Roll Cage opinions

[strebel]

What do you like? Who makes the best.

Leaning to the Ballie family cage, but don’t like the humps in the top bars shown on the website. Likely can request those to be flat.


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[bronco italiano]

Ballie is pretty hard to beat
BCB family cage if they have any in stock.
Blackbeardfab not too bad either.

 

[SteveL]

Bailiebuilt or protofab. Gordon at bailiebuilt dous custom stuff if you need.

 

[Bruners4]

Bailiebuilt for me also. Gorden makes each one by hand and asks what you want before he starts on it. The spacing on the two center front seat bars was specific for my build. Humps in the center bar(s) are for headroom when getting in and out.

 

[Yeller]

Another Bailie. Yes the bars can be made flat. He does the humped bars as standard because they do serve a purpose, provide a pressure point for a street roll over to prevent sliding on pavement. However I get the looks part I would want them flat too. Flat also fits under a hard top with a head liner. If you talk to him, ask about his insurance policy, no other maker has it. To me it speaks volumes to the attention to detail and structural design.

 

[davisjstone]

I looked around quite a bit and ended up going with a bailie bilt. Seemed to be the best cage for actually providing protection vs looks. I do like the krawlers edge cage, but the front support or lack thereof just didn’t sit well with me.

Bailie did mine with out the hump. He’s super responsive and was great to work with.

 

[ksagis]

Do these types of designs only bolt to floor board versus being tied to frame?

How much of the benefit of a roll cage does one get bolted to lighter gauge of sheet metal floor versus the frame?

 

[JeepGuy]

What do you like? Who makes the best.

Leaning to the Ballie family cage, but don’t like the humps in the top bars shown on the website. Likely can request those to be flat.


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Are you looking to have one built for you, or buy one that you can build yourself?

I was looking pretty hard at the Ballie cage but ended up going with Tom's Offroad Family Style plate cage. I was considering triangulation across the top with all bars joining center above and behind the head, but figured that was a bit overkill for my use. When I ordered their cage I added the corner gussets, two additional spreader bars, and two lower bars that go between B and C pillar just above the wheel wells. It was a lot of fun building, but definitely took a ton of patience and a lot of practice prior to getting after it. One thing I've considered adding now that everything is installed are grab handles for the rear passengers on that lower bar across the wheel well. I'd rather have them grab low then reach up and wrap their hand around the outer cage. One of the reasons I ended up with Toms cage was the triangulation in the corners where the pillars meet, and that it will fit under a hard top, and should also fit under a soft top.

Lots to consider when building or buying these things.

 

[JeepGuy]

Do these types of designs only bolt to floor board versus being tied to frame?

How much of the benefit of a roll cage does one get bolted to lighter gauge of sheet metal floor versus the frame?

Almost all of them get bolted to the floor. Most can easily be tied to the frame from underneath with tubing and plates that sandwich the body.

 

[SteveL]

If you look at the bc cage it's similar to the bailie. On the bc cage the bars across the bed have tabs at the body mount so it's easily tied to to frame. I'm sure Gordon could add this.

 

[Soylent]

I have a Bailie and I like the hump.

 

[Yeller]

Do these types of designs only bolt to floor board versus being tied to frame?

How much of the benefit of a roll cage does one get bolted to lighter gauge of sheet metal floor versus the frame?

In all reality, properly designed, bolting to the body is best. Unless you are building a racer level build where you are using the cage to add stiffness to the chassis it really is a hindrance. There is a reason the BB has the tube across the floor, that is a very strong area and even with a rusry floor the load is spread out and it can’t punch through. The B pillar is where the real strength needs to be, seat belts are attached to the body and need to move together. I’ll state it again ask about their insurance when speaking with Gordon, it is quite reassuring about the design.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Opinions are like... Well I have one as well.
So my opinion, match it to the needs. More is not always better.
Are you planning on doing 115MPH and end up barrel rolling it? Or will a Honda Civic pull out in front of you and when you run up over its hood you flop over onto your side?
The old school 4-point is pretty much the minimum. That keeps a side flop from turning into a full turtle.

Seat and seat belt tie in. This is an all or nothing. Either everything, or none of it. If the cage shifts on the body (and that can be a good thing in terms of managing energy) you can find yourself with extremely tight, or loose, belts.

Speed doesn't kill. The sudden stop is what kills. That is where some squish and not stupid rigid can be good. Whacking your head on a steel cage is the same as getting hit on the head with a steel pipe. They can both mess you up.

Did anyone mention the downfalls of a cage? Extra weight mounted high up, doesn't help with center of gravity.
And blind spots. I've seen countless cages there were installed based on what they could get to fit or line up with a frame. But they were done without any seats installed and nobody was looking at sight lines. All of a sudden the A-pillars are giant blind spots. This doesn't have to be. I have installed a cage that was asymmetrical. I lined up both front down bars with the A-pillars as seen from the driver's seat. The passenger seat didn't have great views, but the driver was pretty good. But there are people who obsess with the front axle is not centered by half an inch. You think a cage that is right in front of them that has legs in different places will fly?

 

[ntsqd]

I see a lot of cages built with excessive triangulation, particularly in the over-head area. Just exactly where you don't want a lot of weight they've added a bunch of unnecessary tubing.

Look at how the A pillar tubes are placed with regard to getting in and out of the truck. When you see those tubes with all of the paint rubbed off right at the floor that tells me that the tube is in the way and shoes and boots hit the tube often. I know of no production cage that does this, but one way to gain back all of the door opening is to notch the dash and dive the A pillar tube thru it. That puts the cage in the way of the OEM p-brake pedal, but that can be dealt with. The Bronc-up was built this way, can take pics if there's interest.

Agree with above, either all the seats and all seat-belts are anchored to the cage, or all of them are tied to the body. And if you're going to tie them to the body then in an accident the cage is going to be moving differently from the seats and belts, which can make it more of a hazard than a help.

If you tie the cage to the frame, then it and the body will likely be moving and flexing in different directions and making a lot of noise. If you feel like you need more than just bolted to the body you can use those doubler plates that are supposed to be on the other side of the body for a second use. Add tabs to them and use "Hega Joints" on both ends of short tubes to tie those plates to the frame. Like this: