Removing 4Runner rollbar - is it safe?

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
I'm considering unbolting the rollbar from my 4Runner prior to dropping the top back on it for the winter (I think the topless days are over :mad: ), makes more room for hauling stuff and loses some weight.
Looking for opinions (or maybe experience?) as to whether this would be alot less safe in the unlikely event of a rollover etc. A buddy of mine swears he wouldn't ride in the back, thinks the shell would just disintegrate. I'm not so convinced it's that big of a deal. I wouldn't leave it like that w/o the top for sure, but I think it'd not collapse if the issue were to, er, come up.
I mean I'm not expecting to be in a rollover collision or anything, but hey it could happen especially w/ the way people here freak out/act stupid in the rare snow.
 
having seen the aftermath of a rolled 1st gen Runner, yeah, the shell would just shatter with out the bar. it not only provides crush resistance but also structural rigidity to the body ( drop the tail gate after you remove the bar, grab the bed side and watch how it moves )

The Runner I saw still had the bar inside, and it was bent, the shell was broken at the seams and the side quarter glass was broken, had the bar not been there, the shell surely would have been torn off.

Kevin
 
It only takes one accident to regret it... it is there for a reason. I am sure you will be fine without it for 99.9 precent of the time. its just that .1 percent you cant count on.

The fiberglass cap will offer you no protection in a rollover. The bar actually helps alot.. it is ment to bend and absorb alot of the enegery.

Also, keep in mind that the bar is essentaly the back wall of the front cab, The stock pickup cab is much stronger with a back wall than a runner cab is. Its not just for your rear passengers, it also stops the roof from collapsing on you.

You might be an excellent driver, but I build my Jeep for the rest of the drivers out there. You never know who is going to hit you.
 
Those fiberglass shells arent going to protect anything. Its a 50/50 chance as to IF you will need it. But Id rather have a rollbar even on street driving...people cant fawking drive you never know.
 
Some of the worst damage I've seen on off-road vehicles was on the street - concrete and asphalt is harder than dirt & mud...

My vote is to leave it on.
 
Okay, well then, it stays on, I'm convinced.
It's not so much a matter of me and my driving (I'll always be in the front anyway, just as mentioned, the other nujobs on the road. So I'll keep it on. I've just never seen one that had been rolled to see how the top holds up.
I have had to remove it, w/ top-off, a couple of times now to fetch several sheets of plywood. Hated driving it that way, paranoid the whole time.
 
The only reason to remove the bar would be to replace it with full cage....sounds like you have already made up your mind to keep it...but i thought i would through in my .02 The factory fiberglass top will just splinter above you.

Seth
 
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