Internal Cage for the Xterra - Bolt together kit

[cmxterra]

Body mounted cages offer limited protection. Better than nothing? Probably, assuming the cage does not come a part and act like the blades of a blender while you're rolling down the side of a mountain. Here are a few cage requirements for the EROCC and UROC. After reading this you will see why the "roll cage" listed above may be little more than a death trap in an actual roll. The fact that it is "bolt together" and mounts only to the body of the Xterra are bad things. We still do not know whatt material it is made from so we can only guess that it is of inferior tubing seeing as the rest of the construction is not of the highest standard.

Happy trails!!

EROCC Cage Requirements from 2002
-------------------------------------Roll bars/Cages
a. Six (6) point mounting cages covering the driver constructed of round steel tubing are required for the basic roll cage using .120 minimum wall tubing for the main bars. Roll bar construction must be welded. Roll Cage padding is required on all roll cage bars that may come in contact with the driver's or spotter?s helmet while riding in the vehicle. Connection positions of the roll cage must tie in to the frame of the vehicle. [/b]Body mounts are considered a tie in point. The front-most position must be no farther toward the rear of the vehicle than fifteen (15) inches behind the throttle and brake pedals. The Cage must have at least three spreader bars between the front main bar and rear main bar no less than 12" to the right and left of the center line of the driver's seat. Main bars must be constructed from a continuous length of tubing. Roll cage main hoops, spreader bars and legs must have a minimum diameter of 1.5 inches. Gussets no less than 3" long and 2" wide must be welded at the upper connecting point and bending point of the main bars and spreader bars. Tube gussets are acceptable. Under no conditions will exhaust tubing be acceptable for any part of the roll cage.

Clarification: The Cage must have at least three spreader bars between the front main bar and rear main bar. The cage must be constructed so that at least two spreaders are located above the driver's seat, if two spreaders do not cover the driver's seat, sheet or expanded metal must be welded to the cage to protect the driver.
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UROC 2003 Cage Rules...
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15. Roll Bars/Cages/Tube Frames

15.1 Six (6) point mounting cages covering the driver and spotter constructed of round mild steel tubing are required for the basic roll cage using .120 minimum wall tubing for the main bars (chromoly alloy steel (A 519 grade 4130) may be .090 minimum wall). Roll cage main hoops, spreader bars and legs must have a minimum diameter of 1.5 inches. Main bars must be constructed from a continuous length of tubing with gussets, no less than 3" long and 2" wide welded at the upper connecting point and bending point of the main bars and spreader bars. Tube gussets are also acceptable (1" OD x .120 wall minimum). Square tubing, grade A 500 or A 513, 1.5" minimum cross section with .120" minimum wall is also acceptable.

15.2 The front-most position must be no farther toward the rear of the vehicle than fifteen (15) inches behind the throttle and brake pedals. The Cage must have at least three spreader bars between the front main bar and rear main bar no less than 12" to the right and left of the center line of the driver's or and spotters seat. The cage must be constructed so that at least two spreaders are located above the driver and spotter's seat, if two spreaders do not cover this area, sheet or expanded metal must be welded to the cage to protect the driver. UROC strongly recommends covering the top of any roll cage with metal to protect the driver & spotter from injury.

15.3 Roll Bar construction must be welded and connection points of the roll cage must tie in to the frame of the vehicle. Body mounts are considered a tie in point.

15.4 Roll Cage padding is required on all roll cage bars that may come in contact with the driver or spotters's head or helmet.
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RCAA Rules for CAges...
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Roll bars/Cages
ARCA considers the cage as the safety bars surrounding the driver. Designed to protect the occupant in the event of a rollover.

The following are approved for competition:
Six (6) point mounting cages covering the driver.
Round steel seamless tubing with a minimum outside diameter measurement of 1.5" and a minimum wall thickness of .120 is compulsory for the basic roll cage.
Aluminum and /or soft metals are not permitted. Roll bar construction must be welded.
Roll Cage padding is required on all roll cage bars that may come in contact with the driver's helmet.
Connection positions of the roll cage must tie in to the frame of the vehicle at the four points surrounding the driver. Body mounts are considered a tie in point.
The front most position must be no farther toward the rear of the vehicle than fifteen (15) inches behind the throttle and brake pedals.
The Cage must have a total of two spreader bars between the front main bar and rear main bar or halo bar.
Gussets must be welded in the four corners of the "halo" around the driver.
Magnetic, flattened expanded sheet metal, 1/8" sheet metal or 1/8" aluminum must cover area immediately over the driver seat and be welded or bolted to the four tubes surrounding the driver. Additional tubing may be used in place of plate steel or aluminum.
ARCA recommends a spreader bar to be mounted under the dash area to the right and left side of the front main bar.
Any variance of the above rules must be approved by and ARCA official inspector.
A "periscope bar" may be no longer than 12" above the "halo" bar. This may be used as an attaching position for tow straps. It may not be positioned over the driver nor mounted on plate material (tubing only).
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Originally posted by Cliff on NOR.

[cdnav8tr]

Very interesting read Carlton however SCCA permits bolt together cages on all autocross and rallycross vehicles provided they meet spec (tube size 1 7/8 to 2 " etc) so obviously a bolt together cage properly built is not a "death trap". We race 2 Miatas and a Civic SI that all have approved bolt together cages and we are about to build an NSX with one. If you want it weld in they can do that too - the idea of bolt together is to make it so you can install it yourself. I am sure it will not save you if you crash at 150 mph racing offroad but that is not what it is built for. The company that builds this cage also competes in rockcrawling professionally and they used the same material and design philosophy when building one for the Xterra. As I said if you have doubts call them yourself or visit their site www.uniqueconceptsoftx.com. If you are in Texas go ahead and get the weld in cage - I agree it is better but it is also overkill. You are making an attack on something you have not seen in person nor do you have any real detailed information on it (assuming that it is inferior material???). Why don't you reserve your judgement until you have enough relevent info rather than making what is apparently a personal attack because it is in this vehicle. If you don't like it don't buy one - really simple. It is available, it is safe and everyone is welcome to talk to the people who built it and see their history of fabrication and proven offroad performance.

[cmxterra]

Originally posted by cdnav8tr
Very interesting read Carlton however SCCA permits bolt together cages on all autocross and rallycross vehicles provided they meet spec (tube size 1 7/8 to 2 " etc) so obviously a bolt together cage properly built is not a "death trap". We race 2 Miatas and a Civic SI that all have approved bolt together cages and we are about to build an NSX with one. If you want it weld in they can do that too - the idea of bolt together is to make it so you can install it yourself. I am sure it will not save you if you crash at 150 mph racing offroad but that is not what it is built for. The company that builds this cage also competes in rockcrawling professionally and they used the same material and design philosophy when building one for the Xterra.

Generally speaking an autocross vehicle does not weigh nearly as much as an off-road vehicle with a steel frame. So perhaps a bolt together mounted on a uni-body is o.k. for a 1500# car but I personally would not want nor trust a bolt together on a 5000# truck that is not mounted to the frame.

I am sure that this company does make a cage that is safe for competition but I would be willing to bet that it is an all weld design with spreader bars and is mounted to the frame. Not what you see here.

The bar we see here has no lateral support (spreader bars) and is unknown tube quality. Plus the whole bolt together and body mounted issue.

But hey.. it does look nice.

[Craigs_Tonka]

I think that we tend to over analyze and over build things in general. Keeping things in there simplest of terms, will this cage benefit the occupants or cause them harm. I think it will benefit them due to it assisting in keeping the structural integrity of the body. Does this mean that it can't be broke? No.

Face it, very few of us will see a 100mph rollover. How would this cage perform, I don't know. However when crawling around on rocks, like a lot of us do, if I was to flop my truck over or roll it a full revolution, do I think this cage would help? Yes I do. The fact that it is bolted together doesn't completely diminish it's ability to do it's job. Where the cage is bolted one tube slips over another tube, thus the bolt would need to sheer for the cage to collapse. Otherwise it's putting its stresses on the welded stub that the outer tube is slipping over.

First of all it's not the ONLY thing protecting you like in a jeep. You still have the full roof and its safety design features.

I don't know how many people on here ACTUALLY design or fabricate for themselves or are knowledgeable enough to even comment on it without talking out of their arse. Everyone has an opinion, unfortunately most opinions are like arses and better unheard.

I for one would consider this cage in the future and If I have any reservations about it, would weld it up myself after installing it. Regardless if it's not frame mounted, if it keeps the cabin from crushing in like a soda can, then it could save someones life. As for it coming apart like blades in a blender, that's just ridiculous.

Just MHO and my .02.

Flame away.

[rrdstarr]

I totally agree with you Craig!

[Schludwiller]

I think it has to be painted bright blue for people to accept a new product before it's seen real world action. Yeah, I have some reservations, like how it's mounted to the body, but I would be interested in a manufacturer making a support for behind the rear seats. If these guys have gotten this far, maybe the kinks can be worked out to get something people would trust in a roll over.

[ScottG]

From what I have read, mounting a roll cage to the body is acceptable if you sandwich the top and bottom of the body at the mounting point with plates of steel of different sizes. It is important not to use sandwiching plates that are the same size because they will cut through the sheet metal like a pair of tin snips in a roll over.

[X-Phile]

Welp, it sure is purdy, but has it been tested, or is this just another piece of jagged steel to be floating around when the truck goes ass over teacups down the ravine?

I wanna see the crashtests.

[Schludwiller]

I don't think it went anywhere. I never heard of anyone putting it in. It's bolt on, so there might be some structural strength issues.

[rrdstarr]

To do it proper you need DOM tubing and all the junctions welded together and the the frame tied into the cage. I think I will do an exoskeleton when the truck is paid off!