Sport Bar Improvements Discussion

I think the biggest concern I have with the weld in kits that supplement the factory sport cage is, welding the heavier DOM tubing to the factory thin wall tubes without making the surrounding metal more brittle from the heat (warned of this by certified welder that I was originally going to have weld a kit in for me)... The route I have been thinking about is just to replace the sport cage as a whole with the pre-welded kit Poison Spider makes. Not inexpensive by any means though. In the long run I feel it would be much stronger than the factory bars that are multiple pieces bolted together.

http://shop.poisonspyder.com/TJ-Lazer-Fit-Full-Cage-Welded-p/14-19-010-w.htm
Or if you want to save a few hundred $$ and you're capable of wending it together yourself...

http://shop.poisonspyder.com/LJ-Lazer-Fit-Full-Cage-Kit-p/15-19-010.htm
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris
reddvltj said:
I think the biggest concern I have with the weld in kits that supplement the factory sport cage is, welding the heavier DOM tubing to the factory thin wall tubes without making the surrounding metal more brittle from the heat (warned of this by certified welder that I was originally going to have weld a kit in for me)... The route I have been thinking about is just to replace the sport cage as a whole with the pre-welded kit Poison Spider makes. Not inexpensive by any means though. In the long run I feel it would be much stronger than the factory bars that are multiple pieces bolted together.

http://shop.poisonspyder.com/TJ-Lazer-Fit-Full-Cage-Welded-p/14-19-010-w.htm
Or if you want to save a few hundred $$ and you're capable of wending it together yourself...

http://shop.poisonspyder.com/LJ-Lazer-Fit-Full-Cage-Kit-p/15-19-010.htm
Click to expand...

Those A pillar plates, though.
 
reddvltj said:
They have a floor tie in below the dash plates and it still has brackets to bolt the windshield in place at the top.
Click to expand...

But those plates are still the weak part of the structural column right next to your leg. Do you trust them not to buckle?

The Synergy add on cage posted right before is substantially different.
 
Gollywomper said:
Have there been failures related to the plates?
Click to expand...
There was but it got pulled down very quickly. A well known local was offered the opportunity to check out Los Coyotes Indian Reservation with an eye towards reopening it for events or more often. He took his buddy and a few others down there (also well known) and they wound up on El Hill. Buddy did a backward roll and landed on the A pillar with the bent angle down legs. They folded towards the driver and pinned his leg to the seat with a severe cut that almost cost him his leg.

When I was competing as a spotter, my driver took a sucker line to miss a cone that guaranteed a flop. I warned him not to but he never listened anyway. When he flopped onto the left side, he landed on a basketball size rock that hit right on the windshield hinge. The force from a simple flop onto the left side shoved the whole dash over to the passenger side about 2". The reason the whole dash moved that far is due to the cage being bolted to the dash and a windshield bar that went side to side right across the top of the dash.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gollywomper and reddvltj
mrblaine said:
There was but it got pulled down very quickly. A well known local was offered the opportunity to check out Los Coyotes Indian Reservation with an eye towards reopening it for events or more often. He took his buddy and a few others down there (also well known) and they wound up on El Hill. Buddy did a backward roll and landed on the A pillar with the bent angle down legs. They folded towards the driver and pinned his leg to the seat with a severe cut that almost cost him his leg.

When I was competing as a spotter, my driver took a sucker line to miss a cone that guaranteed a flop. I warned him not to but he never listened anyway. When he flopped onto the left side, he landed on a basketball size rock that hit right on the windshield hinge. The force from a simple flop onto the left side shoved the whole dash over to the passenger side about 2". The reason the whole dash moved that far is due to the cage being bolted to the dash and a windshield bar that went side to side right across the top of the dash.
Click to expand...
That's the kind of information that makes me glad I mentioned the Poison spider kit. Thanks for the feedback.
 
  • Like
Reactions: D's Jeep Wrld
I would say it did its job in that case. because of where and how it rolled the A pillar may not have seen the largest load. How would any cage, only bolted to the body hold up there? I dont think one should expect there to be no damage?
Going to be looking into more incidents of these style cages in roll overs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: reddvltj
So cutting through the dash and running the A pillar to the floor is the best option here? Any pics of an ideal A pillar set up?
Thanks MrBlaine for the examples. Good enough for me to avoid those.
 
Gollywomper said:
I would say it did its job in that case. because of where and how it rolled the A pillar may not have seen the largest load. How would any cage, only bolted to the body hold up there? I dont think one should expect there to be no damage?
Going to be looking into more incidents of these style cages in roll overs.
Click to expand...
Reading again, I wasn't clear that my driver had the 1.5" 120 wall down legs behind the dash on the comp rig. Not bent angle down legs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: reddvltj
mrblaine said:
The reason the whole dash moved that far is due to the cage being bolted to the dash and a windshield bar that went side to side right across the top of the dash.
Click to expand...
Short of a full tube chassis/cage would there be any suitable way to brace a roll cage like the one in the drivers rig to keep something like that from happening?
 
reddvltj said:
Short of a full tube chassis/cage would there be any suitable way to brace a roll cage like the one in the drivers rig to keep something like that from happening?
Click to expand...
Go back to my first description of what constitutes a cage. Diagonals that create triangles with no tube landing on dead tubes is the only thing that works. A dead tube is one where another intersects it in the middle of a span. They do very little and no cage builder does it that way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ericict and reddvltj
I wonder what it would have looked like with a stock cage? I don't think it would have been pretty. The windshield area seems to flatten on the first hit. The addition seems to have done it's job. It is a very small sample size and I will be searching for more documented roll overs before I do mine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: reddvltj
For comparison, As far as stock goes here is my YJ that rolled
4-5 times down a hill. Holds up pretty decent with doors and windshield up.

Damn teenage boys......... 7B055B97-85F0-48F9-A96B-59CF133D00DD.jpeg
 
  • Wow
  • Like
Reactions: Chris and reddvltj
Gollywomper said:
For comparison, As far as stock goes here is my YJ that rolled
4-5 times down a hill. Holds up pretty decent with doors and windshield up.

Damn teenage boys.........View attachment 114766
Click to expand...
There was a picture thread on JF about accidents with roll overs and the stock cage. The overwhelming vast majority of them looked to be survivable provided the seat belts were in use. I used them quite a few times to make my point that you don't have nothing so your comment "something is better than nothing" is not accurate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris
Top Bottom
Back