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AJs Rock Rails

9

96xjeeper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fort Leonardwood, MO
OK I am ordering a set of AJ's Offroad Armor Super rock rails. (1/2 of my BDay present) Anyway he mounst to the frame useing self tapping bolts and mounts to the pinch seam useing nuts and bolts. How hard would it be (of is it worth the time) to drill the frame all the way through, weld a sleeve in, and bolt through the frame? Would this be as benificial as it sounds? The other 1/2 of my BDay is a XRC 8000 Smitty Bilt Winch.
 
I'm sure welding a sleeve in the unibody and putting a nut and bolt through it would've been done by AJ if it were worth while. The only real abuse the rail will take is landing on them after coming off a rock. The important bolts in that situation are the pinchseem bolts. The self tappers are not an extrem load bearing part of the rail.

I've landed on mine HARD without them even budging...
 
reelbigdundy87 said:
I'm sure welding a sleeve in the unibody and putting a nut and bolt through it would've been done by AJ if it were worth while. The only real abuse the rail will take is landing on them after coming off a rock. The important bolts in that situation are the pinchseem bolts. The self tappers are not an extrem load bearing part of the rail.

I've landed on mine HARD without them even budging...
Click to expand...

I personally dont have them but that ^^ seems logical to me.
 
If you're only worried about the rails taking abuse than don't bother. They'll hold up to anything you can throw your jeep at, as is.
 
That was kinda my concern was what if coming down on the hard causes the self tappers to fail. I had a set on my old XJ and they never failed either so I guess it'll be good
 
I put a couple of tack welds on the legs just to keep the theives away, I suppose that could benefit. Again though, they,ve never budged for me.
One time going over some pretty big rocks, I mis-judged the line and slipped. I came right down on the rail with all the jeeps weight. Not a mark other than the hit my head took on the roof lol.
 
I've landed hard enough to put a 2" diameter dent in the tube (3/16" superrails). They didn't move at all, and I'm even missing one or two of the self tappers.
 
If it bothers you, use nut-serts,thats what I did ,along with some welded in t-nuts.
 
I just welded on hd unibody stiffeners, and plan on mounting my superrails with the supplied fasters and welding them to the chassis. The seld tappers should bite good into the thicker "framerails". I have a warn skid and before the stiffeners you had to be so careful as to not overtighten the self tappers because they would strip so easy
 
I was also thinking of building a set of frame stiffners into the rails. Run a piece of flat stock along each rail and bolt that to the frame. But What I think I will do is similar to my Rusty's LA Cross memer. Drill the holes out and build an insert that is tapped, kinda like what someone above said, and then weld them in place.
 
The t-nuts I'm using are 1/2"-13 and weld perfectly into the slots at the front and rear of the framerail.
 
I have the superralls... I put a nice dent in mine... they havent budge. I wish they have a better grip on the pinch seams.. mine was way off in the back half on one side ane front half on the other side.. I had to cut one of the legs off on both sides and shorten them a bit to fit close to the pinch seam.
 
Use the self tappers and call it good. Why make life more complicated?

I have never heard of a failure with AJ's rails. Nice thing about the self tappers is that when/if you decide to plate the frame you can pull them off, plate the frame and then put them back on.

John
 
Got my Rock Rails today. I will clean and prime them tomorrow. The quality of these is expert as expected.
 
Also, the way AJ's makes the pinch seam mount a piece of angle iron, if the Jeep falls on a rock, all the force from the hit goes into the solid horizontal piece of the chassis above the pinch seam, not really on the pinch seam itself or bolts. The bolts pretty much hold everything in place and keep the rails up when you stand on them.
 
Mounted the rails yestarday. AJ's rails have 7 bolts on the "frame" and 4 in the pinch seam. Well I added one to the frame making it 8 and one to the pich seam making it 5. So I went from AJ's 11 per side to 13 per side. No real reason other than they looked like logical spots to adda bolt so I did
 
I beat my AJs to death and they never faltered. Mount them as he suggests and they will be plenty strong for any application

PB221247.jpg
 
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