Roll Bar/Rollcage
 

This thread was intially started by, House DAD, in 2006.

Refer to his thread. Roll Bar / rollcage

Has anyone put in a roll bar/ cage in the X yet?

Motus Engineering.com has an external Cage that have attached to the F250's.
See the before F250 over the cliff witout it and a Dodge that is equipped with it.
I shot them an e-mail to see if they have something for the X.

I've seen some photo's of the roof structure after a roller over.

See: Ford Excursion Rollovers. Com

I would much rather be in the oversized vehicle then the undersized one. The Ford Excursion Rollovers. Com site looks like an ambulance chaser, since the lawyer states that "If you or a loved one have been seriously injured or a loved one has been killed in SUV Rollover Accident, call us" They have pictures on Excursions and Expeditions. If you fear rolling over, drowning inside or falling off a cliff in your Excursion then I suggest you sell it and stick to public transportation.

Now if you really just want a roll bar in your Excursion then that is your call and your taste. My CJ7 has one. I may even upgrade it to a 4 point, but that is a way different vehicle then the X.

Good luck.

That would be pretty awesome if it was all built up with a roof rack the whole length of the roof. Maybe some ladders on each side.

I can picture it, but dang it is gonna be expensive.

I would like one also....inside though......no one makes them for retail that I can find.....

Hahahaha that's such a hack ambulance chaser website. The pictures don't even scare me. All the Excursion roll over pics I've seen show a reasonable amount of crushing, expected on a rollover. If you travel the speed limits an exercise caution, there is little to worry about.

That Motus ROPS unit is pretty slick. Since it is bolted to the frame, might be hard to get a similar design in the Ex. I'd look for an inside the body design fabbed up by a local shop that specializes and knows how to install them. You will loose interior space though.

To be honest, if I'm going over a cliff thinking "I wish I had a roll cage", I want that to be my last thought before I meet my maker, not "Damn, I'll be f-ed up BAD but I hope this roll cage works"

A cage makes sense if you're rock crawling or doing extreme hills.

They are a heavy vehicle.....and the roof cannot support it's weight very well.....you have had to see the recent posting on here.....not what I would call a reasonable amout of crushing with my kids in it.....none is what I am looking for.

If you're wheeling an Ex in places with a risk of a rollover, get a jeep, zuki or sumpthin' small and agile. You can use the Ex to pull it to the trails - JMO.

I wasn't even thinking about wheeling.....that would likely be a softer roll over...it's the highway evasive manuevers at speed that worry me

At speed manuevers are a dilemma - didn't think of that. Might be best to plow ahead depending on the situation and people involved.

It likely is best to plow ahead.... but your instinct is going to be to steer away I am afraid.

So far, no one has installed a roll bar in the X for every day use?

There are not alot of photo's out there showing the roofs, THATS GOOD, other then the web site I mentioned and a few others photo's I've seen.

The X has a potential to fall short of being the KING with the roof design and the wrong circumstances.

The excursions I have seen in rollovers looked a lot better than the super duty trucks I have seen in rollovers. Any off road or race shop can custom fab a cage to go in your truck, if thats what you want. Its not safe to have bars anywhere near the head of an occupant in a vehicle unless they are in a safety harness and wearing a helmet, though, so unless you don't use yours to carry passengers you would have to have a long hard talk with the roll cage builder about that.

There are no vehicles that I have seen that have this "zero intrusion" that is desired in a roll over. All vehicle will have some give, and any heavy ass truck like an excursion is probably gonna have more.

The motus cage looks sweet, though I can't image any way to design something similar for the excursion that wouldn't have to pass through the roof at some point. That cage transfers rollover forces to the frame, and even if you built outriggers off the frame to the sides of the excursion you would be concentrating all the rollover forces onto something on a lever hanging out at a 90 degree angle, I just can't see that behind strong enough. Another consideration is that newer trucks have fully boxed frames that are a lot stronger than the ladder style frames like we have under the excursions....

anyone watch the video on the motus sight? kinda BS cause they call a superduty an "F150" and it takes a real hard hit square on the roof at the bottom, and then they test a ram, which is a totally different model, and the way it falls it doesn't take a single hard hit to the roof. Not saying it doesn't provide protection, but I am saying the video doesn't prove it.

My thought would be 2 loops inside.One at te B pillar and one at the C.
Out side Luggage carrier style, extending forward of B pillar , 3/4 of the way to the A pillar.Horizontal pipe out side attached at B and C pillar loops and attached at rear D pillar.
Only piping inside will be at B+C pillars (loops).
By having most of the pipe outside it would lesson head impact with inside piping.

End result added safety,luggage rack, REAL TRUCK LOOK.

I agree, it was a superduty they pushed over the cliff.

The dodge is a different design. The dodge did take a hard impact to the roof. I watched it a few times and saw at the end it took an impact,but not as hard as the ford though.

Totally agree, not a scientific study or controlled impact example. Plus, they rolled the Dodge so you couldn't see the front of the roof and how it impacted. Neat concept for a pickup. The Ex spreads the forces of a rollover across a larger surface area with an additional pillar for support. Life comes with risks...meh

That sounds like it would be a slick design. Not sure if the body penetrations could be kept clean and squeak free since the body is mounted on rubber.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...roll-cage.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...roll-cage.htmlhttps://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...roll-cage.html

Outside links:
Excursion Roll Cage - TDR Roundtable

SRS Ford Excursion: Off-Road.com

I've thought about this before and I have a tube bender, but without diagonal support (roof to floor) the roll bar will likely fold over as much as the body allows. You see, a symbiotic relationship is created when an basic internal roll prevention device is added. The bar helps keep the body from folding in and the body helps the bar keep it's structure. When I say basic, I mean a simple bolt in bar as you would see in the old Blazers, Broncos, and 4Runners. To maintain a structural force to withstand the body from pushing the bar out of position, the roll bar/cage has to be not only attached to the frame but braced diagonally and has to have enough triangulation through the entire design. This is not conducive to a comfortable ride for passengers.

In short, the roll bar/cage would be most intrusive to the passengers to be effective. Would a basic roll bar be better than nothing? Maybe. It really depends on if the bars can be placed close enough to the passengers without causing a safety issue. Even padded, a 1 3/4 stick of DOM is not going to feel pleasant when a head strikes it. I've bumped my head getting out of my old truck and it hurt like hell. I can't even imagine what a full rollover with inertia and an 8lb melon would feel like.

Could have one custom fabbed up however you like with the exception of the fabricator also doing what he needs to make it safe. Now if only we knew a fabricator... Hmmmmm. :-wink

I think he's callin' you out to actually do it. }> You guys aren't more than a few hours apart :-X03

Evasive ? I'd just drive over whatever was in front of me :-X04

Rovers had some exterior cages, not really roll cages, more for a little body protection & hanging stuff from

To build a rollcage for the Ex you'd have to gut the interior 1st, thats A LOT of work
http://safetydevices.com/i/ckfinder/...-cage-L172.JPG

the easiest solution IMHO would be to make an external roll cage....proly not the prettiest option but if safety is your biggest concern......

I've seen plenty of external cages fail on much lighter vehicles like grand cherokees. The problem with exo cages is where do you tie the bottom in to??? You have to make your hoops go over the body and then they come out at the rocker panels, which is a few feet away from your frame. So you weld an outrigger18" off the frame and expect it to take the force coming off the main hoop, which intersects it at a 90 degree angle. Its inherently weak. furthermore, if you roll into a rock or something with a sharp edge it can easily fold the tubing. Tubing is only strong if it can keep its shape, once it deforms it will bend relatively easily. I think thats one of the things locknload was saying.

also lets not overlook that on a vehicle that is already giant like the excursion, an exo cage like some pictured would be very close to pushing you over DOT limits for width, kill your gas mileage, as well as adding another 600-1000 lbs to the top of the vehicle, ironically making it even more likely to roll over!!

Personally, I think if you are that worried about rolling over, you should consider adding a wider track to the excursion through lower offset wheels, lowering the excursion (which isn't really possible on a 4wd with the factory suspension design), lightening the roof (taking out all the ceiling mounted consoles and HVAC and DVD), and maybe spending some of the time and money that you guys must all be flush with signing up at a local driving school with your truck and learning some advanced driving techniques. I live a few minutes from summit point race track in Charles Town, WV, and they have classes you can sign up for with your truck and the instructors will tailor their driving lessons to you. I took one once and learned a few things (and had some fun). They also have like old crown vics and stuff they will let you hoon around in, which is a blast. But the instructors teach things about defensive driving and accident avoidance and high speed lane change maneuvers that might just save your life some day. They teach all the feds driving techniques for their big black suburbans.

and to those who say your "instinct" will be to swerve... so what? your instinct is wrong. Your instinct is to lock up the brakes on a non ABS car. Your instinct is to steer further into the skid on a RWD car. But you learn around those instincts so you can drive safely... growing up in WV I have had so many friends and family swerve to miss deer and end up flipping their cars, so I've burned it into my mind that you have to evaluate your options, and hitting the deer is a perfectly valid option. In rally driving school, they teach you to hit the brakes, and as your vehicle is slowing down, make a decision about which direction you are going to steer, and when you have slowed down as much as you can, you let off the brakes and make the turn. That goes completely against instinct, but if you continue to hold the brakes you are probably going to understeer right into whatever it is you wish to swerve around. And if you just swerve without using the brakes, its likely you will lose control or enter a skid, and possible end up shiny side down.

When it comes to driving, you have to teach yourself technique over instinct.

My brother in law is an Army Ranger and convoy trainer with 4 tours in Iraq, including Sadr City during the busy time. He trains all his convoy charges to never swerve unless the object you're about to hit is larger than your 5+ ton Humvee. So training them in Northern Wisconsin, the rule is hit the deer, save a life, period.

I didn't swerve.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...01Medium-1.jpg

Outside links:
Excursion Roll Cage - TDR Roundtable

Thanks for the reply


I wasn't able to go beyond the 1st page without being a member.
Was heputting round tubing all around his X like a rock crawler vehicle?

Thanks for the replys.
There are alot of things I didn't consider, thanks to your replys, it is a much bigger undertaking then I intially thought.

There is a chassie builder in the Joliet area ,who has put together several of the race cars that run at the RT 66 drag strip. I plan on meeting up with him to discuss.

Lord Fusor made a product at one time, (1908 Structural Foam) that the OE's were using in the D pillars of the Expedition.When it dried it was like concrete. It made the D pillar very strong. They no longer make that product. (maybe it didn't really work).
3m(# 8458) makes a Structural pillar foam but not intended for strength.
With the advancement in epoxy's etc. you would thing there would be something that could be sprayed into the pillar,expand and create a solid pillar.

Anyone have any ideas on such a product.

I will be your first customer......I need it as unobtrusive as possible....... and it needs to be a full family bar....all the way to the rear hatch ........can you do it? I think you will have a market.....

Are the kids really gonna wanna wear helmets on the daily commute? Makes every day a bad hair day.

Nah, they're used to riding around with the helmets when on the bike or razor!

Shut up.....it's what I want...I can be me......hehehe ...and I will buy it !

Reminds me of a song...

Sammy Davis Jr. - I Gotta Be Me - YouTube

Out side like this one.
Like a HELMET
I might be the 1st to have a HELMET on the X.

Sure can, but you have to get in line. Have a few cars to get done first. :-X21

I've considered a Rollcage on the X.....however the only way I'd ever put one in is if I was rich, and started to use the X as a chase vehicle for races, and goin down to baja. But then the X would be totally redone to be beat up and with stand a bunch of stuff. (ie rollcage, f350 axles, Carli King Suspension system, the "works" :D )

If I were to do one(or have one done) I'd get a lot of my ideas from the luxury prerunners from Brenthel Bi Luxury Prerunner or JDFabrication JD Fabrication - Home . Both of them I think do a great job of integrating the rollcage into the lines of the cabs and ending up with a very clean presentation. However you'll basically have to strip the whole inside to install it and weld it up if you want it to look that good. Just my 2¢ :-X22

They do nice work.

Yep, I agree if I wanted to cage the ex for anything other than turning it into an offroad recreational vehicle, I'd want a cage just like that. But I have a feeling those cages would be in the $8-10k range. I've heard that bi luxury company is doing a of work for the rich oil barron type people out in derkastan. Actually a lot of US off road shops apparently have been doing work for the wealthy in desert countries as well as the oil companies operating out there, like this 6x6 wrangler (also some sweet fab) 2011 Beige Jeep Wrangler Custom 6X6 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Those aren't cages put in a already existing vehicle though. Those are cages built and then some sheet metal wrapped around the cage. Much easier to make it look "integrated" when in fact it is integrated.

yep saw that at Sema also :-X22 I've asked a few people who've had it done....they went all out however and were in the 20-30k range after everything (cage, seats, upholstery, tv's, speakers, nav, etc) Brenthel's shop is about 30 mins away from me and ya they do a lot of other high end stuff but also things outside of offroading.

Your wrong, the ones I posted, and this one TSCO are cages put into already existing trucks. These are caged trucks, most people go this route for prerunners, or for a semi-cheaper way than building a full truck.

another example to, lots of detailed pics of them welding things straight to the cab 2006 Ford F-150 Pre-Runner | Camburg Engineering

if you want a frame or "cage" as you put it, then those are usually trophy trucks or something along those lines, and they then have fiberglass shells. :-X22