roll cage to body or frame?

[rcurrier44]

exo cage? Can this been done right? can it be strong enough to protect the people in the truck? The main reason i want to do this is so when/if i do flop my truck i dont have to rebuild the whole thing, but of course if it affects the saftey of my passengers/family, i wont do it. Thoughts? Ideas? Opions?

If you want to see some good exo's go over to the toy forum on pirate and look at some of the stuff the tin bender guys are doing. Its realy impresive.

Personaly when I went to a hybrid setup I did and exo because I do most of my hard wheeling in the snow. Even soft top rigs realy start sucking when it gets below zero. It's definatly heavier and harder to make strong but I took my rig over at around 40mph (I was in 3rd gear at 5500rpm when I entered the corner) durring a tuff truck race and the cage only moved an inch or two. The rig went 3/4 of the way over and then slid on its side for a bit. They rolled me back on my wheels, I fired it up and drove across the finish line. I still need to add a full X across the top but am very happy with the way my exo has been holding up.

 

[BadDog]

I tend to agree with Brandon. Most exo's are marginal at best for "protecting the body". In order to hold there shape in anything more than a VERY light flop, you have to pierce the body to get triangulation. That alone negates many people's reason for using one, and if you are willing to pierce the body, now you have leak/squeak/flex issues to deal with. Even if you manage to build one that can hold form without the cage itself getting into the body, the large open spaces required for doors open and such leave plenty of opportunity for rocks and other terrain features (including stumps or piles of dirt/gravel) to get to the sheet metal and dent/gouge/damage what your trying to protect.

So, exos cost more due to additional material, have more complex design to deal with opening doors and trying to find triangulation (piercing the body and so on), tend to weigh more, don't really protect the body and tend to be less effective than internal cages while making the body even bigger and providing a multitude of extra "rock anchors" to hang up on that wider vehicle. I guess you could say I don't care much for exos on full size vehicles like K5s. Now on something like a Toyota truck cab or something where it's small enough that you don't have as many "pierce for support" issues (you can triangulate behind the cab for instance), it can be at least more reasonable, but again, the reality is that the body still gets hashed just as bad plus you have more work involved. I would suggest putting the cage inside and either trying to save the body by staying out of places it's likely to get trashed, or just accept that the body is going to be sacrificed.

 

[justhorsinaround]

I agree with Ntsqd. Most of us (me topping the list) don't have a huge bankroll to just throw at our vehicles. If what you're wheeling only is a little tippy and not risking bouncing you down the side of a mountain then what's the need of a hell bent for leather cage?

We wheel with our twins (almost four years old) strapped into the back of our Blazer without a worry in the world as we don't do obstacles that would even come close to even flopping much less rolling over.

Do I plan on getting into the more hard core type stuff? You bet! Will we have a cage capable of dealing with the stages of said same hard core potentials for damage and injury? You bet!

For now though we bounce along and have a great time with our friends as that's what this sport is mostly about.

Right?

 

[onlychevy6]

I have seen several half cab K5's in rolled over condition and one thing that is universal is that the half cabs stand up pretty well. The windshield frame crushes in but the stuff over the heads of the front seats holds up OK. And the bodies have not been separated from the frames and drivetrains are never broken out to the point of separating from the vehicle. This leads me to agree with Russ that for most people, tying to the body will be just fine. You will need to protect the back seats, the 'glass top doesn't do as much back there.

Here is a picture of my 78 K5 that was rolled down a hill At TDS this year. i was at almost a complete stop when my clutch let go. There was no cage in it except for the factory main hoop and hard top.

Luckly nobody was hurt. This is posted to show you that cages are nessesary regaurdless of going 2mph or 100 mph.. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN AT ANY TIME...

 

[rcurrier44]

Yep, I have only seen one or two on full sized rigs that I liked, that willyswanter guy is one of them. But I have had my exo for 3 years now and love it. It has been rolled/floped/slammed into trees and rocks countless times and my doors still fit and I still have the origional windshield (but with some extra cracks).

I just love this exo It was built in 02 so I wonder how the rig has faired?

Link: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62801&page=4&pp=25&highlight=latest+exo+victim

 

[onlychevy6]

You should see willyswanter's new design.. you can see it at www.scbd.org in the picture gallery.

 

[73k5blazer]

That's exactly what I did. Since I have a fiberglass b ody, I had no choice but to tie to frame itself. I incorporated giant bushings at each point to allow flex. The bushings themselves are OTR truck steering gear mounts.

I sandwich bolted though the body using different sized plates top and bottom to avoid a cookie cutter effect. I also have a seat frame botled to the cage.

Like this:

 

[mouse]

73K5, that looks like a nice truck. Do you have more pics of it? Looks like you have done a good job tying things together with the fiberglass body. Are there any special concerns with the fiberglass instead of a steel tub?

 

[73k5blazer]

Many many my friend. In fact everything. The glass comes smooth and clean, no holes, weld nuts, mounting nuts, nothing. Every hole drilled, every attachment has to be fitted. Many custom re-forced fabbed areas.
See it here .

Story is here