Roll cage & keeping interior trim

[mrk5]

My crew cab didn't come with any interior trim. There's a truck at the local pick-n-pull that would be a great donor for all of the trim. Down the road I'd like to at least put a basic roll cage in the cab and I'm wondering if I can keep the interior trim with the roll cage.

I'm curious what others have done or maybe what the "common" practice is. I've seen tons of cages in these trucks but never paid attention to the interior trim details.

Heck I guess neither of my last 2 GM trucks have had any interior trim.

 

[badmix]

I dont have a cage, just a 4 point custom roll bar but I just recently mounted up a roof top LED light bar and had to pull the headliner, which means I yanked all the trim out. Ive decided to leave it out, looks better IMO. The draw back to mine is that ive got the holes the screws made, so ive got to deal with that. If your truck never had the trim and you dont have the holes, i wouldnt put it in, but it really is personal preference.

I was iffy about putting mine back, after leaving it out for a couple weeks, I dont even think about it not being in there, so its not going back in

 

[miniwally]

I've developed a bit of a new twist on roll cages honestly.

Given this is a full body truck, full cab etc. look at using smaller tubing. Like 1.5" tubing. There is already built in roll over protection in the cab and you are adding supplemental protection. If you roll this truck and actually "use" the roll cage you aren't going to be using the truck anymore after that without major rebuilding anyways.

Keep the tubing small, which allows you to slide it up farther out of the way and also may allow you to tuck it into corners that you never would have thought of. Also keep it simple, fewer tubes in good spots. Remember you still have a cab helping the cage out. Look at moving the rear seat "roll bar" out of the cab and making it part of the bed like the 99' UA ORD truck. A few basic spreaders and single cross bars for triangulation.

In general think it out and don't just build a jungle gym because that's what everyone else has done.

 

[mrk5]

I dont have a cage, just a 4 point custom roll bar but I just recently mounted up a roof top LED light bar and had to pull the headliner, which means I yanked all the trim out. Ive decided to leave it out, looks better IMO. The draw back to mine is that ive got the holes the screws made, so ive got to deal with that. If your truck never had the trim and you dont have the holes, i wouldnt put it in, but it really is personal preference.

I was iffy about putting mine back, after leaving it out for a couple weeks, I dont even think about it not being in there, so its not going back in

I'm not going to pull the headliner. I don't really want to mess with that. I'm going to use some adhesive backed sound deader on the roof interior.

I have some fun, creative type ideas for the trim panels which is the reason I'm interested in getting them. Otherwise I'm probably more along the same thinking as you since the last 2 trucks haven't had the trim and I haven't missed them.

I did occur to me yesterday I should see if the holes are there. A previous owner spray bombed the interior with black spray paint, door panels, dash and all. I don't like it and it's peeling off in places. Anyway, I'm thinking there's a chance the PO had removed the trim and just didn't put it back.

I've developed a bit of a new twist on roll cages honestly.

Given this is a full body truck, full cab etc. look at using smaller tubing. Like 1.5" tubing. There is already built in roll over protection in the cab and you are adding supplemental protection. If you roll this truck and actually "use" the roll cage you aren't going to be using the truck anymore after that without major rebuilding anyways.

Keep the tubing small, which allows you to slide it up farther out of the way and also may allow you to tuck it into corners that you never would have thought of. Also keep it simple, fewer tubes in good spots. Remember you still have a cab helping the cage out. Look at moving the rear seat "roll bar" out of the cab and making it part of the bed like the 99' UA ORD truck. A few basic spreaders and single cross bars for triangulation.

In general think it out and don't just build a jungle gym because that's what everyone else has done.

Really the only reason I'm wanting to do a cage is because we like to put the tube doors on in the summer. So I'm all for doing a minimalist cage design because I'm just trying to make up for the structural integrity lost with the doors. Also all the wheeling tore up the tube in the K5 and I'd like to save the crew cab from that fate as well.

We'll have to talk more when I'm ready to start on the roll cage project.