Exo cage pros and cons ?

[Weeds]

Hi guys what are the pros and cons of having a exo cage I have a swb land cruiser I have a internal roll bar but am looking to protect the pillars and roof line from to much damage not concernd about battle scars but wana keep the truck on the road. Would this create to much weight and make it more prone to rollovers having wait up high ? Any recommendations on some one in Wellington to carry out work ?

[kbushnz]

With anything you do its a compromise.
As for the bar work... I would imagine all that bar work above would be balanced out with the side and bars over the wheel arches...Most of the winch trucks are fully exo caged and they don't tip over that easily...(depending on the driver lol)
If you are not building it to a race spec you can use smaller dia tube and save a bit of weight...
I will be in a similar situation shortly and have decided to go shedule 40 for the side and wheel arches and then manz approved tube for the rest...
I am sure others will offer some info as well.....

Pro: protects the exterior of the truck (upto a point)
Pro: Something to winch off if you tip over
Pro: No bars on the inside to bash body parts against

Con: Heavy?
Con: More steel $
Con: No protection of the exterior
Con: Depending how it is made, cant be removed easily for body repairs

[Weeds]

Thanks some good points allredy have side bars ect look like that where made out of 40mm Galveston pipe and painted

[darinz]

If doing an exo cage then the problem is getting any strength into it without using massive tube size. MSNZ tube is not good for an exo cage as it relies on good design for its strength eg lots of triangulation. Getting the required cross bracing in the main hoop with a full body is almost impossible. I've seen braces through the window etc to try and achieve it but basically IMO an exo cage is too much of a compromise on safety to be the sole form of roll over protect.
So does you internal rollbar have cross bracing as if it does then what you need are external brush bars rather than full cage. Look at it this way, what you're trying to do is protect the body rather than yourself.
For that I'd get medium wall steampipe (NB32 or 40, sch40) and fix it direct to the body. This will do two things. First protect the body and also reinforce it. It also means less weight as you'll only be putting on what you need. Also sch 40 pipe is cheap but plenty string for what you're wanting in this case.

However if you plan on doing a winch challenge then you need a full cage and the above won't suit so you'll have to do a full exo cage and work out a way of getting some bracing into the main hoop.

[skidmark]

dont mean to hijack in here but Ive been thinking about a exo on my project. Im mainly building my truck up for fun, but will probably want to give the odd winch challenge ago later on.and due to the amount of mods i think a full cage will be nesscacary for class rules.
Obviously haveing a full wagon makes life a bit harder to get strenght in it. My plan is to have four seats(four fixed back bucket seats).what im thinking is to build a combo of exo and internal, so have the most of it exo and welded to the body in lots of places, and then crossed braced through the interior,close to rear of drivers seat and rear seats( for harness's?).with the posibiltiy of rubber mounting cage to chassis/sliders/front rear bars? any thoughts or feed back on this?

with street cars a full cage requires a motorsport authority card as far as i know, does this apply to 4x4s too?

cheersAlistair

[darinz]

You need to be able to prove the need to get an internal cage certified. So yes if you are competing in a WC in a class that requires the vehicle to be road legal and to have a rollcage then it can be certified without a MSNZ authority card.

One point to note on your plan is what rule are you building to? My understanding of all the relevant rollcage rules is the cross bracingmust be in the back stays or the main hoop. The main hoop is required to be a certain distance from the driver and the back stays are to conect to the main hoop. So with a 4 seat setup it doesn't really work.
But what you can do is fit a removable brace in the mainhoop that goes behind the drivers seat as then you can take it out at WOF time and only use it when racing. Eg when no one in the back seats.
The other option would be to have enough clearance between the back seats and the mainhoop so that it is outside the internal impact zones. Not sure how you'd get on with that one though so I'd talk to a certifier about it first.

[Disco Gofer]

For bush truck type / safari vehicles I would go exo every time. The additional 200 odd KGs is nothing compared to all the recover gear etc one has to carry and obviously fuel consumption doesn't come into play with off roads either so the weight doesn't matter here either so its a win win all the way. My friend is about to do his third of 6 Nissans he has EXO style and its all done in 4 days, painted and is as strong as hell. Saves the body so much.

[skidmark]

cheers for your help.Looks like i have a bit of reasearch to do.the other reason i want a exo, is im 2m tall,so dont really fancy haveing a pipe beside my head...

[darinz]

Just need to think carefully about the cage design. I'm 1.96 and fit inside my Terrano with a full internal cage and I have enough clearance so that it is road legal without webbing grabber seat belts. So it can be done in anything you just need get he priorities right.
Internal cage then a few bars on the outside to protect the body work is the best solution. But it might mean altering seat hieght / location to make it work.
Exo is easy but isn't as strong and I believe too much of a compromise.

[slidenyo]

plain an simple really an internal cage will see the occupant crush their skull without the correct helmet upon contact with any tubing in a violent nature.
internal cage should require a 4 or 5 point belt and the accredited helmet to suit possibly $1500-$2000 worth.
an external cage will remove the effectiveness of any factory crumple zones externally but internally the steering wheel and seat should collapse still upon impact as required.

its conundrum really one hand you wear a helmet an 4 point everywhere for fear of being biffed out of the seat and into some skull crushing tube,
or you remove the effective energy sucking of a body that crumples upon impact.

[imsohi]

Def go for exo cage i have a dbl cage hilux with the main hoop behind the cab it is a big span over the cab but my cage has been tried and tested numerous times this year and will still past the test i did suffer from some panel damage but mostly from earth impact ect, now im talking Winch Challenges and club events here not Off Road Racing. IMO for your fun trucks Exo cage is paramount can save you lots of damage and time fixing panels just from a bit of fun.