exo design

[saffrett]

im am looking in to building an exo and i had a few questions that someone on here might be able to plz answer.
1:does any one know if u can use an exo in comps or do u have to have internal cage . i dont want to do any think realy out there just small club comps and the fun ones

2:would it be better for the up rights to go straight up and down or to tilt in a bit at the top to bring the tops closer to the body but still allow the bottom to sit on my side steps

3: the centre one i want to lean back so that the top is behind the hoop so i could run the cross brace down to the chassis would this be stong enough or will it not be as strong if it is leaning back

[Gwagensteve]

IMHO there's only one way of running the front legs of an exo and not loosing capability, like this:

this is from pirate.

It finished up looking like this, so the stock guard could go back on.



As for legality, check the regs for what you want to do with the car

Personally, for the rear section, I'd look at the defender guys - they often run through the cab roof or soft top behind the b pillar and then to a conventional 4 point cage behind the seats.

Adding 6" of width to the car right down at the sills with a conventional exo just seems dumb to me.

Steve.

[Rotazuk]

This is what I did to my 413 , the cage runs down the front inside but is straight so its outside the top of the windscreen thus protected in a roll .



It saves the screen in a roll but keeps the side of the vehicle clean for rubbing along side banks etc , no branches can get caught between the cage and body etc .

this is what it looked like after a 4 times roll of the side of a farm track .



a bit of front panel damage , not windscreen still fine . So now it looks like this .



Must get some new shots , the front bar has been changed to suit the lj front end now .

Cheers

Chris

[redzook]

IMHO there's only one way of running the front legs of an exo and not loosing capability,



Steve.

depends on what and how hard you wheel

an exo is ment to be designed to save panels

if i took that thing on tracks my old zuk used to drive it would rip off the front quarters down to the tube and trash the door and b pillar

wich defeats the purpose of an exo

but that sort maybe ok if u just rub your roof on trees and slide on muddy banks

[waxhead..]

agreed. My exo is there to keep my panels as strait as possible, and to save me in a roll. I have had three different exo's on my sierra and made two for my brothers. Have never on any occassion had an issue with branches (of any structure) coming between the cage and the panels.
Here are a couple of simple cages for this purpose...

[joshnz1]

rite on redzook,that first exo is crap protects hardly anything,if i new how to post pics id put mine up,i have alot of panals protected and still do big carnage,its all on what u drive and no pussy steppin around

[sierrajim]

Yes, it makes the car wider. However it's designed to save panels. Theres lots of things you look at driving and think "it's going to leave a mark, should i or shouldn't i?"

With an Exo, you can have a crack without being too worried about smashing your car to bits.

Without an exo you either don't have a go or you end up with a car that looks like Tim Hardy's.

That said, an Exo on a daily driver or even regularly street driven car. No way, too much attention from Mr Plod for me.

[fool_injected]

IMHO there's only one way of running the front legs of an exo and not loosing capability, like this:


Steve.

And you get upper shock mounts too,,,two birds with one stone

[Rotazuk]

Yeh , guess thats were ther different terain comes in . We are often pushing through scrub even with a narrow vehicle .

Even so the pic of the black zuk and the blue/orange ones , they have no front or rear 1/4 panel protection and look ok . With the tyres sticking out from the body not much can touch the side of the zuk before it hits the top or the bar . One thing I don't have ( but no need as I don't do rock work , nothing over here ) is sill bars . This would stop any damage from a tree or rock that you may drop it on between the wheels .

Also I dont thing or winch comp rule exclude exo cages , although have not looked at the latest as don't compete in that , only club stuff .

Chris

[saffrett]

ok i was thinking something similar to the blue one but there will be a back hoop as well and i wanted to lean the centre one back so i could get the top behind the hoop so i can run diaginals to the chassis and a harness bar and maybe some from the top of the middel down to the back as well
the rear quater will be similar to the front

if anyone askes there roor racks to carry my kayak or a ladder if i take it to work

[waxhead..]

this is two ways of how I cross braced one of my previous cages, with a bend in the legs of the b-pillar hoop.
Hope this helps.
In a few rolls this bend was never a strength issue.







I have been pulled up by police with this cage on and was only asked to get flares which fully covered my tyres, my 'roof rack' didn't get mentioned.

This one sort of shows how the back of my brother's cage is done.



And this is to show that you don't need a bender to make a very ugly exo.
(But it did work very well).



I have done my current cage differently, but do not have a pic. It link to the rear bar and wraps around the whole rear, also with diagonals off the b-pillar hoop.

[Gwagensteve]

I agree it's horses for courses - In vic, having decent (WT+ rims) track width generally takes care of keeping the panels off of stuff but our ruts are soooo deep that anything like a side rail will stop you.

I agree that with non suzuki diffs (lots of width) a side rail design can work as the track width prevent the rails being a problem.

Having said that, IMHO I don't like the look of an exo running down the side of the car - to me, they look like ladder racks. Happy to admit that's just personal opinion though.

Steve.

[saffrett]

ladder racks were there second use any way and if the cops ask there only use lol

[suzuki boy]

I'm with Gwagen if i had an exo i would be hung up on every thing going!

The ruts over here are ussually deep and mine being a narrow track is in one rut out of the other and scraping along the bank!

If you look at my car the cunstom pinstripes are all over it!