Fitting a 90 Truck Cab Roll Cage System

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Hi All,

Of all the weekends to pick, I for some seriously peverse reason, decided this was the weekend to remove the old Hardtop

and homemade roll cage system, and then fit the new (second hand) scrubbed clean Truck cab, and have a start of the

also new NOR Truck Cab Roll cage for the 90

-6 on Saturday morning,.... spanners were so cold they stuck sometimes to the skin on my hand and John White

popped over (mit several layers of clothing on him) to help me, ....by 10.30 the hardtop was off, .....by 11.30 the cage

joined it o the grass ready for the new owner to collect.

The rest of Saturday was cutting off the old front tube mountings for the old cage welded to the chassis, as the tubes

were both in the wrong places and the wrong ID, ...the old cage being Blue band BS1387 48.3mm OD ....the new cage

being 50.8 CDS Clubmans 500 2.6mm Wall

If anyone is wondering.... I have no 'interests' or any 'connection' with NOR at all, other than as any other customer,

no "Deals" no sponsorship, no brown envelopes - if F wish ....I bought their cage over others partly due to reputation,

partly due to the fact I liked the look of it, and partly due to having dealt with them before, and also how they are hugely

helpfull on phone enquires and queries, and sadly some of the others are the reverse

....so don't read into anything into whats here other than what I say, .....

if it is rubbish then I'll say so, ......if its good then I'll say so too....

And if you are now wondering 'is it good ?' er..... the answer is a big "NO"

Its amazingly good

So, what have I bought ?

A full 'pre bent' 'pre fabbed' TC Roll Cage system from NOR.

This is, as mentioned above, a higher spec tube - Clubmans 500 CDS 50.8mm OD 2.6m Wall

'Fully Mandrel bent' he said, and with the majority of the tubes "Mouthed" and shaped for easy assembly "Said NOR"

.....the rear stays are only "Mouthed" at one end to allow for options when fitting

What do you get in a NOR kit then ?

Rear Hoop, with tack welded in diagonal, and a 2 part second cross giving an X in the middle

A Front Hoop, and a windscreen bar - again mouthed at each end but NOT Fitted giving user options as to height

A Complex pre tack welded pre mouthed and shaped roof "Cross"

2x rear stays - mouthed at one end

Plates for the mounting of rear hoops and styas pre drilled

Lump of box

2x "Outer" roof bars - the ones that go close to the cab edge front to rear

this is all then appaerently jig mounted tested and checked pre shipping.....

The carrier arrived with this just pre christmas, 'wrapped well' would be a massive understatement

......and one bin filled later it was all there - and the 1st good new - ALL there

......I do get fed up with compnaies who seemingly "Forget" bits in an order

On closer inspection I can't really say that the bends are 'good'

they are SUPERB, with no deformation, no marking at all, beautifull beautifull Quality

as are the 'mouths' - superbly done.

So a series of pics - frankly the cage is so well made this won't be a huge report, it just fits together so damned well its unreal,

if your wondering if this is easy to do then its MUCH easier than you would think, just take your time and line things up.....

I have and will be modding it with a few tweaks here and there, but as a starter, once the truck cab was on I fitted the front hoop

this cage will be unboltable with bigger tubes welded on the front chassis for the front hoop with bolts in it for fixings.....

and as such with the help of a mate with a HUGE Lathe machined up 2x Rear Stays detachable MSA spec tubes and 2x tubes for welding to

the front chassis legs, NOR did supply me with mountings for the front but as I have previoulsy beefed up the front outriggers

I didn't use them

Then with the front hoop tacked in place mounted in its tubes the rear hoop was resting on its rear floor mountings

and the cross on the roof meant it all lined up - 1st time

Being a fussy bugger I trimmed the base of the front and rear hoops by 5mm to bring it closer to the truck cab roof, and then refitted

it and ran 2 rachet straps between the top front and rear hoops nipping up the cross in the centre - perfick

In all fairness the trick is to make sure everything does line up - as a jig built frame when things don't quite look right its

not NORs fault - its LR F Build varaince, so I took a long time checking re checking tweaking and adjusting a bit here and

there until everything seemed correct, a mate then was give tape measure spirit level and verbier and asked to go and

comment before I did anything more, its strange how he did find something..... so tweaked that as well

Windscreen bar was then added in - and another rachet strap or 2 added, and another final check

Then and only then was each bar tack welded in place, to start with just 2 good tacks on each bar joint and doing them diagonally too

you could hear clinks and clanks as the welds cooled but I was hoping the rachet strpas would hold everything pretty much in place

until everything was tacked when it was I then did 2 more good tacks around each joint as before, and then 2 more the same - this

now meant every tube joint had 6x good solid tacks all around the tube, I then welded as much as I could easily see and having

done this then the rachet straps were undone, as they were often now in the way of where the welding torch wanted to go - and I

would hope that while still on the 90 little should now move - removed them and virtually nothing moved

No 'rear stays' as yet the one in the pic in the middle was for added support while being welded up

I have in the past made cages for myself, hours with a bender, my old racers, The Old Hybrid and the recent Hardtop internal external one, I bought the NOR cage party due to the quality and service I had when I bought the challenge wings, partyl as it was higher spec tube, partly to save me time. In all honesty what came from NOR was better than anything I could have done even if I had spent hours at it, its smacks of qulaity, the bends are superb and it fits and fits well, just let down by LR legenday "Tolerances" - but thats impossible for anyone to factor in I am so glad I bought this, hindsights a fabulous thing, but being Fussy I am often disappointed and end up returning things and then making them myself, but not here

And thats abouit it so far, rear stays next and then everything I can get to welded up, inc making the supports from the rear stays to the chassis, that will be "Fun" and then some mountings etc and tweaks to do

Nige

[V8 90 JON]

Another nice job nige look forward to seeing the finished job, are you fabing up storage boxes for the rear ?

[RedLineMike]

ho hum

Looks good

wish i had spent the extra £££ now for one of NOR cages

erse

[Anderzander]

Cage looks excellent!

Is that a defender over in your neighbours garage?

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Cage looks excellent!

Is that a defender over in your neighbours garage?

Er Nope, its a mates ......Kin S**uki

And a very very tricked up one as well, with a very good driver

2x ARBs, HD CVs, 3" lift, twister, Full cage, winches, carb conversion, and a load more

Thing is incredible helps he is a RTV driver and Trophy collector

Nige

[Anderzander]

Er Nope, its a mates ......Kin S**uki

Eek!

Seems a small world to have another off roader with a highly

modified truck living opposite you

[Dave W]

How much do they charge for a kit like that ? My team mate is looking for a truck cab cage.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

For reasons to do with avioding arguements with my SWMBO

I don't leave reciepts lying about ,

but IIRC around the £550 mark inc VAT and Carrier costs

Nige

[smo]

Nice one nige, looks really good. Glad to see you went with a NOR cage, i knew shaun would supply somthing that would exceed expectations

[Michele]

this cage will be unboltable with bigger tubes welded on the front chassis for the front hoop with bolts in it for fixings.....

and as such with the help of a mate with a HUGE Lathe machined up... 2x tubes for welding to

the front chassis legs...

Nige

Nice job,

I'm green in envy to see how fast you put things together!

Even my smallest projects seem to evolve in million years instead

Nige,

would your mate fab up another couple of those front hoop tubes?

I'd pay of course...

[bishbosh]

Looking good Nige.

To put a teeny bit of picky engineering geek balance on the "we love NOR" theme (and we should love NOR for they art smashing ), I am a teeny insy bit surprised to see the roof cross diagonals not going into the node properly. The way NOR has done it is simpler I suppose but will be less effective than double notching the tube so it sits right in the junction of the perpendiculars.

Nice cage though.

[T1G UP]

Nice fit, whats the plans with the rear stays etc.

[Jon White]

Eek!

Seems a small world to have another off roader with a highly

modified truck living opposite you

Scaryer still is the fact that they're both painted battleship grey, and they're both called Nigel!

Jon

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

^^^

Tis true,

Anyway day off so moved it on a bit more.

The hoop behind the Truck cab is luckily utilizing the old chassis Mounts , the bottom of the rear stays won't so today

was make rear hoops fit day. The styas were first fettled and fitted with the detachable Home Made couplers,

took longer than I planned , then the plates fitted to the top of the back of the rear floor.

If you haven't ever donme this before this is crucial thats its good and strong - your life could LITERALLY depend on

how good this next bit is you have to fill in the gap between the plate under the floor to the chassis a full 3" width,

and all in 6mm plate.

Luckily all mine at the back is already 6mm plate from the rear winch bumper / unit / crossmember made, so it

was more just "Fill the Gap" having finished for the day I only go 1 side underneath done - that was about 3 hours,

but included removing the old Hardtop mounting 1st

Some more pics

The 1st set show how you need to remove 3x rivits, then drill through, making sure you don't catch you wiring with

the 12mm drill B*gger... and then bolt up with another plate underneath, this then gives you the "Fill Gap"

also you have to remove the floor strengther strip (shown)

Then the rear stays (with detachable coupler) are sliced to fit plates both sides and then mounted in place:

This done its then grovel underneath for 3 hours . and still one side to go

It was made in 4 bits, each welded in place inside and outside and also welded to the winch tray too (slopping 6mm plate behind it)

Getting at it to weld it means I now have some "Souveniers" on me head from the sharp bits underneath, at some points

I was unable to see the torch on some moments - so did "Braille and Pray" welding, and my all time favorite - upside F down F welding

....hence a few blobby bits, ....but it aint going anywhere

More still to come, still more to do

Nige

PS - And Yes, I am an incredibly messer worker

[Daan]

^^^

all in 6mm plate.

Good to see youre now building less heavy..

One advice, before you go any further: can you fit the spare wheel in between the back stays? I know several people that can't, which may ruin your day just a bit.

Daan

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Daan

Know what you saying, I did wonder about shoving the 2 down tubes to the corners

of the cross member, but I ended up doing the route I have and I know I can get a wheel (34") against the

Rear hoop, but it may involve undoing 1 stay to get it out

I am also wondering if I can have it flat on the floor - via a HFH clamp - time will tell

I am also going to look at :

New Hydro Tank maybe,

High Lift mounting,

spare wheel mounting

ground anchor mounting

2x Waffles Mountings

and spares / kit lockers

Less heavy - actually the whole rear end is up at least an 1.75++ inch plus, was 2"+ until the new cage

went on, hardtops vs TC are a big difference - may give me that extra suspension damping I was after - er

maybe not after all the above are mounted

When all done I may re weigh front and rear again esp if its 'tail high'

Nige

[jcwcooper]

Its looking really good, Im not sure weather to get a TC for mine and ditch the hardtop as I will shortly be buying a cage. been waiting to see what the NOR kits are like.

Dave.

[Turbocharger]

I don't mean to criticize what has obviously taken a lot of time, but - my rear stays go from the chassis rails at the bottom of the back door, outwards to the top corners of the B-hoop - this makes sense to me to transfer any loads from the windscreen hoop to the rear chassis and keep it all strong. Why haven't you built it as such?

Other than that, cracking build thread - know anything about VG turbos?

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

VG Turbos Er "Diesel"

Nope no idea.

Build rear the rear stays is a la MSA and a la NOR design for MSA approval.

I did thinky around that, but inboard = higher protection / strength I think (I'd look in me blue book but its on loan )

all roll cage design / fitting has pros and cons, spare wheel as Dann said could be a big F con

nige

[Turbocharger]

Fair play - "MSA" answers my question fully, even though I'm not sure I agree with it.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Don't get me wrong - I am not 100% sure, just me memory - and at my age

Edited to add I'm wrong, http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?act=atta...st&id=18333 Page 180 Drawing 53 :0

Can have either, but outer means mucho cutting wheelboxes

Nige

[ciderman]

Nice tidy job there Nige , , If your going MSA spec you might want to drop your rear hoop diagnals down to the mount plates . They like them to be touching the plate and prefer them to have fluted into the plates .

Sorry , Coat on heading for the door

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Whoa - Don't go yet

EH ?

Do you mean the 'X' hoop behind the TC - if so is on "Packers" at the mo - Or have I missed something - Highly possible

Nige

[Turbocharger]

Nope - mine are angled, no wheelbox cutting required. I'll try to take a decent photo because all the ones I have manage to frustratingly hide what I'm trying to show.

[ciderman]

Its just I was studying the sacred Blue Book , Admitidly I have the 2007 one on loan from TJ101 (Via Lardy) , All in preparation for when I fit my new cage next month , and did read about therear hoop X bars need to at least touch the mount plates . I will double check for you in the morning as the book is in the van and its cold and wet outside .

There was a company advertising full MSA cages in LRM this month and they showed a rear photo shot and the X bar was some 3 " up the rear hoop ,