We know it's always better to have a stronger roll bar and that the factory roll bar is really only a "sport bar". Anyone who wants to do any serious rock crawling or hill climbing will need a professionally built full roll cage. We don't spend too much time on things that are almost guaranteed to roll us over, though occassionally we get off camber or seem like we're going to tip on a particularly steep hill. Having kids in the back seat is a little scary in situations like this so I found a kit from Rockhard 4x4 Parts that strengthens the stock Jeep sport cage one piece at a time. For less than $100 I was able to add the rear cross bar you see in the picture to the left. I was initially concerned about the strength of a bolt on bar but after talking with the owners of Rockhard 4x4 Parts, it seemed as though their kit was plenty strong since it used high-strength bolts.

I highly recommend adding padding. The padding in the picture above is from a local 4x4 shop and was cut down to size. Cost was about $7.

One nice added benefit of the extra bar is that I now have something better to tie my full length bikini top to that keeps it from flapping much or creeping forward on the back section. Without this new bar I never used the full length bikini for those reasons.

You'll notice in the pics that it looks like the bolts aren't tightened all the way. I called Rockhard about that and they said it's normal for the two sides of the connector to not meet. The connecting bolts do seem to fill the bolt holes so I suppose that's where the strength is.

Tools needed: Jeep star socket set (for seat belt bolt), hex wrench - no welding required.

Supplies: primer, paint

Time involved: one hour (most of it seemed to be trying to get those little black caps back onto the seat belt mount bolt. Grrrrrr.) Now that doesn't include time spent painting, scratching my head trying to figure out how to put it on and calling Rockhard 4x4 Parts for advice. Hopefully I've saved you from the latter.

Disclaimer: Removing and reinstalling seatbelts isn't too tricky but if you don't reinstall them properly, it's possible they could fail or not perform properly. Also, these install notes are from my own experience and are not necessarily recommendations on things you should or should not do to your vehicle. Use common sense. This information is made available for research only and is provided without warranty.

Connector. Note gap (normal)	Note how the bar is raised in the center. Make sure to use padding.