Polaris RZR Cage Build, Suggestions Appreciated.

[TriggerTX]

I'm in the middle of a full cage and back end build with my XP1K. I've built a Jeep cage before but this is my first UTV cage. I run this thing pretty hard in the desert and in the rocks. I'm also interested in potentially entering in a race in the future, Sportsman/Noob class at least.

I've been debating the design a bit and haven't really made up my mind on the intrusion bar and ceiling triangulation, or, leaving the additional ceiling bars out all together.

Cage is 1 3/4 .095 DOM, intrusion bar will be .095 or .120 wall 1.5 DOM.

The red in the drawing attached are the possibilities. The intrusion bar, V or single vertical could go with either ceiling configuration.

Any suggestions as to which design I should go with?

 

[NIKAL]

IMO adding triangulation in any cage is important and can be hard to do on just an upper UTV cage. I personally think you need the triangulation in the roof as you need to add support to the upper roof of the cage. The drawing of the cage with the /\ in the windshield is how I would design the upper roof part as it ties the front corners (A-Pillar) and upper windshield tubes together and when you add your /\ in the back (B-Pillar) is ties all the corners together. The reason I like this design is if your rollover, you are typically in a forward motion. If you look most of the time you land on the front A-Pillar which then pushes the cage backwards. By adding those tubes to the upper A-Pillar it ties the A-Pillar to the Rear Upper B-Pillar as that is then triangulated into the B-Pillar and seatbelt bar. You have effectively transferred the load across the whole cage and not in one focused point.

Remember to notch your upper tubes to fit in the corners tying all the tubes together and not making Dead End tubes. (Dead End Tubes are tubes that are not tied into anything. They just butt end into another tube with no support on the other side or without lacing them with another tube) As far the the actual intrusion bar in the windshield, it really does not tie into anything except at the roof line. The lower ends butt into the lower windshield bar and are again Dead End tubes. Because of this I prefer the look of the single tube, but that is preference. Look at how CageWrx does their upper windshield bar and how they add triangulation.

IMO the CageWrx cage is one of the more thought out and is a "You Weld Kit". So for a guy who can weld, this might be an awesome option as all the R&D is done for you and all tubes are laser notched for a tight fit and could be Tig welded if you so chose. The only thing I would add to their kit is the 2 extra tubes in the upper roof like mentioned above, and maybe a small diagonal tube on the side of the B-Pillar and roof line. Also with a kit like this you can easily modify or add tubes as this is a kit and in the build process you could add a rear bumper or something like that.

http://www.cagewrx.com/CageWrx-XP-1000-Roll-Cage-p/cw2sxp1k-diy.htm

 

[TriggerTX]

NIKAL,
Thank you much for the time yo have take to go into so much detail.

I too favor the single vertical intrusion bar and, the lower windshield bar will be tied into the front part of the chassis with two short vertical bars near the center. There will be triangulation on the B pillar to the outer roof and of course a V configuration from the seat belt bar to the rear of the roof. And, the fastback tubes will meet near the rear of the car with the bed side tubes that I have added.

I have browsed the internet for a long time gathering ideas and and comparing designs and they very quite a bit. Some of the designs I prefer the best are from the LSR cars, but they do their roofs like the example on the left and I agree with you that the example on the right seems to be suited for a forward momentum roll.

This is where I'm at right now and I hope to make some decent progress this weekend.

Cagewrx has a nice cage but I wanted to do the work myself. And because of the bed area/reconfiguration I wanted the Cagewrx wouldn't do. I could s me adding some gussets to the upper windshield bad and A pillar but the triangulation that is incorporated in the Cagewrx cage would be lower than I care for due to the placement of my upper windshield bar.

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Josh

 

[NIKAL]

Josh can I ask why you chose to take the upper windshield bar and move it below the center line of the bend in the A-Pillar? Also please share pictures of what you have done so far (BTW your tube notching looks nice & tight!) and what you are doing in the back bed/bumper area?

 

[TriggerTX]

Josh can I ask why you chose to take the upper windshield bar and move it below the center line of the bend in the A-Pillar? Also please share pictures of what you have done so far (BTW your tube notching looks nice & tight!) and what you are doing in the back bed/bumper area?

Thanks.

Scouring the interwebs extensively I decided to build a cage similar in design to the pic (link) below of a RZR build by LSR. My rear bed portion even looks similar except they just throw a tire, a jack, and relocated intake back there. I plan to sheet out the area creating a bed similar to a Ranger or Mule, without loosing the style or adding too much weight. As far as bumper, ahhh, I have ideas, but it will be nothing like anything I've come across searching for inspiration. Hybrid to say the least.
http://dirtauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/20141201_145952.jpg