Roll bars anyone?

[Truckstr]

I know that most people won't have any "use" for a roll bar, let alone a cage, in their street trucks. An "experience" a few years ago has me wondering, though.

An friend of a friend and some of his buddies were out one night and they ran off the road (yeah, drinking and driving - stupid, huh?). The truck landed upside down in a creek. It was a '70 model Chevy LWB if memory serves. The top was mashed flush with the hoodline. The driver and passenger in the cab were killed. Two riders in the back were thrown clear - hurt but living.

So, what about a roll cage? Maybe something similar to the NASCAR SuperTrucks style?

I don't really care for the big chrome roll bar in the bed. Maybe if it was an off-road 4X4, but that's not what I have.

I'm thinking of a 6 point or even 8 point cage with the portion of it that's in the cab being snug up against the inner sheet metal. The rear supports would, of course, have to come out through the cab and anchor to the frame in the bed. Any supports forward of the cab would have to anchor to the frame in the engine compartment.

Yeah, I know, tons of work and maybe not very "practical", but I'm interested in hearing about and/or seeing what others may have in their trucks (or have seen in others trucks).

These old trucks have plenty of sheet metal, but, let's face it, they don't offer a lot of protection in the case of an accident. I love my old trucks, but newer trucks (and cars) have anti-lock brakes (to help keep ya out of trouble) and lots of padding in the interior and air bags to deploy to protect the occupants.

What about it guys (and/or gals)? Let's see or hear about what ya got.

[Lippyp]

My 2 wheel drive 67 LWB has a stainless steel roll bar in the bed as fitted by the previous owner. I don't like it at all, it doesn't follow the outline of the cab, is too tall and seems to only be bolted to the bed floor so wouldn't do much in the event of a roll over anyway. I intend replacing it with a smaller frame mounted in the front stake pocket so that I can mount some spotlights on it. Some friends of mine gave me four big chrome Hella spots for my birthday so I need to put them somewhere!

At the moment a front sway bar would be a better buy for me in terms of preventing roll over! Be curious to see a proper rol cage though.

[fast_dev]

s&w makes roll cage kits for our trucks. Devin.

[Cheyenne Super]

I am building my truck for road racing. I am required to have a cage, not that I wouldn't any way. I am going to have a cage which will attach in 6 locations.
Inside the cab it will be your typical 4 point on the extreme outside of the interior, like mentioned earlier. The other two points will go through the window(lexan) down to the frame right over the axle.

On the underside of the cab there will be bars that go from the frame to where the cage mounts.

The reason for going through the window instead of the cab is to allow transformation back to full street truck if i ever want to.

[Truckstr]

Cheyenne Super,

That is almost exactly what I'm talking about. Are you fabbing the cage yourself or are you buying a pre-made one? I'd love to see some pics as you progress.

What are you doing with the suspension?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Cheyenne Super]

My garage is not yet complete and there are several tasks prior to building the cage.
To answer your question I am mocking up a cage with pvc pipe then I will take that to a local round track car builder to have him make all my "main" hoops and bends. Then I will put it in the truck myself.
For suspension I will probably use a bill turner setup. This will allow for coil overs and tubular a-arms and what ever front steer spindle i choose.
I have a lot more info on part to make a true road racer out of theses trucks, just e-mail or pm me if you have any other ?'s