Bolt in Safety Roll Cage for 80 Series Land Cruiser Lexus LX450 HDJ81 FJ80

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

I'm not out to stick a cage in my 80. No need for me.

With the 80 cab height I have to expect you're going to need to lower the (custom)seats a min of 2" to keep your noggin out of the Cro-Moly, and you'll be in 5 point belts even on the street in case you either rearend or get rearended & whiplash forward.

Lord, I'd really want those airbags to pop too. So now a '95-'97.

I have taken a few decent ones to the head just swinging in & out of the bulldozer & dam if structural steel doesn't 'ring the melon' 5x harder & you'd kill for an Excedrin every last time.

I hit once so hard I got dizzy sitting in the seat & got the pre-puke watery mouth.
I quit after sitting there awhile that day, I had zero motor skills.

I can only imagine taking that knock out in the woods.
 
roadstr6 said:
I'll just leave this here.

View attachment 1583029 View attachment 1583030

IMHO, the 80 body is not the tank that we have all led ourselves to believe. A cage is not a bad idea if it can be pulled off in a safety-minded fashion. I bought this truck as a donor vehicle. The PO flopped it off a 15' bank. He broke his arm. Considering that there is not a straight panel on the whole truck and the fact that the roof came down enough to smash into the driver seat headrest, bending both headrest posts, he's lucky he lived.
Click to expand...

Should of installed the safety snorkel, his arm would have been fine.
 
LINUS said:
I'm not out to stick a cage in my 80. No need for me.

With the 80 cab height I have to expect you're going to need to lower the (custom)seats a min of 2" to keep your noggin out of the Cro-Moly, and you'll be in 5 point belts even on the street in case you either rearend or get rearended & whiplash forward.

Lord, I'd really want those airbags to pop too. So now a '95-'97.

I have taken a few decent ones to the head just swinging in & out of the bulldozer & dam if structural steel doesn't 'ring the melon' 5x harder & you'd kill for an Excedrin every last time.

I hit once so hard I got dizzy sitting in the seat & got the pre-puke watery mouth.
I quit after sitting there awhile that day, I had zero motor skills.

I can only imagine taking that knock out in the woods.
Click to expand...
How does Joez' design create an issue in that way?
 
nukegoat said:
How does Joez' design create an issue in that way?
Click to expand...

Is Joez the 4x innovations one or Box Rocket's builder/200 series pic? -So I know before I speak to either specifically.


As a general in both cages so far we have a full A-pillar loop & the 200 one has diagonals to the B-pillar loop. The blue minitruck looked to have a A- pillar loop & tied to the B- .

I can't say from driver experience, but as a check-ride in a 6pt inner cage E30 autocross car, without 5 point harnesses your shoulders rock & you DO hit your helmet on the A- to B- pillar spreader, even in lowrider seats (and I'm only 6'). It's a sound you hear in all the videos where guys GoPro on the B- spreader/ belt 3&4 holder bar.

If it's a designated/trailered rig (sorta where I think you're headed?) -cool, get at it!
Do a Sparco & 5pts, and helmets. Because dam if the cabin headroom isn't at a premium.

Street I'd have to vote hybrid exo/A- area (if any) & concentrate on a stout 4pt cage with a loop behind the B- since most of us have seats back that far & essentially kill 2nd row practicality/function, then tie back to some C- area either as a box cage or with diag runners down to a point you want to pierce the body & catch the frame.

When we were younger my buddy had a real 4pt setup in a Rabbit GTI that was a B- loop &. diag's back to force spreader plates where rear axle was (unibody car) - & yeah, it saved his life when he was hauling back from Baker & rolled some 60' down the road edge. He was belted but still pushed the windshield frame 3/4" with his (luckily) fitted ballcap over his head. Both eyes black, one 8-ball eye.

So not like I'm the local safety nanny (not generally), just keep your head in a bucket if you install anywhere near the B- on forward.

Maybe attend/check-ride in a prepped car (if any friends do that) or watch some autocross videos on YT & decide based on that if structural steel without helmets seems like a great plan. Bouncing in 3pts in stock seats with Cro-Mo 3" from my head just begs trouble.

Even when I was close to killing my E30M3 (glad I didn't, they were cheap in '04) -into a track car even instructors were starting to talk more about a good B- bar & ties to the A- floor via diag's inner & essentially subframe connectors the other side tying all A-, B-, & C- points underneath. So hybrid cages were in talks there too, people who autocrossed only were seeing pitfalls of the conventional 6pt cage.
The upper A- to B- ties & the windshield loop were such a PITA for non-racing E30 cars.
 
+1 on all that. I had a buddy in Spec Miata who hit his HELMETED head on the roll cage (admittedly a smaller car but he was belted in with 5 pt harness, wearing a HANS) and he couldn't practice as an orthodontist for almost a year due to the concussion after-effects.

Watch some rollover videos taken from inside the vehicle with people wearing regular 3 point belts and you'll see just how far from normal seated position a body and/or head can end up!
 
LINUS said:
Is Joez the 4x innovations one or Box Rocket's builder/200 series pic? -So I know before I speak to either specifically.
Click to expand...

Im joez. No association with any fab shop outside of my garage, but I did build my hybrid cage this spring. Mostly due to the fact that I'm 6'6" tall and there was no way I was cramming a full internal cage into this truck.

IMG_20170629_182528_552.webp


IMG_20170619_073623_983.webp


IMG_20170629_161428_689.webp
 
joez said:
Im joez. No association with any fab shop outside of my garage, but I did build my hybrid cage this spring. Mostly due to the fact that I'm 6'6" tall and there was no way I was cramming a full internal cage into this truck.
Click to expand...

Cool. - I like the fact you don't have an internal A- hoop, and even the B- hoop has that nice kickback to the area it goes exo.

You also have 4/5pt harness seats sitting lower - looks well thought out (has to be if you're 6'6"!) - I also don't see anything that conflicts with what I was saying - you have head clearance & no need for helmets with the A- & B- hoops going exo, and the B- 's position makes for a 2 seater, the heck with 2nd row passengers.

Without doing a crazy amount of science, I just don't see an internal A- hoop or a internal B- hoop that would be safe for either the front 2 seated positions or the 2nd row being usable.

You dodged all that with your setup, as I see it. Glad to see your design.
 
A caged 80 raced the Baja 1000 in 2008. The first time it rolled, the occupants walked away from the vehicle and it was put on its wheels and continued the race. The second time the vehicle was rolled in the same race, it went down into a ravine deep enough that the vehicle could not be extracted from the location, but the occupants walked away yet again. The racing ended not by either equipment failure or injury, Only because there was no way of retrieving the vehicle. Read up about it in the TLCA Toyota Trails March/April 2008. Here are pics from my magazine:

IMG_8716.webp


IMG_8717.webp


IMG_8718.webp


IMG_8719.webp
 
SoCal FZJ80 said:
A caged 80 raced the Baja 1000 in 2008. The first time it rolled, the occupants walked away from the vehicle and it was put on its wheels and continued the race. The second time the vehicle was rolled in the same race, it went down into a ravine deep enough that the vehicle could not be extracted from the location, but the occupants walked away yet again. The racing ended not by either equipment failure or injury, Only because there was no way of retrieving the vehicle. Read up about it in the TLCA Toyota Trails March/April 2008. Here are pics from my magazine:

View attachment 1583485

View attachment 1583486

View attachment 1583487

View attachment 1583488
Click to expand...

Note: They were also wearing helmets, harnesses, and possibly neck braces.

Again the biggest problem with an inside 80 cage is the cage and your head.
 
joez said:
Im joez. No association with any fab shop outside of my garage, but I did build my hybrid cage this spring. Mostly due to the fact that I'm 6'6" tall and there was no way I was cramming a full internal cage into this truck.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, why not just make it fully external? Run down to the sliders, or something like that. Would that be too weak?
 
gummycarbs said:
Out of curiosity, why not just make it fully external? Run down to the sliders, or something like that. Would that be too weak?
Click to expand...

Three reasons. I hate exo cages, this is much stronger since you can minimize bends and add triangulation in multiple planes, and I hate exo cages. There is a reason there is a pile of A-pilliar bars I wasn'l happy with laying in the scrap pile in my garage. From certain angles I'm still not completely satisfied, but I can live with it.
 
@joez - just out of curiosity, do you helmet offroad?

Those seats look like you use the 3rd & 4th point harness in them - do you street a 4pt (5pt mebbe?) -belt?

Not out to nitpick, just let you expand on running your style cage in a street & trail 80.

@6'6" - I clearly see a reason you went hybrid & have scrap A- loops ;)
 
Jeez it really is a popular topic isn't it @joez ?

It might be time for detailed look at it
 
LINUS said:
@joez - just out of curiosity, do you helmet offroad?

Those seats look like you use the 3rd & 4th point harness in them - do you street a 4pt (5pt mebbe?) -belt?

Not out to nitpick, just let you expand on running your style cage in a street & trail 80.

@6'6" - I clearly see a reason you went hybrid & have scrap A- loops ;)
Click to expand...

4 point harness when wheeling. Factory 3 point belt when driving on the road.
 
I wonder if having some sort of stamped steel reinforcements on the pillars would be a option. They could tie into the floor and ceiling and take the place of the plastic molding. They could be desinged with a cool military look and mounts for accessories. I know that it would not be as good as a roll cage but might give someone some piece of mind knowing they did something to make their rig safer. The price point would be a lot lower, easier to produce, and install would be faster.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom