Why chop?

A lot guys chop their cage.
I think it does look good, is it only for looks?
How many of you have chopped?
How much did you chop?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Do you hit your heads afterwards?
Is it possible to reuse your roof that was on the stock cage?

Do some searching and you will see in the event of a serious rollover the stock RZR cage crumbles - think 1 end over at 20 mph The cage will fail to the point where your head will be above the cage, ie broken neck etc...

I had Dr Chop do mine, it serves a few purposes:

1)I have a 7" chop in the rear but my cage is still tall enough for an overhead SSV stereo - I wear 5 point harnesses so no head bumping. I like the looks of a chopped cage vs the "hump" in the rear of a stock cage. Basically I retained the overhead shape of the stock for the stereo so I could use whatever roof I wanted or the SSV stereo.

2) I have hood bars to beefen up the bumper since my winch is on my bumper

3) I have a V in the front to keep things coming through the windshield + strengthening throughout.

It comes down to personal preference on the look, we have many talented fab guys that are part of the club

It's for looks.
I have seen 4 to 7 1/4" taken out. It's all personal preference.
I did 5" wish I would have done 7" I like the way Gimpys looks.
I have not hit my head, but I wear 4 point harnesses.
Yes I used my Polaris roof after the chop.

My first two cages were chopped 6-3/4". Mainly just for looks. I had a J-Strong top and stock windshield.

Now, I have a complete custom cage. Not one thing on the new cage is stock. This is for looks and strength. I am sure the RZR frame will fail before my cage. I can buy a new buggy but a face this pretty is hard to come by.....

Chopping the stock cage is for looks. I built a lower cage for my XP4 because it was to tall to fit in my trailer.
Like baditude said the stock cage will cave pretty easily.. I wouldn't bring it closer to my head with out adding some bracing..

This stock cage help up pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4PAjvgFUjaY

I agree a stock cage will fail at some point but that really all depends on just how violent the crash or rollover is. Anytime you mess with the stock cage in removing material and rewelding, you are changing the way the engineers developed the ROP certified cage with it's crumble zones.

Wth that being said, I do think an aftermarket cage is alot better and stronger than stock. If you are going to chop your factory cage just for looks, you are definitely taking a chance in smashing your head.

Just my opinion.

Lol just a FYI you don't have a rop certified roll cage. You have a certified cab frame, check the fine print. Most of the cages that hold up well in a crash don't take a good impact. End over end tends to impact the front and rear more then your cage. A good lick the will fail. Look at this thread from a few days ago. Some scary pictures in it. The one with the XP the passengers seat is several inches above the cage. If that was mine my wife or son would be no more. http://www.rzrforums.net/rzr-570-specific-discussion/101700-what-not-do.html

Chopped a little over 5 in.. Agree with everything that has been said so far. Looks good and has helped many times getting under low places. Couple of things that needs to be thought of is, if you ever plan on putting your buggy for sale, in this sue happy land that we are living, and an accident occurs and the new owner is hurt it may come back to haunt you. Also, if one of your family members or you are seriously injured because of this mod, it would be hard to sleep at night

Before:



After:

I went for the looks intitially. What I found out was leaning the windsheild back that much, took away from the swirl affect on dust that would land on the inside of the windsheild . By leaning back it seams to go over the cab more. Also clearing low tree branches has been the best result. We took 7 3/8" out of the rear and still got the front to lean in enough. If you are like me, tall in the legs and shorter in the upper body and around 5' 10", you might be ok for a 7" chop. Most people around 5' 10" to 6' with normal leg length could only use about a 6" chop without hitting their heads. We did beaf up the rear upper bar with a heavy gauge and added 2 angle brace bars.

bush wrote:

Thats probably one of the best examples.. The rest of the machine looks pretty dern good other then a few scrapes.. Didn't even bust the front plastics but it caved in the front of the cage.. That machine didn't even tumble.. Probably just went over at a decent speed. A bar across thos front A pillers and a couple gussets up top and in the back would have help a lot...

Mine was chopped with windshield bar and extra braces i n the back. This is pics of one endo and two barrel rolls, bouncing over 6' in the air, and hitting a tree! No cage damage and no one was hurt other than some bumps. And the stupid part is we only had lap belts on

Look at the bark gone up above the top. Thats where we hit rolling sideways down the hill and it slid and spun down the tree pointing down the hill when it stopped. See how far the front wheel dug into the ground when it spun around.







I'm not saying to chop or not to chop but I'd reinforce the stock crap for sure.

8ball_99 wrote:

Lol just a FYI you don't have a rop certified roll cage. You have a certified cab frame, check the fine print. Most of the cages that hold up well in a crash don't take a good impact. End over end tends to impact the front and rear more then your cage. A good lick the will fail. Look at this thread from a few days ago. Some scary pictures in it. The one with the XP the passengers seat is several inches above the cage. If that was mine my wife or son would be no more. http://www.rzrforums.net/rzr-570-specific-discussion/101700-what-not-do.html

I went and checked the fine print

"Certified Roll-Over Protective Structure (ROPS)"

http://www.polaris.com/en-us/rzr-side-by-side/trail-vehicle/ranger-rzr-800/features

I called it a "cage" you called it a "cab frame". Sounds like to me we are saying the same thing.

I have a RZR4 in the shop now for a full cage.The machine has 9.6 miles on it and the cage was shifted to the driverside 5" and the front seats fell out because he flopped it on it's side in his backyard.To say the least"they are weak".If you wheel hard,cage supports are a must at the least.Chopping them will take some of the leverage away so yes it would help slightly but it does make them look bada$$er! lol

Baxter wrote:

I have a RZR4 in the shop now for a full cage.The machine has 9.6 miles on it and the cage was shifted to the driverside 5" and the front seats fell out because he flopped it on it's side in his backyard.To say the least"they are weak".If you wheel hard,cage supports are a must at the least.Chopping them will take some of the leverage away so yes it would help slightly but it does make them look bada$$er! lol

I agree.

A full custom cage looks even more bada$$!!!

Man my head is to pretty for this..
http://www.rzrforums.net/general-rzr-discussion/104218-all-dont-think-aftermarket-cage-good-buy-warning-graphic.html

I agree Big-R. Finished up phase 1 of mine last night.

Looks great. You've been busy since I was there.

As far as discussion goes. I was going to chop mine but found a chopped cage for sale from Reeko. I needed the reduced height so it would fit in my trailer without rubbing. Since it was cheaper to modify or get another cage than buy another trailer with more door height. Still may get a custom one built in the future or add additional braces to the current one.

ohsresq wrote:

Looks great. You've been busy since I was there.

As far as discussion goes. I was going to chop mine but found a chopped cage for sale from Reeko. I needed the reduced height so it would fit in my trailer without rubbing. Since it was cheaper to modify or get another cage than buy another trailer with more door height. Still may get a custom one built in the future or add additional braces to the current one.

How'd it work out for you?

It went on with no problems. I sanded and spray canned it black, Had to massage the top holes in the A pilllars so the bolts would go in, and the Bolts under the bed were a PITA to get in but it went on well and looks great. Now it fits in the trailer with space to spare before it would hit. Thank you.

Good deal. I had the same problems with the bolt holes under the bed with the cage I just built. With the cooling of the welds the back holes on the cage moved creating a fun challenge. Makes me not want to take it off to finish up the mods I have planned for it.

From yesterdays Windrock race.

Went and looked at Rusty's 900 today. Very lucky! Crushed the cage in far enough to break the steering wheel. If he hadn't had a cage extension it probably would have crushed the whole cage.