Sinking Creek 4WD Association

So krantz's roll got me thinking about my cage. Specially having places to hold onto that won't get your hands crushed but more importantly my passenger's hands crushed since I have the steering wheel to hold onto.

Maybe a grab bar that is attached to the dash bar? But this would be a far reach for the passenger since I wouldn't want it too big that its in the way or having a risk of them hitting their head on it in case of an on road accident

Post up some ideas

Jwlman wrote:So krantz's roll got me thinking about my cage. Specially having places to hold onto that won't get your hands crushed but more importantly my passenger's hands crushed since I have the steering wheel to hold onto.

Maybe a grab bar that is attached to the dash bar? But this would be a far reach for the passenger since I wouldn't want it too big that its in the way or having a risk of them hitting their head on it in case of an on road accident

Post up some ideas

did you see those T bars that came out of the dash or floor on a lot of the buggies we passed? could do that and make it removable. Also could do your grab bar deal but smaller OD with legit padding (not foam or noodle stuff) so they could still get their hands around it.

In a rollover, you probably cannot, or should not, hold onto the steering wheel. You could get hurt when the tires hit ground and the steering whips around.

Steinberg wrote:In a rollover, you probably cannot, or should not, hold onto the steering wheel. You could get hurt when the tires hit ground and the steering whips around.

I'd rather my hands be there than be inclined to grab the cage. Yes it can whip around; and in off highway driving you're not advised to have your fingers through the steering wheel (I don't). But when I get puckered, I make sure to get both hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel. When your hands are on the wheel they are the farthest from potential pinch-points in a rollover.

If you've got no "oh-shit" handles and are strapped in, cross your arms and hold on tight. grabbing your shirt/jacket or shritsleeves near your shoulders will keep your hands and arms out of harm's way. if the truck's started rolling, there's absolutely nothing you can do till it stops, you're just along for the ride - so no need to even touch the steering wheel, shifters or pedals. a good 4 or 5 point harness will give you two hand holds right near your armpits, too.

Clay is def right, if you try to support yourself and stay planted in your seat you have a good chance of causing some type of arm/shoulder injury on top of anything else.

As far as a hairy obstacle or something for a passenger to hold onto, I took apart one of those razor scooters that used to be huge, the neck of them is adjustable so you can push in the handle bars when cruising and pull them out and lock into place whenever your passenger would want. I very much dislike bars stuck out towards the passenger that are just welded pipe because of any impact where forward progress is stopped thats just begging to nail your passenger in the chest/or something they could hit thier head on.

Leach wrote:Clay is def right, if you try to support yourself and stay planted in your seat you have a good chance of causing some type of arm/shoulder injury on top of anything else.

As far as a hairy obstacle or something for a passenger to hold onto, I took apart one of those razor scooters that used to be huge, the neck of them is adjustable so you can push in the handle bars when cruising and pull them out and lock into place whenever your passenger would want. I very much dislike bars stuck out towards the passenger that are just welded pipe because of any impact where forward progress is stopped thats just begging to nail your passenger in the chest/or something they could hit thier head on.

x2

i see those things in alot of buggy builds and never really understood the reasoning behind them.

james just go back up to mountain lake and practice rolling your jeep on flat ground without grabbing anything with your hands

BadNewsCJ wrote:

Leach wrote:Clay is def right, if you try to support yourself and stay planted in your seat you have a good chance of causing some type of arm/shoulder injury on top of anything else.

As far as a hairy obstacle or something for a passenger to hold onto, I took apart one of those razor scooters that used to be huge, the neck of them is adjustable so you can push in the handle bars when cruising and pull them out and lock into place whenever your passenger would want. I very much dislike bars stuck out towards the passenger that are just welded pipe because of any impact where forward progress is stopped thats just begging to nail your passenger in the chest/or something they could hit thier head on.

x2

i see those things in alot of buggy builds and never really understood the reasoning behind them.

james just go back up to mountain lake and practice rolling your jeep on flat ground without grabbing anything with your hands

they have multi-point harnesses though, and just serve to keep your arms and hands from flailing, not to brace.

i think grabbing your harness in a rollover is best, but trying to grab it during one of those "holy tarp i was upright 2 seconds ago and now im seeing sky" kind of rollover might be a little difficult.

here is the idea i had ... not sure if it would work or not ...


take some of these "rollbar oh tarp handles" and put on on each shoulder strap ...

they should be loose enough to easily grab and find in a hurry for one of those aforementioned situations ... though they might be annoying if they are bulky or have a buckle on the back of them

a couple more thoughts:

I bugged my dad (a retired navy pilot and currently a captain on boeing 777's... sweeeeet) he mentioned that most oh shit handles in aircraft are primarily there to hold onto when you punch out - little different circumstances, but most are either between your legs, or beside your hips. seems to me if there were a way to (securely) sew in a couple grab handles beside your thighs, and one between your legs, you could keep your arms awway from the no-no spots. this'd prolly be better for passengers, too.

Just to let you know a grab handle is what got me in trouble. I had a grab handle in the center roof support and used it for a couple of trips and liked having it there. But it looked like it could cause a head injury in a violent roll so I took it out before Harlan but my brain had already been programmed to reach for it leaving me where I am today. When and I design another cage I will use some sort of plate or metal mesh on the roof to prevent this and probably nets by the doors. Its easy to know what to do in a roll but can be hard to do it when the time comes.

I put a handle similar to this grab handle on the floor next to the drivers seat. i use it when wheelin without doors, so if i lean out to see an obsticle i have a place to put my hand, instead of grabbing the rocker panel. might be kinda tough to reach with the doors on in a roll, but something similar could be attached to the side of the seat with a bracket.
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magic flight launch box

4runner wrote:I put a handle similar to this grab handle on the floor next to the drivers seat. i use it when wheelin without doors, so if i lean out to see an obsticle i have a place to put my hand, instead of grabbing the rocker panel. might be kinda tough to reach with the doors on in a roll, but something similar could be attached to the side of the seat with a bracket.

I'm just being partial to myself but again you're putting a limb in a potential pinch point if you go high on the cage or towards the outside of the vehicle (especially with no doors). Seems to me you'd want something like clay (is that your name yotacowboy?, think I've met you before) suggested between your legs, or inside or towards the dash. Not to pick on ya james, but it seems that in a quick incident if you went for your inboard upper handles, you run the risk of missing and grabbing the bar.

Now before I start sounding like a dick I will say that in a roll-over who the hell knows what will happen, or how fast you will think, nothing is known for sure.

james, idea; set that bender up and see if you can run a vert from either side of the the tranny hump to the dash bar and put a handle on it?

I like the idea of a soft grab handle between the legs and on the shoulders of the harness (as soon as I get some) the best. I don't mind cutting a hole in my crappy ass seats for now to add a grab loop.


Definitely setting up the bender soon. I need to add more bars to my cage anyways