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TOTW: Roll Cages

63K views 144 replies 62 participants last post by  TheBeatenPath 
#1 ·
Welcome to the next installment of the

Topic of the Week

The subject for the week is roll cages. We need them. We want them. We love them.

Some suggested points of discussion:
Designs (pics as well as theory)
Materials (pipe bad, tube good / DOM vs HREW)
Gusseting
Pre-fabbed kits
 
#5 ·
I feel all naked female passengers look better with halo's over they're heads:evil:

I'm building a halo one that ties into the cowl, then uses rectangular tubing going down the channel that is just in front of the door opening on CJ's and YJ's. From there it's going to tie into the rocker skid which ties to the frame. In the back I'm going to build it so that it's dimensionally the same as a late model YJ, so you can use all that fancy Bestop duster thingies. Except in the rear, at the top where the cross bars are it will be the same width as a YJ front, so you can buy a fancy TV/DVD/VCR/Speaker sound bar thingie. And I might even put a fancy TV/blah blah....thingie in my Scrambler so not only can My kids watch movies while driving to the trail, but we can watch 4X4 and adult movies when they're not with us. And yes I'll admit it by "adult" I'm not likely talking more than an R rating. At least on the trail.:p :flipoff2:
 
#6 ·
i'm currently fabbing my cage, it's out of .120 DOM and is a mixture of the OR fab cage and the rockhard 4x4 cage, it's going to tie into the side impace beams and go down to a floor mount.
gonna have a cross bar just above the dash and another above the two majour bends are going to be gusseted.


what are your oppinions on the strength of a cage that is mounted to the side impace beams and is floor mounted?
:beer:
 
#7 ·
Good topic, here's my cage:
<IMG SRC= "http://www.yankeetoys.org/black900rr/ilean/UROC_2002/st_george/StGeorge02-095.JPG">
I'd like to weigh in on the DOM Vs. HREW debate. I was looking at a truck the other day that had an exo cage that was made of both DOM and HREW tube. The parts that were made of HREW had dented after being hit with rocks. The parts of the cage that were made of DOM were not dented. The rocks could only scrape the paint off. I made my whole cage (Internal and external) out of DOM (1.75x.120). It may be a little more expensive, but if you have to replace the cage after a year or two because the HREW has dented, bent, and deformed, is it really going to end up being cheaper? I have no doubt that HREW is suitable material, and I'm sure it would hold up well in a rollover (which is what you built it for), but I just think DOM is going to be more durable, and last longer.
 
#8 ·
No pictures yet but I wll take some when the cage is done. I am using .120 wall dom tubing for most of the cage and am thinking of using erw for the rest. The erw wont have the same amount of stress on it as the dom so I am thinking it should be just fine. We are getting a smoking deal on tubing so cost isnt a huge issue but I can get twicw as much erw than dom to do other stuff. By the way you guys posting pics of your cages have given me some great ideas. Thanks.
 
#10 ·
Halo Vs. Hoop:
It seems to me that the vast majority of the rollovers in rockcrawling rigs are sideways barrell roll type rolls. In such a rollover it seems that the hoop style cages are going to hold up better because the vehicle is rolling along the length of the main support bars. It seems like a halo style cage is going to be much easier to knock sideways. I'm having trouble putting into words this concept, but I think the hoop style cages are stronger in sideways rollovers. I remember looking at the Curry's halo cage after the Vernal rollover, and not being surprised that it got smashed so badly. I could be totally wrong about this, I haven't seen any engineering data either way, and the halo cages are way easier to build (my front hoop has six bends in three different planes...).
 
#11 ·
As long as I'm giving my opinion, and as long as I have to be at work...
Exocages:
I'm hearing a few people say they don't like exocages at all. They do add weight (although not really that much if they're done right). But I really think the benefits are phenominal. How many of you have nerf bars (of some sort) to protect your rocker panels? Why do you have them? Cuz otherwise the bottom edge of your body tub would get all beat to shit, right? Well slap an exocage on that beeeotch and now you can roll over, drive on your side, and slam into shit without destroying your rig. An exo cage doesn't just protect your body panels from dents and scratches, if you build one to do that it would be rediculously heavy and overdone. If you build an exocage to protect your rig enough to keep it going down the trail then you are on the right track. Case in point: hard sideways rollover with no exocage will likely smash your grill and destroy your radiator, preventing you from continuing to drive (and generally fawking up your weekend). Same rollover with an exocage and the cage will prevent the grill from getting smashed and you can push the thing over and keep going. It's also very liberating. I never really cared much about getting dents and stuff, but since I built the exo I've been freed to do stuff that would have totally screwed up my rig. You can drive up lines that leave others shaking their heads. When I get home I can just spray some paint back onto the cage, rather than beating the body tub back out. Exocages rule...
 
#12 ·
My cage. 2 CJ5 rollbars - One in the normal location, one flipped backwards with the down tubes cut off and used as spreaders for the rear hoop. Front hoop locally made. Shoulder bars for the harnesses front and rear, and a diagonal brace above the back seat (You can never have too much tubing around the kids)

Still needs door bars. I know there should be spreaders at the outside between the front and middle hoop, but it's a trade-off. I hate bashing my head into them and there's not a lot of room in a flatty.

 
#14 ·
aaronlosey said:
stinger = front hoop type bumper that avalanche sells. your rig pivots on it as it rolls over, saving the radiator and hood.

A Stinger sticks out of the front really far, hopefully preventing an end-over-end roll from the front. Other than that, you can achieve the samm effect and not lose approach angle with something that hugs your grill and goes straight up.

J. J.
 
#15 ·
Let's really get the debate going.

Let's hear everyone's opinion about the follow:

Seamless tube vs. DOM vs. HREW.

Bring it awn.

And even for the really adept, how about alloy seamless. That should make it fun.:D
 
#16 · (Edited)
I'll weigh in on this one. Built mine out of a stock late model YJ bar, a Smittybuilt CJ hoop kit, and supplimental HREW for the dash, door sills, and rear spreader. All in all, got about $300 into it total, including electrical. Late model YJ cages (direct bolt-in to CJ's) and kits are a nice solution for those of us with basic welding skills, but no access to quality benders.

It's a first effort and other than electrical (which I'm pretty fawking proud of) doesn't hold a candle to what some of the :bender: artists around here turn out. On the :massey: electrical, it's got its own 150 amp resettable marine breaker, 4 ga power/ground feeds, and a 10 gang fuse/ground distribution block (notice the nice hinged door with the thumbscrews).





:beer:
 
#18 ·
I'm all for the exo cage. I've got a newer s-10 that I still owe payments on. I'd probably keep an internal roll bar for general safety. Ok I'm ready for this one.

What about an exo cage that ties into the rock sliders, but is bolted on with high grade hardware?? I could take it off when needed (everday driving). the "receivers" for the cage legs would be cups of larger size tubing that the legs would slide into.
Or am I just trying to have my cake and eat it too?
 
#20 ·
sfazr2 said:

What about an exo cage that ties into the rock sliders, but is bolted on with high grade hardware?? I could take it off when needed (everday driving). the "receivers" for the cage legs would be cups of larger size tubing that the legs would slide into.
Or am I just trying to have my cake and eat it too?
I dont really like to have easily removed structural items on my Rig, but your idea sounds like it would work. If 1 hitch pin can pull a trailer, and you'd need at least 4 to hold at least 4 legs on, I think it would be fine. Might be a huge pain in the ass to remove and reinstall the cage
 
#23 ·
I nearly finished with modifications to my cage.
I installed HREW into the rear door pillar, along the leading edge of the door, and along the sill. A tube will be ran inside, along the upper rail of the bed following the stock lines, and another at the joint of the fender well. Both will meet an additinal down tube at the rear of the bed at the rear door, which will run down to a modified body mount.
The door way tube at the sill ties into a reinforced bed pan at the body mounts, with several angled down tubes which will be reskinned with 1/8" plate and reinforced in key areas with 3/16" plate. This allowed me to remove the rocker panels and tie the cage in at the same time.
It should be nearly complete today.
 

Attachments

#25 ·
bigjeepinYJ said:
H8,
What size tube are you running in the Fenders that you have? I need some fender bad and want to see if the local race car guy has some. The largest he can go to is 1 3/4 thanks alot.
I am running 1 3/4" .120 wall.
But all of the tubing will be on the inside of the skin.
The reasoning behind all of the work it took to fab this set up, is to reinforce the perimeter of the tub, but to lose no clearance to an exo cage.
If your looking for fender flares to satisfy your local law enforcement, they would have to come in the form of removeable bolt ons,(which I may look into fabbing for muddy runs and street legality).
 
#26 · (Edited)
Bob/CA said:
Let's really get the debate going.

Let's hear everyone's opinion about the follow:

Seamless tube vs. DOM vs. HREW.

All of the suplimental bars in my cage are HREW, shoulder bars - dash bar and the diagonal brace. They are all straight tube, no bends and I couldn't see paying the big $$ for DOM by the foot when I can buy HREW for .39 a Pound. The 2 rear hoops are made out of whatever the factory uses - which looked to be DOM, there wasn't a raised weld inside, but I could still see some of the seam. Everything is 2" .120
 
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