Thread: SD Roll Cage

Thanks for posting the pucs.

I'm considering buying the same type for my Puma and have a few questions if you dont mind.

Have you noticed any increased noise when at highway speed?
Have you noticed any change in fuel usage?
Does the car handle different now?

Matt

When I bought my Defender, I got the OEM full length roof rack with a few days, so I can only compare it to that. Kind of hard to tell if it is noisier, but my roof rack is quieter than the OEM on I used to have. The body seems is a lot stiffer, so a lot less rattles

I can't say much about fuel consumption, seems about the same as with the OEM roof rack on, I did notice a drop in fuel consumption taking the roof rack off when I was driving it around before the cage was fitted. As soon as I had the cage fitted, the next day I fitted my roof rack.

It is a lot stiffer, and feels more solid. On heavy corrugations, my front door used to hit the a pillar, took the paint off. Now the doors hardly move at all. On a trip up to Cape York on bad corrugations, we had the B pillar trim fall off, the plastic clips breaks etc. On our lap around Australia, none of that happened and we had about double the load on the roof when on the Anne Beadell with 75litres of extra fuel on top.

Most important is the wife is much happier in it, feels a lot safer having something to offer a bit a protection than just a little bit of cast aluminium.

Thanks for those pics very useful to those of us contemplating a cage - is there any chance of one showing the intrusion into the rear cargo area at the back, or do the brackets going to the cross member jusy sit in behind the speaker panel?

Ian, what does the part of the cage around the windscreen bolt too and do you just cut through the panelling to get to attach it? Also the cage obviously stiffens the car up so how does it allow the car to flex appropriately? I only ask because I had a custom cage made and they were adamant that not all points should connect to the chassis or the car wouldn't be able to flex as it's intended.
I was hesitant to follow this advice but once I understood the design I was put at ease.

I really wanted to go for the SD cage but the unknown with NSW regulations forced me towards getting one built locally.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by voltron

I really wanted to go for the SD cage but the unknown with NSW regulations forced me towards getting one built locally.

Cheers.

I read somewhere on here that they can be classified as a roof rack, thus avoiding the whole roll cage requirements.

Originally Posted by Drover

I read somewhere on here that they can be classified as a roof rack, thus avoiding the whole roll cage requirements.

Leave out the internal braces and you should be good to go - no different to most of the Jeep Wrangler racks.

The cage is attached to the chassis at 6 points, inside the front wings is a substantial bit of bracing that goes down to the chassis as well. There is nothing of any strength in an aluminium wing or floor, so if it was not mounted on the chassis, there would be no point at all. There are six cut outs in the wings/body. SD even have the instruction online if you want to see how it goes together.
http://www.safetydevices.com/uploads/rollcage/290.pdf

I left out the internal hoop that attaches at the seat belt mounts and goes through the roof to the cage as fitting that would make it a "Roll Cage" and require engineering etc, not impossible to get and maybe I will fit it one day , but the six point cage is TUV approved. It is classfied as a roof rack here in QLD, and has an added benefit of maybe being a roll cage

As far as "letting it flex" theory, sorry but that sounds like BS, a Defender not a is truck with a flexible chassis, I have one of those and there are huge differences. The body is rigidly mounted to the frame, not three point pivots or springs so any flexing would destroy the body. I would rather trust the Safety Devices engineering who have been building these cages for years, built them for the Camel trophy, have TUV approval etc.

Safety Devices » Safety Devices Land Rover roll cages gain German TUV approval » News Article

I have the equipment and skills to build my own roll cage, it would have been a lot cheaper but I went with the SD cage as it is properly engineered and tested.

To get around the "Engineering" I was thinking of making a rather substantial cargo barrier just behind the front seat when we are in touring mode after all, they don't seem to need approval