Bolt in Safety Roll Cage for 80 Series Land Cruiser Lexus LX450 HDJ81 FJ80 (1 Viewer)

[SoCal FZJ80]

Would anybody be interested in family style all 3 rows safety cage for their 80 series?

Testing market.

Post up your thoughts and if a product like this was made available, what features or options

would you find important or valuable?

 

[scottryana]

Wow that would be a lot of work, and I would be really curious to see how the bar routes. I know my driver's seat is already behind the B pillar and there isn't a huge amount of head room between my head and the driver's grab handle.

I think I would skip the A pillar..... do a B hoop, C hoop and brace accordingly.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Having been there done that I would offer free helmets with ever kit.

From watching it happen I learned the A pillar will crush under static weight where the B & C is much stronger.

 

[Notch]

This is a pretty dangerous idea. With normal restraints and exposed skulls this is essentially a cement mixer for bodies in an accident. I have turned away a few of these kind of "vegetable cages" in the past. Cages that go over anyones head must have harnesses and helmets as part of the equation.

 

[SoCal FZJ80]

Will keep all of that in consideration. Thanks for the feedback, I get asked about it from time to time.

Almost sounds like more motivation towards building an exo-cage kit LOL

 

[Fj81]

I always thought of an a pillar one since in all the pics if rolled 80s that area is caved in. A external one would be a nice idea but not as popular with this crowd I would imagine since many dont want to drill more holes in the body to have places for rust to start.

 

[FOM INDUSTRIES]

OK . i am the one building the roll cage .. i have over 250 man hours in this thing its almost done ... i have a hot rod fab shop and know the person who started this post . he let me use his land cruiser to build the cage . he is a good dude . he will be selling these for me so get at him if your interested .. beta testing is next . jig welded .... helmets are always recommended if your out and about mashing trails etc. its bolt in so it can be removed ..everything that was commented i actually tried to address.. all very good points. any other constructive criticism would be appreciated . the A pillar has a tendency to push thru the floor pans sheet metal construction in a roll over . i have addressed that issue with a boxed backer plate which is thru bolted thru a factory placed boxed floor pan brace , i also have a patent pending on the cage itself and another feature that has never been done before in a bolt in cage ( i will reveal at a later time ) and will stop the A and B pillars from piercing the floor in a roll over . the A pillar hoop utilizes the factory body mount as a starting location for the install . all you have to do is drop in the A pillar main hoop into the body mount holes in the floor at your feet . assemble thew whole cage first then drill your floor holes for the base plated super easy to install. i am using cnc 360 degree two bolt tube connectors . these provide 360 degree bend resistance awesome compression resistance and two 3/8 shouldered bolts in single shear for tensile resistance. the A,B,C, pillars are of one piece mandrel bent construction . 120 wall chrome moly tubing .. the B pillar is of full circle design with X bracing and has three floor mounting plates . as far as the helmet and head clearance issue i moved and angled the B pillar back towards the rear of the vehicle i am 5 foot 11 and i have approximately 8 inches of head room with the seat reclined past a practical position.i also attained approx four inches to the rear of my head with the seat reclined behind the factory B pillar . the C pillar is also far behind the passengers head . i have designed the B pillar with X bracing but with full reclining and sliding of the front seats. an optional race harness bar can be bolted in place ( B pillar ) to attach said 4 or 5 point harness . its adjustable via tube clamps so you can get the harneeses shoulder straps to the right height and in the proper location. my design also allows the saftey harness for the fron seats to have side mounts as well. a 4 to 5 point harness is doable . the C pillar is also X braced and will have optional harness mounts the A pillar will have an optional clam in dash bar.. you will have to remove tall the grab handles however the cage provides new grab handle that are a soft design so as not to hit your head on the handles full tube padding high density soft foam . the whole cage can be shipped in a flat box probably freight .. leave comments or get a hold of me thanks and god bless!!!

 

[NCFJ]

I do not know what your secret plan is to anchor to the floor but, unless you tie the cage through the floor and to the frame it is more cosmetic than anything else. I would feel safer in a rig without a cage than with a cage that did not tie to the frame directly.

One man's opinion.

 

[I Lean]

Subscribing for the inevitable pictures and discussion.

 

[Steve D]

I had a friend back when I was racing Spec Miata who took a hit (not even a dramatic roll) and bonked his helmeted head on the padded cage. He was unable to work in his orthodontic practice for a year due to that concussion. Despite what appears to be very well thought-out engineering and great execution, this is a horrible idea IMHO.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Yep bad idea coming from a guy that had a cage in a 80

 

[nukegoat]

Yep bad idea coming from a guy that had a cage in a 80

You think an exo is safer?

 

[nukegoat]

Need pics to judge interest

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

You think an exo is safer?

Difficult to hit your head with an exo cage.

My 80 cage was not to SCORE specs or designed for a serious roll over. The amount of tube would easily double to made it certified. The amount of room to get in and out or move around is going to unpleasant at best.

 

[cruisermatt]

Difficult to hit your head with an exo cage.

My 80 cage was not to SCORE specs or designed for a serious roll over. The amount of tube would easily double to made it certified. The amount of room to get in and out or move around is going to unpleasant at best.

Pictures please .

 

[BlueCruiser84]

So what do people think of open topped rigs with cages in them or WITHOUT cages in them? Do you guys wear helmets when you drive your fj40 on the street? When you are building a trail-rig that sees street time pretty much everything you do makes it a "death trap". You have to decide what is acceptable in your own vehicle.

Check out the 4x innovations cage. At the beginning of the writeup he mentions there are NO FRAME TIE-INS. This thing help up pretty darn well to some nasty rolls. Obviously not a fully loaded rig, but still impressive to have been bolted to the floor.

4x Innovations Roll Cage Test


We need to see some pictures of the B pillar hoop and the A-pillar. I think it goes without saying that you shouldn't install one of these in your soccer mom rig or your DD 80 or your expo rig. It sounds like there are provisions for harnesses which you would want to wear if you have an interior cage.

I'm very interested to see what you've come up with.

 

[Tools R Us]

.... helmets are always recommended if your out and about mashing trails etc. ...

Where I would be most concerned about safety is street, relatively high speed wreck. This is where body parts impact things in the cabin, most times, soft body parts lose when contacting solid structure.

 

[Tools R Us]

... Do you guys wear helmets when you drive your fj40 on the street? ...

Don't but likely should. The '40 is a whole other kettle of fish, designed in the "hose off the victim and sell the rig to someone else" era. Any significant accident is much more likely to end poorly for the occupants in a '40 than an '80. Putting a cage in a '40 isn't likely to increase the risk, in an '80 it will.

Another thought, there have been plenty of '80 totals documented here, which one could be pointed to where a cage would have helped the occupants? Plenty of roll overs, etc, I have dealt with a few first hand, IMHO, the '80 in stock form, does a pretty good job of protecting the occupants.

If you are racing, or significantly modifying the body structure, that is different. A stock body, street driven (even occasionally) '80, no way I would put a cage in it.

 

[riffman12]

So what do people think of open topped rigs with cages in them or WITHOUT cages in them? Do you guys wear helmets when you drive your fj40 on the street? When you are building a trail-rig that sees street time pretty much everything you do makes it a "death trap". You have to decide what is acceptable in your own vehicle.

sorry have to butt in here. 1960s crash protection was pretty much non-existent. If you roll your FJ40 or run into something with any reasonably speed, you're pretty much donezo. I'm a big classic car guy and that's just kind of the way things are when you drive a classic vehicle. Here's a good example of what to expect in a 1960s vehicle if you hit something:




I think that's a VERY different conversation than installing a roll cage in an FZJ80 with somewhat modern crash protection. Roll cages are designed to be used off the street and with proper safety restraints and helmets. Not only that but I feel it would interfere with the crumple zones designed in the vehicle.

If it's a purely off road rig that you trailer everywhere and wear a helmet, sure go for it. Should you put one in your cruiser that gets driven 99% of the time on the street with no helmet? No thanks.

 

[Box Rocket]

I'm not going to debate whether or not risk to occupants is increased or not with a cage in an 80, other than to say that I don't believe a blanket statement of "it's a bad idea" is correct. Without question, a poorly designed cage can cause significant risk, but I don't believe for a second that it's impossible to design a cage for an 80 that will provide better safety for the occupants.

My contribution other than my opinion above is to show some photos of the cage inside our Canguro Racing 200 Series Cruiser. This is a SCORE spec and approved cage for racing in SCORE and Best in the Desert Races. The driver/co-driver are in 5-point harnesses and obviously wear helmets and there are no rear passengers. The rear doors are fully functional however and the B-piller hoop is "at" the B piller and not further back into the door opening.

So take it with a grain of salt as it's not an apples to apples comparison but merely evidence of a cage that meets stringent safety requirements inside of a cruiser. I'm sure this thread will turn into a "spirited debate" but just because there hasn't been a successful solution in the past, don't commit a new idea to failure before it even has a chance.

These aren't the best to show all the details of the cage but they are the best I have.
This is the best one to show location of the B Pillar and roof support




B Pillar harness bar and triangulation


A Pillar bars behind the dash rather than contouring around the dash. I doubt a bolt in cage will follow this approach.


Seat cradle and B pillar forward triangulation


I didn't bother with the C or D Pillar areas since they are of less concern.