Roll Cage

[Bobby Bronco]

Hi People.
Where's the best place to get a roll cage at the best price?
Protofab looks pretty good. A little pricey, though

 

[blackbeauty]

I would buy one Complete Offroad's cage as a kit http://completeoffroad.com/ ,or one of Crab's cages all welded. http://www.ebgear.com/

 

[MDBronco]

Too much $$

How about the basic roll bar?

 

[Tito]

You can get a basic roll bar from someone on the board usually, or craigslist for the cheapest. WildHorses and Tom's sell new setups for a decent price.
But the full cages these guys sell are worth the money especially if you want the peace of mind that they provide in those precarious situations or even hiway travel where your tin can top wont protect you. It is a pretty good investment.

 

[Louie]

A fully welded Complete Off Road cage could be the best deal as far as new ones go. Great quality at good price. A used cage within driving distance would be the cheapest option though...

Here's a pic of my COR family cage I got a couple months ago. I don't worry as much now

 

[MattMoe]

After seeing what a roll bar will do for you at OCBR 06' I will be going with a full cage. A roll bar will help, but a cage is alot safer.

The picture is from OCBR and it happened on a not so rough road.

 

[mountainlivin]

Schedule 80 pipe and an el cheapo harbor freight bender. Prolly around $150 - $200 combined costs including the scrap from learning. Everytime you see it knowing that you built it yourself $ priceless ;D

 

[blackbeauty]

Too much $$

How about the basic roll bar?

$419 is to much money for a dom rollcage that could save your life??
Btw, he puts the cage kits on ebay sometimes for less $$.

 

[MattMoe]

Schedule 80 pipe and an el cheapo harbor freight bender. Prolly around $150 - $200 combined costs including the scrap from learning.

I am no expert on pipe or tube but isn't there a big difference in the structural integrity of the 2?

 

[Fishmanndotcom]

lol, o goody this could get interesting! there was a huge thread on a pirate a couple years back about the difference in materials used for cage building. there are quite a few running hrew (basically pipe) that is well built and holds up well. i have gathered that its not so much which material you choose, its all how you design it. a dom cage with 2 main hoops and 2 spreader bars does much worse in a rollover scenario than a well built poop-pipe cage.

lol those harbor freight benders are gheeeettooo! i know electricians and plumbers that wont use them

-cutts-

 

[the fool]

i got one out of an old junkyard bronco for $40. it pays to look around

 

[mountainlivin]

I am no expert on pipe or tube but isn't there a big difference in the structural integrity of the 2?

Stop by a steel store sometime and pick up a length of 2" schedule 80. Then pick up a length 2" tubing normally used in the ready built cages. You will see. Schedule 80 won't kink in the habor freight benders. Sched. 80 is used as a structural building material. It is heavy, but strong. Joe L. on this board had cage made out of sched. 40. He rolled end over end....and walked away I like doing stuff on the cheap (I have no choice). It is my way of stickin it to da man.

 

[TJK74]

Although the prices of the vendors cages sound expensive they are very reasonable compared to having one custom built to fit your rig. If there is one place you should spend some cash I believe its on a cage. Over time I have seen too many things happen in these rigs from and axle breaking or spitting out at speed, tie-rods let go, the dreaded death wobble to even the simple traffic incident that has resulted in a roll over. Its ones of those things that you never expect to or plan to do but $%it happens when least expected.
As far as the Pipe vs. Tube goes this is an ongoing debate. Yes you can build a very safe and stout cage out of tubing for cheap but the major down side to this is weight. Added top weight is not desired and will easily aid a roll over situation. My current cage is a full family cage 2" HREW .120 wall with seat mounts and all and weighs in just under 200lbs my old cage was a 6 point 2-3/8" 3/16" wall cage and it weighed 308lbs. Thats a big difference in top weight and makes a huge differnce in on road handling as well, especially is a panic swerve situation. My rig handles much better with the Family cage than it did with the old 6 point and feels more plantes on steep angles as well as side hills.

 

[broncow72]

I have been working on y cage for the past rew weeks and went 1.5"HREW .120 wall. I think design is very important. I kept all connections going somewhere. Triangulation is key. I am no engineer, but tried to imagine where the energy would be transfered and didn't want anything to stop in the middle of a tube without something to back it up.

Here's a couple shots of my progress as of late.

 

[mountainlivin]

Although the prices of the vendors cages sound expensive they are very reasonable compared to having one custom built to fit your rig. If there is one place you should spend some cash I believe its on a cage. Over time I have seen too many things happen in these rigs from and axle breaking or spitting out at speed, tie-rods let go, the dreaded death wobble to even the simple traffic incident that has resulted in a roll over. Its ones of those things that you never expect to or plan to do but $%it happens when least expected.
As far as the Pipe vs. Tube goes this is an ongoing debate. Yes you can build a very safe and stout cage out of tubing for cheap but the major down side to this is weight. Added top weight is not desired and will easily aid a roll over situation. My current cage is a full family cage 2" HREW .120 wall with seat mounts and all and weighs in just under 200lbs my old cage was a 6 point 2-3/8" 3/16" wall cage and it weighed 308lbs. Thats a big difference in top weight and makes a huge differnce in on road handling as well, especially is a panic swerve situation. My rig handles much better with the Family cage than it did with the old 6 point and feels more plantes on steep angles as well as side hills.

These are good points.

 

[Gummi Bear]

A cage is no place to consider saving money. That's your life you're protecting, and those who you love and care for.

I've got my cage all laid out, just need to put it all together. Mine is 1.75" DOM for all the main tubes, the hoop from A to C pillar is .188 wall, the rest is .120 wall. There is 1.50" used for spreaders and triangulation, and 1" for grab handles where needed. I still haven't decided whether to go with a steel or aluminum rock top.

Use the poop pipe for bumpers or sliders, don't cheap out on safety items. That's a bad idea, no matter how you try to justify it.

I wheel too hard, and love my family too much to not do everything I can to insure safety on the trail.

 

[mountainlivin]

A cage is no place to consider saving money. That's your life you're protecting, and those who you love and care for.

I've got my cage all laid out, just need to put it all together. Mine is 1.75" DOM for all the main tubes, the hoop from A to C pillar is .188 wall, the rest is .120 wall. There is 1.50" used for spreaders and triangulation, and 1" for grab handles where needed. I still haven't decided whether to go with a steel or aluminum rock top.

Use the poop pipe for bumpers or sliders, don't cheap out on safety items. That's a bad idea, no matter how you try to justify it.

I wheel too hard, and love my family too much to not do everything I can to insure safety on the trail.

Wow! You would have thought we were talking about illegal immigrants, or abortion. I suggested sched 80. 1.5 inch sched. 80 has a .20 wall, and is around 1.9" outside. Are you a politician? I say sched. 80 which was turned into poop pipe. I have always thought of sched. 40 as "poop pipe," which is what my sliders are made out of. "don't cheap out on safety items" I didn't suggest muffler pipe, or hand rail. I wheel hard and love my family also. I could spin what you say like you did me, and say something like why don't you wheel in a tank, build your cage out of titanium, or just stay home watch 4x4 TV, or wrap your family in bubble wrap before you go wheeling, but na I would never want to try and make you look stupid or make my self feel smart, or what ever you were trying to accomplish

 

[ZookBronc]

No we are not talking about illegal immigrants or abortion, yet instead its YOUR life we are talking about. Would you like to get me started on illegal immigrants?

 

[mountainlivin]

emotionally charged topics. That is what I was getting at. There are intelligent reasons not to use sched. 80. TJK74 made very good points. In fact that is the best reply on the topic yet in my opinion.

 

[OX1]

When I was pricing it would have been only about 100$ savings for HREW over DOM. I paid 3.96$ per foot for 2", .120 wall 1026 DOM. Is poop pipe guarateed to any kind of strength level or under any specification for manufacuring??