How to keep from busting a rear window?

[disciplerocks]

I posted this on another forum, but I want to know if you guys had any ideas. I am looking for a way to keep from busting a rear window while on the trails without building an exo cage.

 

[88_Eddie]

how do you protect those windows without putting something in front of it?
even with an exo cage you could break a rear window if you hit just right. here's some options:

1-dont worry about it
2-build some sort of cage around just the windows with some small diameter tubing
3-take out the glass, modify the window opening and put plexi glass in.
4-stock up on extra glass
5-remove the rear glass
6-choptop it
7-remove rear glass and put a sandbag bunker on each side complete with browning .30 caliber WW2 era belt fed machine guns (remember to pack extra ammo)
8-leave your rig in a garage and sell it on ebay in 60 years for $35,000 (accounting for an increase in average human lifespan and inflation)

 

[pillen140]

Steel plate lol

 

[disciplerocks]

Lol. I dont want to remove them or chop it. I am not oppossed to putting something in front of it, I just dont want a full cage. I was thinking about running a tube along the top curve from the door to the hatch, but I want it to be a bit more asthetically pleasing than wleding a tube to the body. I was thinking about incorporating it into a roof rack, but it would have to be low. I don't need anymore height to my rig as it is.

 

[4.0B2]

I've seen people put a "slider" on top and bottom of the window. Not 100% guaranteed but it should help

 

[88_Eddie]

here's what i was thinking i would do. i wanna build my own roof rack as it is, so i was thinking i'd try to protect the back windows while i was there. keep in mind, this isnt to scale, just a rough idea of what i was thinking.

 

[4.0B2]

That's actually kinda cool... I like that idea. Not for my dd but maybe for the other one I'm looking at..

 

[disciplerocks]

Thats kind of what i was thinking, but without the bottom bar.

 

[4.0B2]

The bottom bar is a nice addition... It's a slider and a separator for the two down bars.

 

[unoleisu]

I'm toying with the idea of pulling the rear side windows out, and building sheet metal inserts with spare tire mounts suspended down from my roof rack. That way I could carry two extra spares. They would be recessed half in and half out of the window opening. I,m still working out the details in my head.

 

[Shran]

Most Bronco II's I have seen that are actually wheeled just simply don't have rear windows. I'd say just be careful. Exo cages just get hung up on stuff.

 

[4.0B2]

if the deal goes thru on the other b2 i'm looking at, i'm just chopping top off and saying forget it.. i'm gonna put the side glasses up in the barn as spares for my dd.

 

[88_Eddie]

the side bars on my rack would be pretty close to the body, like shran mentioned, exo cages get hung up on shit. i think you would need the lower horizontal bar to add to the rigidity (did i make that word up?) of the whole thing. you could also make the bars that come down the side removable. put them on when you wheel and take them off when it goes back to DD. use cotter pins or something to keep them together. my exploder is my DD, so i'd just attach mine permanently.



i'm just gonna be careful with my b2, if i break one, i dont know what i'll do. i bet a new window would leak (or maybe just fall out while i'm driving down the road) i'd probably chop the top and figure out a way to make a camper shell fit.

i think the plexi glass route could work too....it would just take some thinking and testing. doubt it would be waterproof though.


why not find a way to make the glass removable? have some kind of lip that it slides in and out of that you could tighten down as well.

 

[4.0B2]

its a complicated process.. i may just remove the windows the trail rig and make a hard bikini top... does that make sense?? lol but yeah. i really like the side bars with the roof rack idea

 

[disciplerocks]

I posted this over on broncoii.org and someone over there said they replaced them with plexi and it curved in easily and was glued with windshield glue. I would love that idea, but I don't have the patience to make it turn out well.

 

[4.0B2]

patience is my problem....

 

[trail B2]

Plexiglas would be scratched and hasey in no time probably not as strong as glass and break out sooner.I operate heavy equipment for a living and it's a big problem there too. Short of a heavy screen nothing can protect the center of big glass except good driving.

 

[country0001]

7-remove rear glass and put a sandbag bunker on each side complete with browning .30 caliber WW2 era belt fed machine guns (remember to pack extra ammo)

I like this idea

 

[The Mud Addict]

Here is what i made for mine:icon_thumby:

I used 1 3/4 dom, it bolts through the body and is got a sleeve to prevent crushing, with a plate inside to stop from ripping out.

They work as long as you are not hitting things lower than the bar :icon_rofl: Have knocked out the drivers side window twice since installing the bars:icon_rofl:

 

[disciplerocks]

Thats more like what I want. I just couldn't picture a way to do it without it looking tacky. Nice job!