Hello peeps,

me and my dad have been doing abit work on the 90 today and he has come up with the idea to use the box we have to make a cage, i dont really agree with the box so i thoet i would ask way and show him the reasons why no body uses box,

All the 90 gets used for is play days and greenlanes,

His arquement is its better than having nothing!!!!!

As long as its built right there's no issues with box - Ibex do it and several forum members use it as part of their cages. On my new cage I'll be using it too to run up from the bulkhead outrigger inside the wingskin.

for an external cage it would look horrible unconventional

If you are going internal, and can do clean mitres - go for it.

If anywhere you go scruiteers cages - don't expect to get in though, as it goes against all UK motorsport recommendations.

MSA ARC FIA and just about every motorsport regs say "One continuous loop withouit joins or joints", so in box that could be intreresting

Frankly I wouldn't bother, it still a shed load of work, and will not be up to it, why not save the time your going to spend and just buy something ptreformed ?

This way if you have a biggie (and don't think that just cos you only do Play days you'll not have to worry ) you stand a chance of surviving,

.......my last comment is made on this basis ....and not as some smart arse comment ....

If you make it out of box, and the welding and joints are not absolutely 100% 1st rate, then apart from the real prob of injury from a roll, this box cage could easily come apart and a lump of sharp broken off box section then looks for a new home ?

Serioulsy do not do it

Nige

Box roll cage can be plenty stong enough and better than nothing if built correctly, afterall it is used for all sorts of roll over structures for heavy plant and machinery, tractor cabs etc etc.
HOWEVER, it looks horrible on a car/land rover and will be frowned upon by many and excluded from many competitions. It would probably devalue the vehicle too.

I agree with others - not really worth the effort. There will be lots of cutting/shutting and welding. If you buy a ready formed hoop kit for a few hundred pounds, there is far less work, and a better result with a higher value.

Regards,
Diff

Hi
IIRC Square tube does not resist sideways forces as well as it tends to lozenge, as roll cages are designed to land on their side it makes sense to use round tube. I pretty sure thats why all the chassis members in my kit car are square apart from the ones down the side, which are for side impact protection, which are round.
Mike

It must be reassuring that you have had the thumbs up from Will.

Ibex do it and they survive rolls better than many - but then they really really know what they're doing and the whole vehicle is designed to be like that. I reckon Mike's kit car is like that because box is so much easier to cut and weld to things (everything's a flat surface) whereas with tube you have to notch the ends.

Round bars are used because they are the same strength no matter where you hit them, whereas box is not and would have to be much thicker walled to give equal strength in each direction (360 degrees). You can also bend tubes to give a continuous hoop which is much stronger than cutting and shutting. Roll cages are like that for a reason - tube benders are very expensive, if people could get away with cutting and shutting every corner they would.

Up to you - something's better than nothing but be prepared to have people come over at every play day and ask why you built the cage out of box when tube is so much stronger...

And what's that supposed to mean???

Given you've only made 12 posts in 8 months on here you clearly thought it was constructive and something that had to be said.

does a certain number of posts guarantee wisdom then Will?

If so i must be quite wise by now, thus disproving the argument

me too - Im a halfwit

Ok .............don't brag you show off

I dream of being a halfwit at times

Nige

Defiantly not - I'd never be so presumptuous to say I was the slightest bit wise or that I've every offered any useful advice (that's for other people to judge). However, IMHO, there's no need to be rude (even if it’s not intended) especially when making a totally unconstructive post. It just pi$$ed me off a bit that someone who I've never met and has offered virtually nothing to the forum in the way of opinions had a go at me personally for what I believe is a valid post. Justin, if box section is useless what's everyone doing mounting rollcages to their chassis'????

I've had my say now and won't mention it again as a valid question was asked and this is totally OT.

A new member is not necessarily a fool, and an old member is not necessarily clever. A bit of care and respect from both is all that's required.


Les.

this is my old truck made of 2x2 box and very strong and stood up to a lot over the years

but would not go through scruteneering at AWDC trails so it had to go

but has for being ugly i thought it was better than round for looks

Will

Well said, I ignore crass comments like that.

John

Saley - that's cool! That's what I would class as nicely done box work - you've integrated it into the vehicle a bit Ibex-style. Making a full external cage out of box would still look naff IMHO