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roll cages?????

I don't want to come accross as an arrogant bastard, but why do you need five points in a daily driver again?! The necessity for them without a complete cage baffles me. Just my .02 I'd stick with a single bar with three point factory belts.
 
You might have to get new seats since the shoulder belts have to be mounted 4" below your shoulders with the belts going down at about a 45 degree angle from your shoulders to the mount. I've been thinking of getting a set of 4 point harnesses but the cost of new seats is too high. You'll also have to weld in a cross bar to mount the belts too but that's easy. If you can find seats that will clear the shoulder belts I would just get the 4 points, all the fifth belt does is turn you into a soprano if it's mounted wrong. We run 4 point harnesses in our off-road race car at school and have never had a problem with submarining when the front end decides to dig a hole in the ground, it's all about how you mount the lap belts. Good luck, and let me know if you come up with some decent seats that don't break the bank.

Joe
RIT Mini-Baja www.rit.edu/~bajawww
Team Mudnuts www.mudnuts.org
 
i thought that the roll bar mounted harnesses could be mounted a 45 degree angle up as long as it was about four inches above . where do the sell four point harness i haven't seen them
 
I've also heard that you mount the belts above your shoulders to prevent breaking your collar bones.

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*<font color=red>under construction</font color=red>*
 
if you mount the bottom to the floor when you do get to use your bar you might cut yourself in half... mount them to the cage also...
you might have to add another bar to do this. aldo mount your seats to the cage too.

1974 Chevy Blazer Cheyanne. lots of plans for it....
but it is on 33's now, with saggy old springs. i am in so cali if ya got any parts for me.
 
Well I'm going to yet again point out how bad an idea I feel it is to mount to the top of the rear fenders. NOT STRONG ENOUGH. No easy way to get it to the frame and no real suport. You lay it over they will crush like beer cans at a redneck trailer party. It's better than no legs but still not the palce I would feel is best. No protection for rear seat passengers either. I feel running the rea legs all the way to the back corners to take advantage of the tail pan for suport is a far better place for the rear legs. The front legs should bolt over the front cab suport at the very least.
While were at it BigJBear pointed out the strength of the cage verses the floor it's attached to. If your truck is a rust buck that needs to be addressed to get solid mounting points. Cage will do no good it it gets pushed through a rusted out floor.
My cage was a major part of my consideration when I replaced my floors. While I'm not tied directly to the frame I'm damn close. I built my front floor (my truck was rusted clean out when I got it) out of 1x2 box that sits directly on the cab mounts. My seat attaches to it. There are 1/4 plate pannels that all 6 legs ties into. My rear legs sit on a custom 7 inch wide tail pan made out of cast U channel (the thin part is 1/4 inch the beef is 3/8) that ties directly into the cab mount. This design solved a lot of my problems with figuing out how to tie into the frame but still keep the body on the mounts to isiolate noise. My frame may rip away from the tub but I'll still be in the roll cage. Granted not as good as to the frame but 1,000 times better then no cage.
I munted 3 point seat belts off the cage. I have 2 kids and the cross bar behind the seat was not going to be pratical to loading 2 kids. Agian not as good as 4-5 point but a lot better than the lap belt my 75 had when I got it.

It's not my damn planet monkey boy!
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Grim-Reaper
 
DOM is over kill for what we are doing. EMT TUBE is plenty strong for our needs. Just don't use pipe. The weld on current tube is as stong if not stronger than DOM of the same thickness. Save the cash and skip the DOM. Were not going 200 mph. Were going 10mph or less when were at our highest risk of a roll. 95% of the time it's just a lay over not a roll. The 5% that we actully roll it's one roll or onto the roof. You getinto driving off the side of the montain all bets are off anyways regardless of DOM or EMT. Look back a few weeks. there was a very good post with a link to POR board where some VERY knowlegable folks were discussing DOM and Tube and point of it being over kill. Got very deep into son of the metal properties and the welding technique used to make EMT Tube. The welds at the points where the fabricator assmebles the cage are 100 times more likly to fail than the seam in the tube. Spend the extra cash on gussets and other reinforcements if you want to make a real difference.


It's not my damn planet monkey boy!
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Grim-Reaper
 
yes i read that post on the other web site, then i went out and bought 75feet of 2in .120 wall dom tubing, dont believe everything you read, id rather have over kill and do it right the first time, use dom or don't bother, i have personal experience w/ this the dom is twice as strong as equal welded! have proof of that!!!! plus i only paid $2.62/ ft for my dom.
 
I just checked Smittybuilt's web site. They do not say it is DOM so I would assume it is welded. I do remember looking at their web site a few years ago and it had a lot more info about the proudcts. There was a listing of what bar style fit what truck, more on the materials used, sizes available, ect. I guess they figgured graphics were more important than information durring the redesign. Anyway, thanks for updating me.
Back to the origanal question, 2" x .120" HREW is still a beefy tube. For my application it is plenty, if you are doing the Baja 1000 maybe not. If you have front seat only passengers, that bar with the front kit would be a great addation. The front bars would help make up for the rear down bars being mounted to the wheel wells. But like I said before, the floor is still the limiting factor. Another consideration is your seat mounts. Right now I am planning a "new" truck and am thinking of tying the seats to the cage, rather than tying the cage to the frame.

Jim '80 GMC & '73 Blazer
Tread Lightly!
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What does their pickup rollcage look like? Obviously with the back wall of the cab and window in the way it's different.

I would like some kind of rollcage too. I don't ever plan on rolling my truck, but my friends have, and ANY protection?

Tim
'84 Chevy K10, lifted, loud, fast, and 3/4 ton axles
 
Most people don't plan on rolling over....

Why do people keep calling it a Bronco!!!!!
mad.gif
 
1990k5:

I only spent .72 a foot for my HREW and I trust it just fine thank you. What you're saying is go DOM or dont bother right? Why dont you float a few dollars my way so I can have a nice DOM tubing cage like you? I've got about $3000 in my blazer and dont have a lot of money for all the bells and whistles. All my buddies who race stock cars use HREW, brace them up well, and have no problem despite multiple rolls at high speed. Lance on the POR board uses HREW and stands by it, he rolls his rig nearly every weekend he goes out. Maybe your welds are breaking instead, or your bracing is inadequate, or your design is piss poor. But I know for a fact that HREW will stand up in a 4x4 application and I dont need to buy triple price DOM just to have a fancy word to throw around when i'm roasting weenies on the campfire.

Sherman, Tx
<font color=red>Come Awn yall...Let's go to LUCHENBACH, TEXAS!!!</font color=red>
 
Well ok then but clue me in on a few things! What the heck is a HREW and if you used regular tube stock then what did you bend it with. The tubing benders are very exspensive that would bend a decent sized tube. Making my own would be just fine with me. but they have already pre fabbed and did all the measuring for the most part for you. So all the guess work is done. And i was kinda thinking that for a total of around $300.00 for a nhra approved roll cage that isnt to bad. That would be 199.00 for the cage abd around 100.00 for the shipping.
 
Mine was bent with a $70 12ton Harbor Freight cheapo bender. Did the job just fine. Some tricks to it but totaly possible to do. My bud owns the bender and helped me with the cage. He charged me a little for his time but well worth the extra protection. I used the stock factory hoop to base it on (that's how the smitty front cage kit works too). One thing that drives me nuts is a few people have gone to the top of the main hoop with their bars. Mine are dead center the radius of the bend so mine look parrallel to the bed. It also give more clearence around my head. With the hard top on my bars are about 3/4 of an inch higher than the window openings. so with the top on only the down legs are visable in the windows.
I also welded a tab on for shoulder belts (mine is a 75 so only had laps). Due to problems loading kids I decided to skip the 4 point belts. The cross bar need to secure them would have made back seat access a problem.

It's not my damn planet monkey boy!
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Grim-Reaper
 
HREW is Hot Roll Electric Welded and is seamed all the way down. DOM is Drawn over Mandrell and is also seamed. The big difference is that the DOM is more true in size the whole length of the stick. The wall thickness is more true as well. It is also more expensive. You can get a DOM seamless but be ready to bend over and grab your ankles at that price.

I've borrowed a Greenlee bender for mine but havent' had the chance to use it yet. I'm in the middle of MiG welding school right now and perfecting my vertical up welds so I can GET IT when I start running tube!

Sherman, Tx
<font color=red>Come Awn yall...Let's go to LUCHENBACH, TEXAS!!!</font color=red>
 
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