[2041]

Not sure how big these pics will post but...

My son built the exocage on this XJ. Don't know the details but the guy got in trouble on the road and rolled it hard. The cage held up really well (not even finished) and kept the roof up. The Jeep is junked, all twisted and bent up.

He's pretty proud of the welds, they all held.

 

[2041]

Another

 

[2041]

Another one

 

[2041]

Last one. He says it's a pretty built up Jeep, 37s..

 

[CTBrent]

I can't figure how that hatch held that tire on there... that's testing the limits I guess. Luckily there is a ton of XJ's on the street to tranfer the parts over too...

 

[1339]

Toyguy, can you try to get some additional info? how it happened? how fast? simple roll? multiple rolls?
Be interesting to see how hard "hard" is, compared to the damages,

 

[DaveAZ]

I want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers. My son and I are
both home from the hospital and doing well. The kids tougher than nails for
a 5 year old (all the attention from the nurses probably helped him out a
little...he had them wrapped around his finger ). He got banged around a
bit and will be sore, but no major damage thank god. I credit PigPen (Jason
Swaggert) Fabrication and Dave King for saving our lives...even though the
Exo Cage wasnt completely done, we would have been gonners for sure without
it. We rolled at least 4 times at 50mph. The cage held up and protected my
son and I. I cant begin to think of what we and the jeep would have looked
like without it. I have always said that my timing in life has always been
"off", but timing on the cage was just right. The cage was put on literally
2 days before the accident. Someone was looking out for us. I cracked a
vertabrae in my back and have a peice of bone floating around that will
probably bother me somewhat for the rest of my life, but I am happy to be
around to talk about it. My neck is swollen up real good so they have me in
a neck brace for a couple of weeks until the swelling can go down enough to
head back to the hospital for some more tests to make sure there isnt any
tendon or nerve damage. We will both be fine.

I want to thank everyone who called and left messages, emailed us, posted
thoughts and prayers on the boards, offered to help, and came to the
hospital to see us. I especially want to thank Frog (Brandon Reid) for
rushing out to the accident scene and taking care of my jeep, making very
important calls to special people in my life that were worried about us and
couldnt be there, and everything else you did. All you guys and gals are
great and I am proud to call you my friends. Thank You.

BTW, the nurses got a kick out of the glove balloons that said stuff like
"its a jeep thing, I dont understand" and "Exo roll cages for sale call pig
pen fabrication. Frank tested and approved" . And I admit I got a little
scared when one of the nurses called to double check on the white board
instructions that said full rectal exam (Flexy I am gonna get you back for
that one :->)

As for the BadAzXJ, The jeeps a total loss. But thats irrelevant. The
important thing is that we are ok and my son can still make it to school for
his christmas party this week

Thank you and I hope you have a happy and safe holiday season....

oh yeah....wear your seatbelts!

Frank

http://groups.msn.com/badazxj/rollover.msnw
You can really see how the cage saved us in some of the pictures.

Dave King

 

[DaveAZ]

btw.....Frank was t-boned by a guy that ran a stop sign....

 

[purevil71]

Frank,
Glad the cage done it's job and that you and your son are all right!

 

[2041]

In reply to:

credit PigPen (Jason Swaggert) Fabrication and Dave King for saving our lives

[/ QUOTE ]

That's my boy

Frank, I never met you but I'm glad you and your boy are gonna be OK, and I'm pretty proud my son's work helped you out.

I think if there's any lesson to be learned in this accident it could be this:

We can suddenly get in big trouble through no fault of our own.

and

If you're gonna drive a big lift/big tired rig on the steet you should really think about protection for you and passengers, even if you never crawl. Not because you'd do something wrong. Frank was just driving along and got hit and over it goes. Don't want to start a discussion about whether a stock XJ would have rolled in this case or not but there's no doubt raising anything a foot or more has to change it's rollover dynamics. Better safe than sorry and besides an exocage or full internal cage looks so cool.

Now how's PigPen(gotta ask about that....) gonna build me one when he's in AZ and I'm in PA?

 

[1438]

In reply to:

Don't want to start a discussion about whether a stock XJ would have rolled in this case or not but

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh.. discussion started, sorry. I guarantee you a stock xj would have rolled, g-u-a-r-a-n-t-e-e-d. The impact would have sent him sideways, very likely rotating him beyond sideways. Heck, I saw a stock xj flip going sideways at about 30-35 MPH, no external forces, just a car theif trying to get away from the cops by doing a 'Rockford' turn.

You are absolutely right about the extra protection. But if you get just about any van, mini van, pickup or SUV sideways at a moderate to high speed, plan on it going over. Just the week before last I investigated an accident where a stock Sequoia rolled. It never left the pavement and was about 35 MPH or less when impacted from the side.

The point I'm trying to make is don't think for a second that injuries may have been worsened because it was lifted. It WAS going over, stock or lifted -- period. I can't tell for sure from the pictures, but I see an impression on the bottom of the right side doors that may have been from the impact. If that is the case, thank God you were lifted and took the impact at the bottom of the doors where the rig's reinforced and not right in the middle of the doors. THAT would have been worse and may have really put a damper on someone's Christmas party.

I'm glad it wasn't worse -- it could have been. Best wishes for speedy recovery.

WB

 

[2041]

WB- You obviously see/investigate accidents on a daily basis..are you saying that in your experience an XJ with a 10 inch lift and 37s is no more likely to go over than a stock one? Or that it's going over anyway and lifted doesn't change anything...your firsthand experience carries more weight than a whole lot of "I thinks".

The way Jason explained the wreck to me shortly after it happened was Frank had time to start a swerve and clipped the front of the other car with his tire. Dave said T-bone so maybe one of them can explain further since this is of great interest to all of us.

One thing we all could do to be better prepared is anytime you make a mod that may change the handling of your truck take it to a parking lot for a few minutes and get a feel for what it'll do in a hard swerve or panic braking.

Good discussion

 

[DaveAZ]

well, Frank had a heavy duty nerf bar , the other car hit him somewhere on the driver's side to spin his heep 3/4 turn counter clockwise....then the rear driver's tire dug in and caused him to roll 3 or 4 times

 

[Sarge]

All I can say is OUCH!! Glad the XJ took the hit and not the passengers . Hope for a speedy recovery....
Sarge

 

[1339]

Toyguy, WB is right, a vehicle hit as described is almost a certainty to go over. A Guy that worked for me
inadvertantly ran a red and hit a welding truck. One ton or better, flat bed, a huge lincoln gas driven
welder stradleing the front of the bed, you know heavy... He hit it with a datsun mini pickup, with a bed
full of sand. Both went over and both were totaled. And this was on a city street, neither going more than
maybe 35, more likely 25. He was lucky to have survived. at 50+ like this one, it would be the exception
not to flip.

 

[1438]

In reply to:

...are you saying that in your experience an XJ with a 10 inch lift and 37s is no more likely to go over than a stock one...

[/ QUOTE ]

No, not saying that. Of course the higher the center of gravity the more likely you are to roll (wheel base and a few other variables not considered).

In reply to:

Or that it's going over anyway and lifted doesn't change anything...

[/ QUOTE ]

Under those conditions, absolutely correct.

WB

 

[zukinut]

This may be irrelevant, but. In the back of the xj theres a tank of somekind. Even non flammable stuff can "blow" up, right. Im grateful that you and your son are ok. The first time i flipped my samurai we did 3 rollovers and a full endo and landed on the drivers side. Nobody had seatbelts on and there was 3 of us. Nobody got hurt. Not braggin jus tryin to say that GOD is greater than us and is fully in charge.

 

[Guest]

WHatta ya mean a total loss!!! Id say its broken in just about right and ready for trail use now.
Hey glad ya guys are ok though


I was going to add.. discussion about the "if it wasnt lifted" is irrelevant. You cannont say if this wasnt or was ever. The only way to be safe would be never drive. So it rolled, it most likey would have anyway. And whos to say since he was lifted and it rolled it probably saved them from direct impact on the side and might have actuly saved there life. Not saying it did or didnt. But you dont calculate a crash, who knows whats goign to hit you and were. Just put on your seatbelt and hope it doesnt happen

 

[Bill4rest]

Good to hear everyone is in good shape. Good job on the cage! Whatever happened to the dip that hit them?

 

[krabysniper]

Late to the action I guess but I don't normaly nose around to many of the other boards, Really glad to hear ya'll are doing ok after such a hit.

Also wanted to get into the fray about safety and jeep XJ's in general. If you refer to this link ----> truly wrecked xj you will note that there were 2 people in this jeep, one in the passenger seat was a 15 year old and my brother was driving. You will also take note that they were not wearing seat belts and as a pure matter of fact the 15 year old would not be here today if he had been. I am not promoting not wearing a seat belt, I due 99% of the time, just saying that sometimes they could be fatal, it is just a question of "is it your time?".
Also wanted to mention that I have seen a lot of wrecked XJ's. For the very fact that they are short wheel base, narrow trac width, high cog, the engineers threw in a little extra in the roof supports, I have seen very few with the roofs flattened, not that it dosn't or can't just not often, they are fairly well built vehicles, IMO