New Maverick X3 roll cage

[Zambo]

So I just looked at one of these things at the bike shop today and man what a nice looking piece of gear. Anyway, as I was checking it out I asked the salesman about the cage and me mentioned that since it is hardened and welded to the frame you can race with it. Any truth to this? Does it need to be cut off and replaced or maybe just gusseted or could it really be good to go right off the floor? I know very little about these UTVs but I'm starting to get an itch to buy one.

 

[NIKAL]

It depends on the series. The stock cage would be legal to race at a D38 UTV race in Plaster City, as they have a full stock class, where the stock cage (even bolt on) and fuel tank are legal to run. An aftermarket cage is highly recommended, but not required for D38. If you run their open unlimited class, then the stock cage is not legal.

With Score or BITD you would need to replace the cage with one built of DOM or Chromoly 1.5 X .095. Also it can not be a bolt on cage, the main 6 points of the cage must be welded to the main chassis. In regards to the stock X3 cage, I'm sure its not built of DOM or better, and I would suspect the wall thickness to be thinner then .095. Also you would still need to add additional tubes like the diagonal in the B pillar, corner gussets in the upper windshield area, Door bars, bumpers etc..

 

[Zambo]

Thanks NIKAL.

Yeah here is the stock cage from the website. It is make of 980 DP, which is what passenger car and truck "cage" areas are made of (A and B pillar).

I believe from asking around that the tubing is 1 7/8 diameter and .083 wall. While the wall thickness isn't .090, I'd bet that tubing size in the same material is quite a bit stronger than if it were 1.5" .090. And unlike UTVs have been sold previously, this is welded not bolted to the chassis. Obviously this needs door bars and other triangulation added front and back to be strong enough to race but that is just geometry rather than material.

Are BITD tubing requirements mandatory these days? I seem to remember them being advisory? In any event you have to cut and weld somewhere and not being much of a metallurgist I'm guessing that tig process will join chromoly to this stuff well enough to pass muster.

I guess the point being is that finding easier ways to get from the showroom to the track is always in the interest of the racer as long as safety isn't compromised.

 

[Zambo]

Talked to Chad at Cagewrx and they should have a DIY cage kit ready for the X3 sometime around the New Year. I guess the standard for these UTV cages is that its really just a top half cage that bolts/welds to the stock structure right around the body line.

 

[JoeyD23]

Talked to Chad at Cagewrx and they should have a DIY cage kit ready for the X3 sometime around the New Year. I guess the standard for these UTV cages is that its really just a top half cage that bolts/welds to the stock structure right around the body line.

Correct.

By the time you added all the lacing and bracing on a stock X3 and added doors, etc etc you may as well have built a full new cage anyway for desert racing. But I don't think a stock one would pass tech at BITD and for sure not at SCORE. But at BITD, with the tech-director being a factory backed Can-Am racer you may have a shot.. lol

 

[neneossa]

The OEM cage is built in "dual phase 980" with 600 MPa of yield strength but it is a real poop, is a very weak cage. The last weekend, during a race, one of them rolled forward after falling a few meters on a sand dune. The cage was seriously deformed striking the driver's head and reaching his shoulders breaking his bones.
I stopped immediately to help the driver. When I was near to the UTV, it smelled like there was a leak of fuel while the driver was trapped in the deformed cage, that was awful.
He told me that the rollover was not strong but all of his injuries was due to the cage.

 

[pdailey]

CageWRX has their Can Am cage ready and are starting to make them. First thing I'd do if I bought the new Can Am.

 

[Zambo]

Yeah I talked to Chad a couple days ago. Its the only one that doesn't wrap all the way around the back, which I like. I wish someone made a chromoly one though. I don't think any of the companies that are making cages use chromoly.

The OEM cage is built in "dual phase 980" with 600 MPa of yield strength but it is a real ****, is a very weak cage. The last weekend, during a race, one of them rolled forward after falling a few meters on a sand dune. The cage was seriously deformed striking the driver's head and reaching his shoulders breaking his bones.
I stopped immediately to help the driver. When I was near to the UTV, it smelled like there was a leak of fuel while the driver was trapped in the deformed cage, that was awful.
He told me that the rollover was not strong but all of his injuries was due to the cage.

Interesting. I have a good buddy who rolled his sideways down a dune, it went over twice and landed on its lid and had absolutely zero damage. We flipped it over and kept riding.

 

[harleys dad]

The OEM cage is built in "dual phase 980" with 600 MPa of yield strength but it is a real ****, is a very weak cage. The last weekend, during a race, one of them rolled forward after falling a few meters on a sand dune. The cage was seriously deformed striking the driver's head and reaching his shoulders breaking his bones.
just sitting in it
He told me that the rollover was not strong but all of his injuries was due to the cage.

I sat in one of these and really looked at the cage? if you want to call it that it looked scary

 

[NIKAL]

Zambo, check out Fabwerx's 818-438-0791.

Fabwerx's built Marc Burnett's Can Am race car and are in the process of building a TT quality suspension kit. The rear trailing arms look killer! Thad makes a nice recreational cage with a rear bumper like your looking for. Thad also build his cages from chromolly. Here is his recreational cage. Cody Currie raced the KOTH this year with Fabwerx's Rec cage.

 

[Zambo]

Nice looking stuff. I wonder how much those trailing arms weigh?

 

[Fourstroker]

Like that Fabwerx cage a lot. Makes that car look stout.

 

[JoeyD23]

You really need a cage that wraps around the back with a Can-Am. That rear down tube that goes to the back of the vehicle on the stock cage is mounted to PLASTIC. Its essentially there for esthetics and has very little to no structural benefit. Taking it back and around to the lower portion of the chassis is probably the way to go. So far I really like the cage designs from CageWRX, Fabwerx, SDR and Magnum Off-Road.

 

[Zambo]

The aft tube just holds the bed up. It isn't part of the cage. The part that's going to protect your melon in the B pillar hoop right behind your head. The weakest part of the design is simply no vertical support at the a pillar iMO. All those deigns that wrap around the back just land on the radius rod plate, not the cage.


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[B and R Buggie]

This is the Cagewrx cage that we just installed on our X3

 

[harleys dad]

I have a Cagewrx race cage on my rzr 4 seat and they make very nice stuff, looks great on the Can am

 

[harleys dad]

Zambo, check out Fabwerx's 818-438-0791.

Fabwerx's built Marc Burnett's Can Am race car and are in the process of building a TT quality suspension kit. The rear trailing arms look killer! Thad makes a nice recreational cage with a rear bumper like your looking for. Thad also build his cages from chromolly. Here is his recreational cage. Cody Currie raced the KOTH this year with Fabwerx's Rec cage.
View attachment 178528

this one looks fantastic