Advice on sliders and stiffeners wanted

Hey everyone! I'm trying to figure out what stiffeners to buy and how to build sliders.

My rig is off the road, trailered only, and here are some pictures from Rausch back in February for reference:







It is set up like so:

Home made front bumper
33x12.50x15 Swampers
Dana 30 with 3.55 gears and an Aussie locker
Skyjacker track bar that mounts to the top of the axle
RE superflex upper and lower short arms
Rusty's HD Tie Rod
Rusty's 3" HD Springs and 1.5" Spacers
Rancho shocks
Home made LCA mount skids
Some hockey pucks for bump stops in there for looks
Home made tire carrier
Home made transmission skid
Trimmed rear quarters
Home made LED tail lights
27 spline Chrysler 8.25 with 3.55 gears and a welded carrier
ZJ rear disk brakes (WJ booster, WJ master cylinder, and ZJ proportioning valve under the hood)
AAL from some full size 1/2 ton Chevy truck leafs
Teraflex 1.5" shackles
JK Rubicon shocks
Rubicon Express Hack & Tap SYE
XJ Front shaft re-worked as a rear shaft.

I have a set of used 4.11 gears for both axles to swap in sometime this summer.

Anyways, I am now ready for sliders and frame stiffeners.

I picked up two pieces of heavy 2x6 square tube and I have 2x2x1/4" for unibody rail tie-in. I don't know how high to go with them. I'm not afraid to start cutting into stuff, I just don't have a plan. I was looking at this thread for ideas: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/jeep-...sliders-4.html

Part of my dilemma, is I want to keep doors and windows, because I don't have a garage for this jeep. I don't want to be messing with a tarp all the time, but maybe I should. It's not like I have any interior to speak of. I just want to keep animals out and my seats half decent.

I would like to go high with the slider and cut into my doors, but then there is issue with the windows and how low they go in the doors.

IDK! Maybe I should just say screw it and get used to tarping the jeep.

Once I get the sliders done, I will use 1-1/4" OD pipe as fender lines to the bumpers. End goal is a complete exo-cage one day I guess.


Looking at that pirate thread made it obvious I need to do frame stiffeners now. I don't web wheel enough to know which is the best. Ruff Stuff? HD? TNT? Why? Price and having holes already drilled for rosetta welds are the two things I was looking at. If the fit isn't quite right that's ok, I can hack them a little.

I guess the HD stiffeners go all the way up to the front. Is there a fitment issue with a front bumper that uses all the proper mounting holes up there, like overlap?

Any ideas to help me get going would be good.

Thanks!

You can cut the pinch seam off the bottom of the door without affecting your windows and gain 1-2" of clearance without affecting the operation of the doors. If you do this, you have to cut holes in the floor to pass the runners to the frame through, but there is room and its not a huge deal.

That would probably be the best compromise between higher clearance and retaining door functionality. If you don't care about keeping the windows functional, but just want to be able to put the doors back on to seal it up when not in use, you should be able to fix the windows all the way up and cut the door up to the bottom hinge. Not sure that I've seen this done but I don't see why it wouldn't be possible.

Stiffeners:
I went with HDO. The price for the full set was right, they had the holes already drilled, and fit great (well, except for where I had already smashed the frame rails up, my fault though, not HDO, and they still went on fine). They are also the thinnest I think, but still plenty strong. Depending on how your front bumper is set up, there may be a fitment issue as they do add a measureable amount of thickness to the frame rails. So if there isn't any adjustment built into the front bumper mounts, it is likely that they won't fit over the stiffeners. But the holes that you use are also in the stiffeners so they don't cover anything up, just add width to the frame horns.

Hope that helps!