Started by pulling the windshield and gutting the interior - this is a desert truck, and has no need for a dash or heater any more.

Little bit of bodywork to make the cab semi-straight again. No bondo here...

Cut out a new opening in the bed for mounting the fuel tank. Currently, it hangs too low, and has gone from a 15 gallon tank to an 8 gallon - complements of being smashed against rocks for the past few years...

Fabbed up some new fuel tank brackets and welded them to the frame rails, then added some gussets to the rear frame corners to add a little bit more strength.

First step to building this cage is making the rock sliders - which is the steel tube the runs along the bottom of the rocker panels (under the door). These tubes take more hits against the rocks than any other tube on the truck, so I sleeved 1.5 x .120 tube inside of the 1.75 x .120 tube to make it close to 1/4" thick. Should make them last a little bit longer.

Cut out the slider-to-frame tubes and welded everything up, then primed and painted the parts that will no longer need to be welded on.

Next, I cut out frame-strengthening plates that will be welded to the frame wherever the rock sliders are welded on, and welded the plates, rock sliders and gussets to the frame.

Rock sliders finish-welded to the frame. Nice and tight to the body for clearance - no need to stick out any further, since the body is already beat up. No show'n shine awards will be going to this truck...

Time to start bending some tube and get this cage started!

Once the main cage was all tacked in place, I broke it apart and dropped it down so I could finish weld each joint.

Gratuitous weld shot:

Finished cage, including rear rubework:

Turned out great, and should hold up great in future rollovers. It's nice having the fuel tank up and out of the rocks as well...