Rockhard4x4 cage

[rtguy1]

Ordered a full cage for my 2door forever ago. Rockhard sent me the front cage but managed to leave out the rear sections. It took two weeks for the first half to arrive, and another two for the rear sections. I opened the front up and was not impressed with the quality. The welds are poor with spatter all over. It was acceptable, but nothing like a poison spyder or evo weld. I finally opened the rear pieces today and will be seeking a replacement of the rear center bars from rockhard. The welds are really bad, and to top it off it sounds like there is a marble in one of the tubes:cheesy: upon accel and decel it is gonna roll around in there. It's not a tiny piece of metal in there either, it large and loud. There is no way to access it as it is completely sealed. I thought about drilling a hole and shooting some spray foam in there then plug welding it, but I'm gonna talk to rockhard first. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on this as for what to expect. From what I have heard today I'm not the only one who has had is issue. Jake at evo said his was similar with a chunk in the dash bar. It wound roll around upon turning....lol Here's a few crappy pics of a the welds that are poor and in some cases incomplete. This is the rear center bar only shown. Maybe I'm just used to higher quality products and welds, like the ones all over my rig from evo.:idontknow:


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[BlackKnight]

Wow!!! I've only welded like twice and my welds are better. WTF were they thinking?? They musta been out of stock with everyone on Vacation, and had the secretary put a set together for you...

I'd send them back and ask if they accidently sent the ones that they were using for training new employees how to weld. They are worse than first timers welds...

 

[JHP81]

That's nasty.

 

[rtguy1]

Here's what I emailed them just now


Hello James:

I received the rear section of my cage and took a look at it today. I am not pleased with the rear center bar section. The welds on the entire cage wer not great, but ok and acceptable. The welds on the rear section are very poor however. There is an obvious difference between the pieces and quality throughout. Another issue I have is that there seems to be a large piece of metal rolling around inside the rear center tubing. It's not small. I have a tiny piece in one of the other tubes but it is not really a big deal. This one however is noisy and will be noticed while accelerating and braking. The bar runs parallel to the vehicle so it will be an issue. I've attached some pics of some of the welds on the center bars. You can see that some of them are incomplete. The marble inside the tube is however the deal breaker here. I have too much invested in my rig to accept this piece. Please let me know how we can get this rear center bar section for my 2door replaced with a more acceptable piece.




I will let you know what happens

 

[ttfhell]

Was thinking about buying one of these as the Poison Spyder seems quite a bit more involved on the install. Waiting.


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[silverbackjk]

That sucks it was on my list soon

 

[wayoflife]

I have to say, Rock Hard's welds aren't always the prettiest but, everything I've gotten from them in the past at least looked thorough and strong. Looking at your pics, I wouldn't be too happy about them either. I have found the original owner, Louis to be a great guy to work with and I hope his son, the new owner will take care of you too.

Regarding the PS cage, I would get an OR-FAB over it.

 

[daveroberts]

I have one of the first two cages shipped from Poison Spyder for the 2012-13 JK's. They warned me over and over that it was a prototype and had not been fully developed. It fit perfectly! I particularly like the the way their cage is built. Nothing clamping on to tubes to create potential weak spots by inadvertently crimping the roll bar tubes. In my opinion it is best engineered and built bolt in cage available. Granted it's not easy and it takes some time to install but its well worth it to me and my wife if ever comes the time to need it. Just my two cents.....:twocents:

 

[wayoflife]

I have one of the first two cages shipped from Poison Spyder for the 2012-13 JK's. They warned me over and over that it was a prototype and had not been fully developed. It fit perfectly! I particularly like the the way their cage is built. Nothing clamping on to tubes to create potential weak spots by inadvertently crimping the roll bar tubes. In my opinion it is best engineered and built bolt in cage available. Granted it's not easy and it takes some time to install but its well worth it to me and my wife if ever comes the time to need it. Just my two cents.....:twocents:

I have seen or, should I say "heard" the PS cages to be really noisy. Do you not have any problems with this?

 

[ttfhell]

I have one of the first two cages shipped from Poison Spyder for the 2012-13 JK's. They warned me over and over that it was a prototype and had not been fully developed. It fit perfectly! I particularly like the the way their cage is built. Nothing clamping on to tubes to create potential weak spots by inadvertently crimping the roll bar tubes. In my opinion it is best engineered and built bolt in cage available. Granted it's not easy and it takes some time to install but its well worth it to me and my wife if ever comes the time to need it. Just my two cents.....:twocents:

About how long did it take to install?
Thx


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[rtguy1]

I have seen or, should I say "heard" the PS cages to be really noisy. Do you not have any problems with this?

no personal experience with this but I have heard the same thing from several other sources regarding the psc cages

 

[wayoflife]

no personal experience with this but I have heard the same thing from several other sources regarding the psc cages

What you hear is all true. The cage looks great but does not have anything securing it to the windshield. This allows for movement and a lot of noise. I had seriously considered installing one so that I would have experience with it as well but, decided against it after seeing/hearing the noise it makes. I know there are some that have rigged up fixes for it but, I didn't want to have to deal with it. I have seen Jeeps with Rock Hard cages roll multiple times and keep the occupants safe and I based on that, I trust them enough to run them in my Jeeps.

 

[rtguy1]

What you hear is all true. The cage looks great but does not have anything securing it to the windshield. This allows for movement and a lot of noise. I had seriously considered installing one so that I would have experience with it as well but, decided against it after seeing/hearing the noise it makes. I know there are some that have rigged up fixes for it but, I didn't want to have to deal with it. I have seen Jeeps with Rock Hard cages roll multiple times and keep the occupants safe and I based on that, I trust them enough to run them in my Jeeps.

I like the rest of my cage and all the ones I have seen in person. Hopefully they will simply swap this shotty rear piece for a new one and all will be well. Def not throwing in the towel yet. I kinda like the big knarly clamps on the rockhard cage vs the psc version. Besides the welds I know the way I drive that piece rolling around in there will annoy me in no time.

 

[daveroberts]

I have seen or, should I say "heard" the PS cages to be really noisy. Do you not have any problems with this?

I don't have any comparison since this is the first bolt in cage I've had but I will say mine doesn't make any noise that comes to mind. What noises have you heard about?

 

[daveroberts]

What you hear is all true. The cage looks great but does not have anything securing it to the windshield. This allows for movement and a lot of noise. I had seriously considered installing one so that I would have experience with it as well but, decided against it after seeing/hearing the noise it makes. I know there are some that have rigged up fixes for it but, I didn't want to have to deal with it. I have seen Jeeps with Rock Hard cages roll multiple times and keep the occupants safe and I based on that, I trust them enough to run them in my Jeeps.

Did some digging around and sounds like there are some guys with hard tops that have complaints about noise. I'm running a soft top so that might explain why I have no complaints like those I mention. Add to it the fact that I run 40" Nitto Mud Grapplers and you might understand why I don't hear my cage making any noise!

 

[Mikes Offroad]

I'm with Dave here, I installed the PS in my 4dr JK and I have no noise. There was a little right after install but it was cleared up after a re-tightening of the bolts (write it off as settling) As for install time it took me a nice weekend taking my time. Hope that helps.

 

[hinrichs]

ill be watching this to see what happens with the rear. I wouldnt be happy at all with those welds either, especially since some are not even complete. I do plan to order one of these hopefully soon, if not go with the orfab cage

 

[rtguy1]

ill be watching this to see what happens with the rear. I wouldnt be happy at all with those welds either, especially since some are not even complete. I do plan to order one of these hopefully soon, if not go with the orfab cage

The incomplete welds are a big issue. The welds that look ok look like that because they grind them down after welding. The marble inside sucks the most, as that will be a constant annoyance. As of now I have not received any reply to my email. If all else fails I'm sure Dave at northridge4x4 will help me by exchanging or just taking a return of the rear section. I can always buy the rear again at a later date and hope for a better one...lol

 

[BlackKnight]

The incomplete welds are a big issue. The welds that look ok look like that because they grind them down after welding. The marble inside sucks the most, as that will be a constant annoyance. As of now I have not received any reply to my email. If all else fails I'm sure Dave at northridge4x4 will help me by exchanging or just taking a return of the rear section. I can always buy the rear again at a later date and hope for a better one...lol

I asked a guy, and the marble in side could be a weld that just busted through into the interior of the pipe (or there was a larget gap at the joing) and formed a ball inside that didn't adhear to the molten metal in the weld, Essentially they went too hot and pushed the weld wire throguh, it formed a ball because of the heat. Covering up the mistake could lead to the really bad welds you have shown in the pics.

Definately get them exchanged out.

 

[rtguy1]

I asked a guy, and the marble in side could be a weld that just busted through into the interior of the pipe (or there was a larget gap at the joing) and formed a ball inside that didn't adhear to the molten metal in the weld, Essentially they went too hot and pushed the weld wire throguh, it formed a ball because of the heat. Covering up the mistake could lead to the really bad welds you have shown in the pics.

Definately get them exchanged out.

i figured it was something like that, but just refer to it as a marble...lol it def needs replaced though. this will not go on my rig. i'm wondering how I could smooth out the welds on the other pieces that I'm keeping? Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe smear some JB weld around them? I know there's gotta be something i can do to smooth it out before powdercoat.