RC Raven T-Maxx Roll Cage

Installation

Installing the RC Raven roll cage is easy. It simply bolts in place of the stock bulkhead braces. One of the nice features of this cage is that due to the way the mounts are constructed, it eliminates the need for the bulkhead braces at the front and rear of your Maxx.

To install the roll cage, you first need to remove the front and rear bumper mounts from your truck.

When you remove the bumper mounts, make sure that you remove the bulkhead/bumper brace as well. It should slide out from in between the bulkheads, once you remove the bumper, since the bumper screws are what holds it in place. The mounts on the RC Raven roll cage will fit in between the bulkheads.

Once the bumpers, and bumper braces, have been removed, you can simply slide the roll cage mounting brackets into place. Use the supplied hardware to secure the cage to the bulkheads and bumper. The supplied screws will replace the upper screws that you removed from the bumper mounts.

It will be necessary for you to replace the lower bumper mount screws with some of your own. Since the bumper brace is no longer used, the stock screws will now be too long. I would have liked to have seen these additional four screws that are needed to be provided with the roll cage hardware, but they aren't. However a little digging through your pit box, or a quick trip to the hardware store, will get you what you need to secure the lower bumper mount.

I did notice one issue with the roll cage installed, that is that the bumpers ability to cushion an impact are reduced. On the rear of the truck the cage nearly rests against the bumper mount preventing the bumper from flexing at all. As a rear impact is pretty unlikely, unless it's a jump gone horribly wrong, I don't see this being much of a problem.

The bumper brace clearance around the front is greater than the rear, but it is still substantially reduced. In a head-on collision, the bumper will absorb less of the impact than it will without the roll cage installed.

Due to this issue, and the fact that a rollover will transfer stress from the roll cage to the bulkheads because of the way it's mounted, I would definitely recommend a full set of aluminum bulkheads as a necessary upgrade to go along with the roll cage. Otherwise, it's likely you'll be replacing bulkheads on a more frequent basis.

Here's the RC Raven roll cage fully installed. It is an amazingly beautiful piece, that covers the crucial components of the Maxx very well.

Part One:	Introduction
Part Two:	Installation
Part Three:	Testing and Final Thoughts