Ok, after running the 'Con, I have been thinking about the idea of a roll cage in my 4Runner.
I got the idea from my friends who think it would be a good idea since I have been getting into the sport more and more in the last year. I have never really felt the need for one, but the more I think about it, the better it sounds. At this point my truck is pretty damn-well built and it is capable of completing trails where a rollover is a possibility.

So I'm in the very early stages of deciding what I want to do, if at all.
From my understanding an exo is normally just used as a full-body slider. And most of the time is not necessarily intended for protection in a hard rollover.
An in-cab cage would be designed more for protecting me and my passengers in the event of a rollover.

I guess my main question would be this: How much room would you imagine a full roll cage in my 4Runner take up? Also, what type of material would be sufficient in insuring the cage does as it's intended. 4340 chromoly? is that overkill?

I understand this would be quite a large undertaking because I would make sure the cage is mounted to the frame, no bolt on crap.
If I do decide to do this, I will settle for nothing but the best. Why go cheap on something like a roll cage?

I could just be talking out of my A$$, but I've just been thinking about it a little bit lately.

Any ideas? Please give me some insight.

-Casey

 

A cage is as important as a seat belt. Most of the people who have them will use them but could deal with the consequences of not having one.

Most of the people who do not have them could not deal with the consequences if they actually needed one.

Go internal so it saves you when you need it. If you go exo, I think the tendency is to drive like an idiot because you can.

We use 1.75" .120 wall DOM at work. That is a good starting place.

 

a cage is definitely a good idea casey. i've been looking into one for mine as well. for materials, i would use 1.75", .120" wall. i've seen them done with HREW, but DOM would be a better idea. like you said, why take shortcuts on something that could save your life?

 

some questions you need to answer:

how tall are you?
how important is the backseat folding down to you?
are you willing to lose the visors?
do you have a sunroof?
are you willing to put 4/5 point harnesses?

are you going to build this yourself or have a shop do it?

 

I am short so the internal in my 84 pickup isn't a problem, but at 5'8" Robinhood4x4 might hit the cage.
Xcab no longer has the side folding seats, but tubes do make for handy attachment points, and they make it possible to climb in.
My visors are permamently down.
Nope.
Still stock belts.

After seeing a bobbed exo-caged 2nd gen pickup done by Marlin I was thinking that an external would be cool. Lots of ways to tie in bumpers for massive strength and fender protection. BUT, that is an obscene amount of weight to add and it would be a eternity of work to complete, at least at my rate.

The cons for an external are weight and much higher CG. When pirate4x4 members complain about mileage decreases that is a bad sign. Done right, they do look awesome.

I was at Fordyce this last weekend and most of the bigger Jeeps in our group have internal cages. Much more important to them and easier to fit. But they are very much momentum drivers who like to hit things hard. With crawlers and lockers the two pickups, myself and a 3rd gen could make it over everything nice and slow. I never felt too unstable even at 7" of lift and 38s. In my opinion a crawler and lockers comes before a cage since they allow you to drive safely.

 

My backseats still fold down in my 1st gen but there's no real reason to fold them since the cage goes right through the body behind them.

I don't know if this is an idea but the previous owner had put a strip of tinting across the top of the front windshield to make up for the loss of the visors. Not a bad solution... can still get bright but I'm not the type to use the visors all that much anyway. In the last year I've had the 1st gen I've only wanted a visor once and that was headed on the 405 N through Orange County at sunset... *ouch*