I don't think there is a standard for a roll cage. Vehicles are held to crash test standards from the factory, and DOT doesn't concern itself with aftermarket stuff like that. For jeeps and junk they call them "sport" cages, I guess to eliminate the liability.
The reason that there is no cheap and easy roll cage, is because roll cages aren't cheap and easy. They are expensive for a reason. 2" chrome moly isn't cheap, and a good fabricator isn't cheap. They aren't easy because it takes very good structural knowledge on the proper way to install, brace and mount a roll cage. Interiors have to come out to do the welding, headliners probably have to be redone, etc...
If a cheap solution materializes soon I would be skeptical, and I would be worried about it with less than 6 mounting points. With 4 points its possible that the roll cage could do more harm than good by shifting on top of the occupants
Roll cages aren't convenient either. Tubing welded to the frame, plated to the cab transfers a ton of vibration and noise that is usually isolated by cushy isolating mounts, cabs flex and roll cages don't which can cause squeaks unless the cab is welded to the cage in multiple points.
There are definitely lots of pros to a cage if you are taking your Raptor to the extreme. My suggestion would be to learn how to handle the truck better, and then the cage becomes less of an issue. Spend some of the cage money on a good driving school like bondurant or dirt fish, and you will be miles ahead of yourself, unskilled with a cage.
If you are concerned with the stock belt not keeping you in, think about mounting a set of lap belts using eye bolts and large fender washers on the inside and outside of the cab. Its considered a good mounting point by a bunch of race bodies, and you would be amazed at how well a set of lap belts will hold you in. I preran the entire baja 500 with only lap belts.
Sorry your build thread has gotten hijacked.
---------- Post added at 10:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 PM ----------
Did I read here somewhere that the Raptor cab is reinforced? (Probably insisted on by Ford's legal team in the event of a rollover in their purpose-built truck) I would think that cab reinforcement would decrease the requirements for a bolt-in cage to do it's job adequately. Everyone I know is out bombing in them without any extra safety equipment, and we are all just waiting for a good solution to arrive.
They are probably the same as the f150, but I have seen the top of the raptor cab without a headliner, its beefy. Plus there are those pictures of the silver raptor involved in a high speed roll over and it looks like it fared pretty well.
