FAKRWEE Navajo Roll Cage

Well after my last trip to Rick's a couple of weeks ago and after seeing all the rollover pics and movies at Moab I decided the time has come. Rick and I did Judgement Day and one of the obstacles is a dry waterfall. Yikes. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words.

 

[01Baja4x4]

That was nasty Kris. Was it Sean from ORR board that they were talking about in that thread?

Rick-
It wasn't Sean-DesertSpive if that's who you mean. It was the Sean-Sbro that runs DesertRides.

-Tim

 

[FAKRWEE]

Originally posted by sirhk100
Ummm, yeah so one of my friends rolled their truck yesterday. I know it's not an Explorer and I know it's not a rock crawler. His was a very capable Ford Ranger built for prerunning. They both walked away but here's a thread to maybe help those of you thinking about doing a cage...

http://www.desertrides.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1853#1853

Thanks Khris. Roll cages are usually the last mods installed and should be the first. I made that mistake myself. I also urge everyone out there without a cage to install one ASAP. It really is the cheapest mod you can do. As we build up the rigs we take on more challenging trails and the odds start stacking up against us.

 

[sirhk100]

I completely agree... Whether you're going slow and flexing or haulin azz and jumping all the suspension in the world isn't going to help you when it all goes wrong!!! I've always drivin the Explorer with the attitude of it's not if I roll but when I roll. I had every intention of build a cage for it this summer. I've bought a very nice tubing bender, tubing notcher, chop saw, and already have a welder. Now though I'm going to sell it and get a 4WD toyota to play in. It's getting stripped down to nothing before I even use it and being caged after some of the stuff I've seen. I'm to the point where I won't ride in trucks off road if they arn't caged unless we're doing basically nothing. It's not worth it to me anymore. I've made a lot of lifestyle changes along those lines related to offroading since Truckhaven this past year...

Khris

 

[sirhk100]

Not sure if you guys scrolled all the way through that thread but there was video... I guess as it was going over the guy filming dropped the camera cause they slammed on the breaks to stop and help.

Khis

http://www.desertrides.com/video/misc/rollover.wmv


Here's vid of another truck that almost did the same thing...

http://www.desertrides.com/video/misc/ceoranger_barstow.wmv

 

[FAKRWEE]

Hey Khris, I can't see the first video. The second one works fine. Seeing that video reminds me why I chose rockcrawling.

 

[sirhk100]

That's strange... They're both hosted and made by the same guy in the same format. Anyone else having the same problem?

 

[VonZipper]

I love the cage. My X will end up with one soon. I have a quick question though. When you posted the pics on the second page the cross bar on the front hoop was above the dash with bends on each end. Now you have a straight bar going across. Why was that changed?

 

[Josh S.]

Both videos worked for me...Dang thats some crazy stuff...a video definitely says a lot more than the pics.

 

[sirhk100]

And in conclussion... THAT'S WHY I'LL GO TO MY FRAME WHEN I DO MINE!!! I'll be using 1.5" x .120W DOM. Is there such thing as overkill when it comes to safety? Everywhere it goes through the floor I'm going to hole saw a 2-1/4" hole to drop it through. That'll give me room to tack weld the whole thing in place, then grind of the tacks on the frame and lower it down so I can get a complete weld around all the upper tube junctions at the ceiling. Then lift it back up and weld it all into place. At all the holes in the floor I'm going to plasm out half circles that when put togther around the tube will have a 1.5" ID and a 3" OD. These will weld to the tube and to the body tube. Also on the tubes following up the "A" pillars and "B" pillars I'm going to tuck the tubes in as tight as possible getting rid of the plastic molding and use some 10GA sheet to lay in on both sides of the tube and stitch weld these plates to the cage and body there also. Probably put in some decrotive dimple dies also on those plates. If I do roll the new truck I'll just have to cut the top of the cab skin off and remount it assuming the bottom parts don't get damaged as well.

Khris

 

[Josh S.]

Sounds tight bro, can't wait to see it

 

[FAKRWEE]

Video worked for me. Thanks Khris.

Posted by CoryL:

I know you have the sunroof and don't know what you wanted for the cage, but there should be at least one, if not two, spreader(s) in the center of the cab section of the cage going from the A-pillar hoop to the B-pillar hoop.

This is one good example why you need spreaders like CoryL say's. PreRunners must have them. In this kind of endo roll without the spreaders the top of A hoop collapses inward toward the ocupants. Something to think about.

Posted by VonZipper:

I love the cage. My X will end up with one soon. I have a quick question though. When you posted the pics on the second page the cross bar on the front hoop was above the dash with bends on each end. Now you have a straight bar going across. Why was that changed?

It was blocking passenger side visiblity somewhat and it was harder for a passenger to grab a hold of.

 

[VonZipper]

I liked how it looked with it up higher. You did say you hardly ever have any passengers. If you are worried about them holding on, give them a oh poop T handle.

 

[FAKRWEE]

Originally posted by VonZipper
I liked how it looked with it up higher. You did say you hardly ever have any passengers. If you are worried about them holding on, give them a oh poop T handle.

This is also a daily driver. The grab on is for the shortys like my wife and some friends to climb in and out It's easier for them to heave to in. Off-roading I never have passengers. When your out there on the rocks you can never have too much visibility.

 

[VonZipper]

When you say daily, do you mean you like drive it to work every day?

Well anyways, its looks awsome.

 

[FAKRWEE]

Originally posted by VonZipper
When you say daily, do you mean you like drive it to work every day?

Well anyways, its looks awsome.

My job is a little wierd. I do seminars in different cities around the world and fly all the time. I leave the Navajo in the airport. On weekdays when I'm not traveling I use it to drive down the coast every day just for fun My weekend cruiser is a T-Bird. My wife doesn't like to get on the Navajo too much she's so short.