White Star Industries is proud to announce a bolt in roll cage for the Ford Raptor!

[Allied Offroad]

Damn that looks bad ass ! anymore grainy pics?

---------- Post added at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------

That you found " online"

 

[BigScott]

I have been holding back and not posting. I am sure I will get a shit storm for this but I am going to put it out there. I feel your bolt in cage is a major injury waiting to happen. Stock Raptors are scarey fast. with a bolt in or temporary roll cage (in my opinion ) it gives driver/passengers a false sense of security. A "pass to go fast" I was in a recent roll over and it had a cage, 4 point harnesses, and helmets, I was also wearing a foam neck brace. I am of the opinion that if you are going fast enough or to that point where a roll cage is a good idea, DO IT RIGHT ! You can go cheap on shocks, or motor parts, but a cage is there to protect your life. What's your life worth ? Do you have a wife or children that depend on you ? Keep that one in mind.
While at SEMA this past week a roll cage was on my list of things to look at. I talked to Greg Foutz and arranged to sit in his "Rough Riders" painted truck on display at SEMA. It has a weld in cage, that's the only way I will fly.
I am not posting a bash on anyone, rather I care for all of your safety. When Dutch rolled, well actually laid it on it's side, it brought back my experience. I told them how lucky they were, 5 mph faster and they would have nosed into a 4 foot deep ditch flipping them on their lid and potential serious injurys.

This is serious F-ing shit, ANYTHING can happen out in the desert. I hope some of you take the time to watch some u tube videos of race truck crashes.

and let the shit storm begin

 

[treypal]

foam neck rolls can do more harm that good.

The cab on these trucks are super tough. Judging from ryckmans truck it looks like the cab did all the work. But without the 4 PTs y'all would have been in bad shape.

A good bolt in cage like this is the perfect way to properly put in a set of harnesses.

Everyone knows or should know that these trucks aren't race cars and should drive accordingly. Cage or no cage.

 

[Aaron]

Why don't we just call a spade a spade for a minute since this has come up.

There are a TON of people on here, myself included who have pushed far enough in our trucks to be well past the "Roll-Cage-Territory" line. If you're doing 50mph in the rough stuff it can be argued that a cage is necessary.

That being said, why are we hating on a bolt in solution? Properly designed and mounted it's sure-as-shit going to help keep the cab intact in a roll-over accident because it provides paths for the load to dissipate through and evens the burden that the stock structure is under. The key statement is "Properly designed and mounted" Which it sounds like Jimmy has put a ton of thought into and covered nicely.

Not everyone out there is in the market for a weld in custom cage. It does a lot of things to the truck that most people won't want (eg; vibration/noise). In my personal opinion a good bolt in cage is a LOT better than running with nothing.

 

[MotuMute]

Damn that looks bad ass ! anymore grainy pics?

---------- Post added at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------

That you found " online"

Yeah... keep em coming! Looking super tight! Harnesses look awesome on Raptor seats!

 

[Allied Offroad]

Big Scott I appreciate your concern, and am truly saying this with the utmost respect, but I want to ask if you know what the tensile strength of A-36 steel is? its around 30k PSI.

Do you know what the tensile strength of a weld is? It varies, but typically you can assume around 70K PSI, mainly due to different strengths of electrodes, but there are many other factors to consider , mostly, the quality of guy welding it,which I don't want to elaborate on right now.

Do you know what the tensile strength of JUST 1 grade 8 bolt is? 150k PSI.




I will have this cage done this week. this will not "punch through the floor"... from any of the interior 2'' "down tubes" there is a 3.5''x3.5'' x.1875'',interior plate with 4, .5 '' holes, directly beneath that is the sheetmetal of the cab, beneath that is a 4.5''x4.5''x.1875'' plate (this reduces the chance of shear, and is the proper way of putting 2 bolted plates together, IMO), and this obviously has 4, .5'' holes in it as well. From there, is another 2'' tube with a bend in it that extends to the frame which finally ends in a .1875'' plate with 4, .5'' holes in it that will fasten through the frame. this will happen in 6 places on the frame. BTW, I am designing this cage as if it was a full weld-in, only making the parts bolt, that allow it to get shoved into te truck!

I will reiterate

"Just because you have this cage, or any cage (WELDED OR NOT!!!!!!!), in a somewhat stock Raptor, doesn't mean you have a TROPHY TRUCK! You have to drive within your limits and the vehicles, and if your doing that, but you have an "oh shit" moment, this cage will protect you. If the day you get your 2013 and install this cage, then head straight to the desert for the first time ever and do 120, bad things are bound to happen."


Finally, everyone should get there engines welded onto the frame, there are literally only 2 bolts holding that damn thing in there, what the hell Ford!!! same with the whole suspension, and the cab only has 4 bolts holding it onto the frame!!! RPG, quit bolting on bump stops, start welding them! same with those Fox 3.0's weld those ******* in... come on what are you guys thinking!

I am quite certain, most people (including people in the know) will agree this cage is exremely well built, and is a good option for someone looking for a little added security, as well the abilty to run 4 or 5 point harnesses.


http://k-tbolt.com/bolt_chart.html

this shows the tensile of TIG filler metal
http://www.arc-zone.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8705

 

[Yukon Joe]

Regarding strength comparisons... some items to note...

grade 8 bolts are about 60% of the full tensile strength in sheer (150Ksi*.6=90Ksi)

1 inch of 1/8" weld has the tensile strength across it's affective area of (70ksi*1/8*.707=6.2ksi/inch)

so, about 14 inches of 1/8" fillet weld would be roughly equal to a grade 8 bolt

bolts can be strong and effective ways to fasten materials together.

---------- Post added at 10:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 PM ----------

The WSI cage uses special bolting connectors that are engineered to to be stronger than the base material it is welded to. When a cage is properly build and connected to the frame, it as effective as a permanently welded in cage. Remember this is for recreational use.

 

[MotuMute]

How many of you have rolled something besides a blunt haha?

When I turned 16 and had been driving for all of one week, I rolled the family car. Doing 80 mph like an idiot down our loose caliche road. But to me it seemed everyone drove fast on that road. It had just been graded to fill in the ruts after a big rain - was like driving on marbles. This pheasant started to run across the road, got halfway, then thought better and turned back. My sister in the front said "Don't hit the pheasant!" but the three guys in th back said "100 points if ya get him". That bird was fast and gone, but I swerved a little in that direction just to get a rise out of my sister. Absolutely had no experience so over-corrected on the swerve back, and just like that we were sideways. A few sideways over-corrections later - the right rear tire was dragging off the road and de-beaded from scraping the side of the bar-ditch. The rim dug in and just like that we were rolling. Over and over three times. Happened really fast but seemed like slow motion. Very surreal - almost like an out of body experience. Dirt, gravel, glass, two large exploding paper bags full of groceries, and of course a bunch of kids and the fear in our eyes - all suspended weightlessly for a split second each time the car rolled in the air before impacting again. Five screaming teenagers - none wearing seatbelts of course. No airbags. Just guardian angels.

Car almost came to a rest on its side then slowly keeled over onto its wheels. We were dazed, and looking around at each other - but pretty quickly got out because we had seen enough TV to know that sucker was gonna blow - but it didn't. Damage assessment: sister - deep bruising on her thighs from the dash, brother - broken collar bone, one buddy with a broken wrist, and one without a scratch because he was in the middle and wedged himself between the front seats. Me - black eye... probably from one of the coke or soup cans which beat the crap out of us. One totaled sedan with a long debris trail of glass and my brother's groceries. He had just gotten his first job and had bought a bunch of crap that he had been craving - so he's walking along picking it all up and mumbling "my cookies..." Somehow we all walked away from that wreck. Divine intervention? Some say so. Especially our parents at the time.

Fact is the roof did its job. Very well. And I have never been interested in convertibles after that experience. Did the freshly graded dirt road cushion the blows? No doubt that it helped. But also it was not like going over a cliff and landing upside down - smack on the roof. This was a HIGH speed rollover in the DIRT (the most likely scenario for Raptors bombing offroad). The vehicle did NOT cave the roof IN. It actually bent UP and OUT. Why? Because as it rolled, the sides were bashing inward - the car got narrower. This forced the roof to bend UPWARD.

I have done the bikes and quads and offroaded for 30 plus years. I have seen some really bad shit and I have had it happen to me. Lost a few buddies along the way because they had neither sense nor fear. I've always maintained a very healthy respect for toeing the line of what's possible, and had come through largely unscathed... except for my right femur which snapped in two places when I endo'd my last dirt bike. June 12, 1998. Will never forget that date. These are not groomed trails we are pussyfooting around on. Offroading is rough and tumble and unpredictable - except that shit can and will happen.

I understand the seriousness of the situation. I do not intend to kill my daily driver (nor myself either for that matter), however I will push it to its limits every time I hit the "Offroad Mode" button and delete traction control. I am not getting a cage because I'm worried about landing upside down and pancaking the roof - although that's a lesser possibility and I would rather have the roof hit the cage than my head. Having rolled before, I want SIDE protection as the vehicle is bashed inward on the sides. Could also easily slide sideways into some immovable object like a tree. RPG guys were happy they had side protection. I really want a harness to keep me securely strapped to the seat. I never want to bounce around in a rolling vehicle ever again. And having felt the spine pain of a sudden deceleration, I won't be wanting that experience again either.

We are not racing these trucks. We are doing what they were designed for. High speed offroading (very much within reason, and only after a thorough pre-run to mark badness of course). Which is the kind of offroading I happen to enjoy. Getting a cage is not going to make me go faster because it makes me feel more ballsy. I'm already doing that. Have been since I bought the truck. However I do have a wife and two kids, and a job to show up to on Monday, and just a lot more to live for than when I was a lone wolf.

 

[Raptizzle]

WSI's cage looks like a solid design and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product. As someone who just took on the task of having a full on race cage built, I look at products like this and ask myself, should I have went for a more simplified approach like this one? It's a tough call... My cage was no easy undertaking as I had orchestrated the entire project and am still working to button up a few items. It would have been nice to give the truck to a shop and let them take it from start to finish but you also pay a premium for that type of "concierge" service. I learned more about this truck than I cared to know but the satisfaction of getting it near completion is a good feeling. I think it's great that guys like wsi are designing safety products that will hopefully save our raptor brethren in the event someone puts themselves and their truck in a jeapordizing situation.

 

[Allied Offroad]

I'll post up good pics tonight of what I have so far, I really wanted to wait until it was completed so as not to give anyone the wrong idea of where i was headed, but i have enough of the main structure done, that it should give everyone the right impression.