Reviews: Smittybilt SRC Roll Cage Kits

Great cage especially for the price. Very comparable to the Rock Hard 4x4 cage with very similar build quality and steel thickness. I am very happy with this cage. For install, a lot of trimming will need to be done on door surrounds (for soft top) and on freedom panels for hardtop for fitment. I also had to trim of the factory molding off of passenger side to fit a pillars but all in all, not a bad install.

Only problem I found where the six dash bolts were too short had to go buy longer ones

I really like this cage. I needed a no welding and affordable option and this was both. I looks good and although I have yet to roll with it I'm pretty sure it will protect the front passengers. It is very sturdy. I have a 2002 TJ and my doors actually fit better after installing, I think things were sagging a bit and this pulled it all back into shape.

Tubing is high quality DOM and not junk HREW. Welds are solid but could look more visually appealing. Coming powdercoated is a bonus. Don’t expect it to fit perfect right out of the box. Jeeps tubs all have there little tweaks especially if they have been off-road prior. You’ll need to strap and pull bars into place etc. There’s quite a bit of trimming of plastics involved and you’ll have to cut the soft top roll bar surrounds quite a bit to clear the cage turn buckles. You’ll also have to cut the freedom panels of your hardtop to clear those buckles as well. The top must sit down flat onto the oem roll bar and the upper windshield crossbar turn buckles prevent that is why the freedom panels will require being notched out.

The cage is actually high quality. Tubing is all 120 wall DOM. All the welds look great. The install was easy because the parts were welded and assembled very precisely. All the threads were chased and pre greased. The hardware was grade 10.9. I was actually surprised on the quality. The kit comes with nice padding. This is a legit cage kit.

I bought this cage despite several reviews claiming the difficulty of installing. I liked the idea that this one had the best of both worlds from the top two Bolt in cage manufacturers. I didn’t like the knuckles in view of one and the fact that the other does not tie into the windshield. It took a full weekend by myself to get this installed properly. I would like to see the person who can install this in 2-3 hours as stated. It can take that long just to get it prepped. I also made the mistake of not reading the horrendous instructions all the way through first. I stopped at the first page once I realized they were pretty much worthless. No designation of which bolts in the bag go where, it was not that difficult to eventually figure out, but it took laying it all out and counting holes to figure it out. The left side did require grinding down by the top bolt to get it installed. Others just bent the flange on the Jeep. I didn’t want to do that to risk weakening the small flange that supports the entire cage. Once the cage was completely installed, i went to break down the boxes only to find what looked like a filler box (no weight to it and no writing on the box like all the others) only to find the padding. Now the padding the way it is cut requires it to be put on BEFORE you install the cage. I had to disassemble the cage and reinstall it. Now once completed came trimming the moulding corners. Fun! After completing this it was on to the soft top installation. I gave up and have decided to sell my soft top due to the amount of trimming required to get this to work. I don’t feel that the Door surround will have much support if i cut that much. I have talked to friends with the other cages and they had to do the exact same thing. I just decided it was not worth it. Overall, I like the cage a lot and think it will help out in a roll over much better than without one. For the price this is an outstanding deal when you consider you are getting the cage, powder coating and pads for just a little less than the others are selling he raw steel cage. Yes, welds look like they were completed by amateurs but I checked everyone and they look solid, just not very pretty. Probably as good as i could have done if i built the cage myself. I had no other fitment issues outside of passenger side door rail. Everything went together nice and easy after that. If you don’t mind hacking up your door surrounds for a soft top than go for it. As for the hard top, i wont know if it fits or any mods needed until the end of summer when i put the top back on it. I can say that it looks like it will go on easy with no mods as it actually pushes the sound bar down in the center, thus taking up less space. I see zero issue of anything that could get in the way of the freedom tops not aligning or needing trimming.

It?s on the Jeep and looks great but the install was extremely difficult. The a pillar piece on the passenger side is extremely difficult to get in place, I like that the tolerances are tight but I spent probably an hour jiggling, grinding and rubber mallet if this one piece little by little to get it in place. The instructions were unclear in a lot of places as well, resulting in a lot of trial and error in bolt sizes and exact placements. Overall though, I am very happy with the strength and look of the product after final installation.

Have no complaints other than I had to use a tap to clean up a couple bolt holes do to powder coating. Also the kit doesn't come with all the pads that work with a soft top. Pain to install by your self because you have to flex some of your sports bars but that's to be expected. Other than that I like it and it feels to be a good solid addition to the TJ. Might want to get some seat boosters when you get this because the dash bar can obstruct the view of shorter people. overall I'm happy and I've heard a lot of good things about the safety aspect of this cage kit.

Bought product because it included entire kit, provides more protection from side impact in the back seat and roll over protection, and was listed as "works with all factory hardware" or something like that. As it turns out, you have to cut part of the plastic away from you door surrounds and the plastic where the side support bars meet the windshield. Instructions say to install the bars with the grab handles before installing dash cross bar. DO this the other way around otherwise the dash bar will not fit. A heavy duty ratchet strap is highly recommended for all other cross bar installations. Also, when removing the bar covers, it helps to label the inside of the cover with FD, FP, RD, and RP to make reinstallation easier. Where it says that some modification to the roll bar padding and covers may be needed, what it means is you will need to do A LOT of cutting and the zippers are now useless. I recommend buying a small diameter grommet kit and a couple hundred feet of Para cord. You are going to want to hem sections you cut so they do not fray. It would be nice if the kit would come with additional bar covers to cover the stock bars as well as the roll cage bars. Over-all. Great product, just takes more planning than the product description lets on.

As of 3/27/2012 this product is currently being reconstructed and wont be available until late Summer 2012 with no guarantee. This product is also incorrectly named "XRC" Cage Kit. It is actually "SRC" Cage Kit. I have Smittybilt bumpers on the front, rear, and sides of my jeep and am happy to say I am pleased with their durability and appearance. If this Cage Kit is constructed with the same amount of concern for safety as the rest of their products, it will definitely be worth it. But for now, I would call to find out when it will be available before ordering.