Rollcage fitted - 26/02/05

I finally got the rollcage I've been saving up for! I've spent a long time looking at different designs and working out if I could build the cage myself or not. I decided in the end that it would be best to get the cage made for me for the amount all the equipment would cost and with my total lack of welding experience so far!

There were several different places that could make the cage for me but I went with Rhino Rays. I knew the finish and strength of the cage would be good by looking at my front bumper and Ray was very helpful discussing what I wanted.

I left the Samurai with Ray after the AWDC trial at Grand Canyon and picked it up a couple of weeks later (he was really busy) and took it for a play to see how the cage felt. Here's the finished article!

I'm well happy with the way the cage looks and it's even improved the handling of the truck in a few ways! The extra weight on the chassis helps the suspension flex more so I get a smoother ride over the bumps and it's stopped some of the twisting that used to make the roof creak noisily. I thought the extra weight might be a problem on side slopes but it seems to make very little difference.

Ray seemed pretty happy with the look of the cage too and even added a couple of pictures of my truck to his wall of photos.

I love the way that looks!

I generally just had a good play around to see how the cage felt. I went over some of the courses from the trial a couple of weeks earlier so try and find a difference but the truck handled pretty much the same which is great.

Playing on some lumps...

...and the rocks

Someone else could possibly have done with a cage! This SJ was seriously lifted and when it put a wheel down a hole it went over. Fortunately there didn't seem to be much damage.

A quick tug with a winch and it was back upright though it didn't want to stay there!