Ro
Ed Sorbo wrote:I'm starting on my first Lemons Car. I have some cage experience. I'm a good fabricator and welder. I'm looking for advice on weld in Roll Cage Kits. They look like an easy way to save time and mess but there are many brands. Have you used any? Do you know what brands are best? Or are they all BS and I'll be better off buying extra tubing and learning where to make the bends?
Thank you,
Ed
Roll Cage Components is the only one we would use (I think 5 cages now). Too many of all the others are one of the following:
Made for install with the interior still in (do not leave enought room for "expansive" drivers...tall, wide or both)
Are not really made for your car...generic kit sold as a custom kit because they adjusted the main hoop and halo width
Do not actuall meet all the rquirements in the rules and "How not to Fail Tech".
A large, local'ish to us company is probably the most notorious for the first issue and many a team have gotten the dreaded "We will let you run this race after you do XYZ but do not bring it back with that cage".
So a prebent kit from RCR is only as accurate as your measurements if Jim does not have it in his database already. Opt of rhte 1 3/4" tube regardless of if you need it as the difference in price is minimal and I also suggest the .120 thickness as then tube and spreader are the same thickness making welding "easy". For our last two cages from him, the cost difference with it delivered to local freight dock was about $75 more than us buying all the materials bare at our price (aka, no bulk discounts).
You do need to add at least a month onto his promised delivery date, call him on the promised ship date to ask for an update, then call him on the new promised ship date, etc. Excellent cage fabricator but since he prioritizes those that have him install the cages in his shop...his promise dates are always optimistic.
FYI, you still need a notcher, welding skills and time to install it...it is not pre-fab, it is pre-bent and 75% pre-notched.