Happy new rollcage day !

[davew]

With 5 days to go before we have to travel to the Muddy Truckers Challenge, finally got my motor back from Protection and Performance with it's new roll cage.

Just got to put the interior back together again, put the winches back in, find somewhere for the ARB compressor to live, rewire all the earth circuits, strip and inspect the axles, give the engine a service and find my camping gear Good job I've taken next week off work !

[nicks90]

that is very BLING dave - niiiice!
Is that all stainless as well?
but how long will it stay looking that good?

Also, hows it attached to the chassis at the rear, i though the rear stays had to go straight down to the top of the chassis rails to maintain geometric strength?

[davew]

It's made from 54mm CDS, powder coated then laquered. Had a choice of black or silver and figured the silver would look better, especially after I've resprayed the rest of the motor in red. Should last a while, has done on the Ibex that were done this way a couple of years ago.

It's a compromise cage in many ways in the same way my last one was. This time though I wanted to free up as much space in the back as I could and getting rid of the internal hoop makes access to the areas behind the seats that much easier too. I can use the soft top I have or an Ifor Williams top with it too. I got them to add additional fixing points to the main hoop so I can add additional diagonals into the load bed if I ever need it to run in an MSA spec event. That'll mean chopping a couple of grooves in the roof though.

The rear end is (will be) braced to the old roll cage mounts at the moment and, as it will then be triangulated in all directions, it's not going anywhere. Gives improved tree protection too as once a tree is picked up at the front hoop it's got a smooth transition all the way to the back. Going to add some corner wraparounds at the rear that will protect the rear lights. Long term I'm thinking of replacing the rear cross member with a new version that will be strengthened and possibly extended all the way up to the rear cage mount. I won't be able to take the exhaust for the new engine through the existing rear cross member as it will be 2.5 or 3 inch diameter exhaust.

I asked for a full diagonal cross on the roof between the inner bars and the 2 hoops that you can't see in the pics. That way an impact on a front corner will be transferred to both bracing bars.

Not immediately obvious but I've also added some more substantial rock/tree sliders that further link the 2 hoops together at the bottom. I won't bend these ones in a hurry !

[nicks90]

cool, sounds like you could drop it from some height with no damage at all now!


i take it you didnt fancy going the whole hog and tubing the front wings down to your rather substantial front bumper?

[davew]

Don't need to do that, as long as Matthew goes first my wings should remain reasonably intact

[iluvmud]

Looks very smart ready for anything good luck in the challenge

[Orange rover]

Very nice as nick said very blinge blinge.

[Rod]

who would have guessed you would get it this far when you where doing the BT adverts 118 118

[davew]

who would have guessed you would get it this far when you where doing the BT adverts 118 118

I've got your number mate !

[Orange rover]

HEY dave thats one BEAST of a motor.
ref. difflock rant.

[GazT]

Hi Dave,

Cracking looking machine mate...ex-Army?
Are you able to divulge the rough cost of the cage without dropping yourself in it?

Cheers,

Gaz.

[davew]

Hi Gaz,

Yes, it's ex-military, been told it's ex-RAF from the service number, one day I'll get round to rejoining EMLRA and get a search done to find out where it's been. This is what it looked like when I bought it....


The new cage cost 1700 quid in the end... a necessary evil unfortunately.

[GazT]

Hi Dave,

What was it's old service number. This can tell you year into service and whether it was Army or RAF eg 27KJ45.

Gaz.

[davew]

It was 14 KJ 53 according to the contract plate thingie.

[repton]

If you're looking them up then mine was 14KJ02

Paul