On the fence, OEM rockers or 4x6 tube.

My rockers are shot. Crumbling flakes of rust. My AJ's rock rails are in scraped but great shape. I wanna replace the rockers and keep the rails. They weren't cheap. If I go the tube method can I mount my pinch weld/frame rail mount guards to them? Would that be better than just replacing the rockers with OEM style sheet metal?
Full disclosure here, I've never welded. I just picked up a Hobart 140 Mig and have to build a little welding table and cart still. I researched online and took a little video course and will be practicing on different thickness scraps until I feel comfortable with it.
I also picked up HD full set of stiffeners. Figured they'd be my first challenge.

HDO stiffeners were my first real welding project and with a hobart 140 as well. I later opted to ditch my rockrails (you can always get some cash back on them by selling on craigslist) and going to 2x6 box rockers.

It is somewhat trying and difficult for a novice welder to tie the 3/16 box to thin sheet metal. Aside from going at bottom of the door rather than flush with the sill, I have absolutely no regrets about choosing to box the rockers.

DeftwillP said:

HDO stiffeners were my first real welding project and with a hobart 140 as well. I later opted to ditch my rockrails (you can always get some cash back on them by selling on craigslist) and going to 2x6 box rockers.

It is somewhat trying and difficult for a novice welder to tie the 3/16 box to thin sheet metal. Aside from going at bottom of the door rather than flush with the sill, I have absolutely no regrets about choosing to box the rockers.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. Did you tie the tube to the frame? What did you use? I've been searching all over the net the past few days trying to figure the easiest/best way to do this. I've had the Jeep since new back in '99. I've bolted just about everything on that I can. Now it time to weld for the first time. Gotta be fun stuff.

Weld some angle iron to the frame rail for the lower inboard portion of the 2x6 to sit on then weld the 2x6 to that. The angle iron will allow you to weld the thicker steel cleaner and to a more substantial base. Then just tie the top into the sheet metal.

I did the 2x6 replacement as well. skip doing up to the rocker only. It's just as much work to go a bit higher.

Here's my thread and where I started
http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1107103&page=30

I learned to weld pretty much the exact same way!

When I did my 2x6 rockers I found that the best way to attach the 3/16" to the sheet metal was to put a straight bead on the 3/16 2x6 about 1/16" away from the sheet metal and just let it bleed onto the sheet metal. That seemed to be enough to permanently join the 2 parts without blasting through the thin stuff. (I haven’t had a single weld pop free from the sheet metal yet.)

At the time I was getting ready for Moab and I didn't have time to tie it into my frame stiffeners. I always meant to go back and do that but still haven't. It's been several years now with 3 Moab trips and a Rubicon trip in there and despite a few hard hits they've held solid. (Obviously it's better to brace them and of course YMMV...)

I've got pics in my build thread, I'll see if I can easily post one here from this dang phone...

I replaced my rockers similar to how it was done in this video:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/vide...a&sigb=13ffpcunu&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

I did not replace the entire length on either side, only the rusted rear portions of the rockers. I did not do any welding, but the job came out pretty well. Getting the pinch seams to match up was a problem using this method, so I had to get creative reattaching my AJ's sliders. You can get replacement OEM rockers in a few places such as:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-01-Jee...a-/351358590568?fits=Make:Jeep|Model:Cherokee