CJ-7 Sport Bar and kids....

[t bone 347]

I have a question and a thought that I'd like to bounce off you guys. I love the look of the CJ sport bars vs the early 90's family bar, so i've been trying to figure out how to get my boys (4 & 6) in the back.

If I kept the sport bar and welded a cross bar between the left and right rear sides, would that allow me to put a 4 pt harnesses for the back seat? Also, i currently dont have a back seat, so I'm looking at the taller fold and tumble with the head rests, the cross bar may not even fit, not sure how much room there is with a seat in.

Next question, are the CJ8 and CJ7 sport bars the same size? I ran across a guy that is parting out a Scrambler, but can't seem to find a comparison. I want to pull my original bar off, throw it in the shed and do my hacking and welding to the 'new' one.

I have read all the arguments about having kids in the back of CJs, heads out of the roll bar, no doors, top, etc... I'm not going on epic journeys with them or doing any wheelin', just want to be able to take them to the ball park and cruise around town and back roads without worrying about joe law or having them thrown around if some clown rear ends us.

I hope someone will be able to give a little advice//words of wisdom and that this thread doesn't get jacked TOO soon.

Thanks, Terry

 

[CJ]

~~~ I ran across a guy that is parting out a Scrambler ~~~

 

[Kane]

About the only thing i can answer for sure is the CJ8 bar is conpletely different than the 7. The rear go all the way to the floor and it is longer.

 

[jswatson0917]

I have a question and a thought that I'd like to bounce off you guys. I love the look of the CJ sport bars vs the early 90's family bar, so i've been trying to figure out how to get my boys (4 & 6) in the back.

If I kept the sport bar and welded a cross bar between the left and right rear sides, would that allow me to put a 4 pt harnesses for the back seat? Also, i currently dont have a back seat, so I'm looking at the taller fold and tumble with the head rests, the cross bar may not even fit, not sure how much room there is with a seat in.

Next question, are the CJ8 and CJ7 sport bars the same size? I ran across a guy that is parting out a Scrambler, but can't seem to find a comparison. I want to pull my original bar off, throw it in the shed and do my hacking and welding to the 'new' one.

I have read all the arguments about having kids in the back of CJs, heads out of the roll bar, no doors, top, etc... I'm not going on epic journeys with them or doing any wheelin', just want to be able to take them to the ball park and cruise around town and back roads without worrying about joe law or having them thrown around if some clown rear ends us.

I hope someone will be able to give a little advice//words of wisdom and that this thread doesn't get jacked TOO soon.

Thanks, Terry

I have a standard CJ7 Roll bar in my Jeep and have my kids ride in the back all the time. The only restriction I put on the kids in the back is the ones who ride in booster seats don't get to ride in the Jeep until they are out of the Booster. I do this because Booster seats are not designed for lap belts, and I can't get a straight answer from any law enforcement officer whether it would be legal for them to sit back there without a booster. The "Family Roll Bar" came out to accommodate having a three point harness in back seats as mandated by law in 1991ish.
As for what you use in your Jeep is really just personal preference. You said you would like to put a seat with higher seat backs with a four point harness, for the type of driving your doing I feel that would be sufficient. That’s my opinion.

 

[sponge]

I am in the same boat...look forward to see what you do...I have 3 kids.

I picked up a yj cage, I really want them to have shoulder belts, probably will put a bar up top on the back for more strength...thinking maybe the poison spydwr kit or just having the local fab shop make me up something.

 

[t bone 347]

Thanks Kane//JS. I'm still not sure how I'm going to skin this, don't really want to get away from the classic CJ look. Time will tell.

 

[AzRenegade]

I'm just wondering what you finally decided to do. I have the YJ family bar installed in my 85 CJ. It was a direct fit bolt in. I am looking at the OR-FAB CJ7 weld in sport cage #82086 or the YJ #82095 bolt in to tie into my YJ cage. I am waiting to hear from the OR FAB tech line to see if the bolt in kit for a YJ will bolt into my CJ with the YJ rear bar. I'm concerned about the bolt pattern where the YJ kit ties into the dash. I like the idea of being able to unbolt the front sport bar from the back half of the cage like the YJ kit does. Once the CJ weld in is installed it would require pulling out the entire cage (front & back) just to get the dash panel off if I ever need to get behind it. I do not want to create a huge hassle the next time I need to get behind the dash!!!

Any one ever install one of the OR-FAB YJ kits in a CJ?? Did it fit?? Got any suggestions??

 

[t bone 347]

@Az-- I haven't gotten any further in my efforts. I've been in Afghanistan since shortly after that post and won't be back until after the first of the year. I have found seats though, Mastercraft rear bench, they have slots for the 4-5 point harness and will bolt right in, just need to figure out how to bolt the the shoulder straps to the correct position... I don't have any experience with the OR-FABs, as of now, I don't plan to do any serious offroading, so I don't really have that need just yet.

T

 

[mgramke1]

Thanks for your work over seas- happy New Years to you all their, god bless


Marc

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AzRenegade]

Here is the reply I got back from OR-FAB about putting a YJ sport bar in a CJ7 . It does not look as though it will bolt in, not sure how much work it would be to modify it, I have not found anyone who has ever doen it before. I'll have to do more research before I buy the kit.

The 2 cage kits are different in many ways, dia, bends, dash mount, the 82095 has the door bar welded, The 82086 is not welded to the door bar. The bolt pattern is different on both. If you want to install a YJ cage into a CJ you will need to do cutting and welding and the tubing may have incorrect bends in it.
Happy trails,
Benjamin