big dr

I was at Tierra Del Sol this weekend and spoke with James,, the owner of Rock Hard. It just so happens, I spoke with him at length about his bolt in cage. I was very impressed with what he had to say(I realize he is obviously not going to badmouth his own product, but he didn't do it to his competitors either) James told me he actually got his start bending pipes in the muffler business decades ago. Shortly thereafter, he began fabricating sandrails. He has bent and welded a lot of tube in his lifetime. He spent a lot of time explaining his cage to me, which included showing me where his will flex just a little bit to absorb energy, but has never sheared! He also told me his cage has many documented roll overs at freeway and crawling speeds where the vehicle was totaled, but no one was seriously hurt inside. (I cant remember the actual number of documented rolls, but i think it was either 170 ish,, or 370 ish,, don't hold me to that.) James is a family man running a quality family business, and the time he spent with me and his obvious pride he took in his product,,,,, the Rock Hard will be in my jeep by summer!! I hope this helps your decision. good luck!

JE8154

If you have a friend that's a welder why don't you look into the synergy cage?

wecf

+100, Synergy is the best on the market at this time.

tgrt

The bar that goes from A-pillar bar to B-pillar bar is a c-channel. You get caught in the rain and it's going to catch the water. It may not be a big deal to most people. But, if you get caught in the rain as much as I do it'll be a pain.

OrthoDoc

OR Fab cage is available a few places still. Google "OR Fab 82350," and you'll get a few results. I've got one sitting in my garage about to go in.

As far as a sport cage in action, there's a video of a JK out there rolling backwards down a hill with the PS cage in. Cage held up well.

rockcrawler73

Thanks for sharing your talk. Been thinking about a cage for awhile as well. Gonna look into RH a bit more.

rock

tlminh

I know guys in the video you are talking about. They own hellbent performance in st louis. I saw the jeep in their shop a few days after the roll. The roll cage held up nicely and you can see that it have extra strength to the passenger side i.e. a tree smash into the passenger side during the roll and it could have been catastrophic for the passenger if the cage wasnt there.

Btw you an orthopod? I'm an FP doc

CCTX50

I assume conversation did not go to the part where you have to mod. your freedom top to use the RH Cage? I still want this cage but that is the one thing that keeps me from ordering. Curious if he is on the forum and reads this. Maybe something that can be changed in design?

pontiac31

I agree the rock hard knuckles are a turn off for me. Smittybilt, I know they are supposed to be junk, has a better "looking" design using notched tube at the upper section like the poison spyder. It is ashame they have such a bad rep, I like the upper section and the rear streamer.

ABENDX

Guys..... explain something to me please.

If not doing this for purely aesthetic reasons, why are clearance issues so important? I get that you want your rigs to still look good, but we're talking a major safety item here and frankly, a lot of compromises must be made in your "comfort" and "looks" departments if you want to do it right. RH, OrFab, Posion Spyder, etc all have it wrong when it comes to engineering these things because they have packaging issues to deal with (many of you don't think cutting up your car for safety is necessary, nor is it in most situations)... but hey, they are all better than nothing.

So if it is for looks, I get it.... if it is for safety, I don't.


As for the tube clamps used.... personally, the external ones like RH uses are a better design in my opinion, for this purpose.