything finally arrived I opened the boxes. 1 of the spreader bars looked terrible. The powdercoat had rust coming through it, the connector piece was only partially powdercoated, and it was missing the hardware. Okay I knew a few of these had gotten out of the shop due to poor packing (dudes got fired). So a quick phone call to Mac about this, and another one was on it's way to me. I shipped the bad one back to him on his ticket. Great customer service. He was going to take this one back to Troy personally. So I go to install the cage. After playing around with it I can't get it to line up and go in. This frustrates me for a full day. I tried just about every way imaginable to get it in. The center bar wouldn't line up, the dash plates wouldn't line up, the nibblets wouldn't line up. So I decided to put the bars down and start measuring things. I though maybe my body was tweaked. Even at this point I didn't suspect that the bars from Troy could be the problem. So after no luck with my body being tweaked. I decided to measure the bars and lay them down on top of each other. Guess what, the passenger side bar was 1/2 inch longer than the other. The 1/2 inch was in the section coming up from the dash bracket. This caused all the issues. So I called Mac back to find out what I was going to have to do (besides put the Jeep back together). I emailed a bunch of pictures off of the bad bar along with measurements as to where the problem was. The first set of phone calls with Toys By Troy did not go exactly well. They were going to have a tech call me to tell me how to install the bar. Ummm.... yea right. So 3 days go bye and nothing, no tech (I was actually hoping for this phone call). I did get a phone call from Mac saying that Troy decided to send me a new cage since the one I got was made during a switch over in manufacturing and I got an old bar and a new bar in the box. So I wait for UPS to come, so that I can ship the old cage back to Troy who was nice enough to send a return with the new one. Though I do believe that Troy did get the last laugh. Han Solo could not have gotten out of this box any easier than he could have gotten out of the carbonite. Talk about foam packing.

  N-m Ft. Lbs. In. Lbs.
Side support bar to sport bar bolts  20 15 -
Side support sport bar to windshield frame bolts  32 24 -
Sport bar bracket bolt 68 50 -

This page last updated: 16-Apr-2008

Content and Design © 2002-present WanderingTrail,  Ronald Seegert
Common Sense and Safety should always be observed when working on your vehicle or doing modifications. Jackstands, wheel blocks, disconnecting the battery are a few of the basic safety precautions that should be used and may not be mentioned in the write ups on this site. You are responsible for your own installation, these write ups are a helpful guideline and should not be taken as an official installation instruction. My write up may be different from the kits currently out there, so alwasy double check the manufacturers installation instructions when installing anything. I try to keep the site up to date with changes that have occured as I discover them, but may not have the latest unless someone lets me know. If you feel that an install is above your capabilities after reading my write ups, I recommend getting together with a club and getting some help. Only a few times have I needed to employe some actual help from a shop to get something done. Usually welding or A/C work. While I have spent many years working on mechanical systems, I am not an expert, nor do I pretend to be one. I hope these write ups have been useful to you.
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