Rocklizard Fabrications Skink Sliders (Write Up)

Well as most of you know about 2 weeks ago I ordered a Rocklizard Bumper and some skink sliders. Here is the write up on the sliders. First thing I want to say about them is man they are BEEFY !!
These things are looking to crush some rocks. Coming in at about 45Lbs each they are sure to protect your rockers. They also have one of the best mounting and support system out there. You see there are 4 legs that connect the rails to the frame. With a total of 12 grade 8 bolts holding the to the Jeep. They will not be going any were. Plus they will really make the frame of the Jeep stiffen up.
You will need a Jeep buddy or two to put these on but the Install was not that hard. Hope you like them I know I sure do. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Well Enjoy...

Will these work with Bushwackers?

MYXJ22 said:

Will these work with Bushwackers?

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Yes they will and will look awesome doing it

jeep01xj said:

Yes they will and will look awesome doing it

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uke:

Where's the write up?

jeep01xj said:

Well as most of you know about 2 weeks ago I ordered a Rocklizard Bumper and some skink sliders. Here is the write up on the sliders. First thing I want to say about them is man they are BEEFY !!
These things are looking to crush some rocks. Coming in at about 45Lbs each they are sure to protect your rockers. They also have one of the best mounting and support system out there. You see there are 4 legs that connect the rails to the frame. With a total of 12 grade 8 bolts holding the to the Jeep. They will not be going any were. Plus they will really make the frame of the Jeep stiffen up.
You will need a Jeep buddy or two to put these on but the Install was not that hard. Hope you like them I know I sure do. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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Hmmm, I'm questioning your statement about these having "the best mounting system out there". It looks like the "frame" mounts don't wrap around the bottom of the frame, and they are each attached with only 2 bolts? Are the bolt holes through the frame sleeved? You can't tighten those grade 8 bolts enought to clamp properly without crushing the frame if they aren't sleeved.
How many bolts, and what size, hold the sliders to the pinch seam? How thick is that square tube they go through? Again, I'd be suspicious that you can't get enough clamping force on those bolts to hold the pinch seam without crushing the square tube.
For reference, a good clamping load for a bolt is 75% of that bolt's proof load. A 3/8-24 grade 8 bolt should have a clamping load of about 8,000 lbs, and a 1/4-20 grade 8 bolt should have a clamping load of about 2,800 lbs.

Anyway, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, I'm just questioning whether that mounting system is really all that good.
Nice pictures by the way; the jeep looks good.

The have (7) 5/16" bolts through each pinch seam, (1) 1/2" bolt through the rear leg attaching to the front leaf spring hanger, and (4) 7/16" bolts per side going through the unibody. The crush sleeves are 1" x .250 wall DOM. I have never claimed to have the absolute best mounting system, but it is one of the best. There is no way any rail using Grade 2 or 5 3/8" self tapping bolts through the outer surface of the unibody will ever be as strong.

zthang43 said:

Hmmm, I'm questioning your statement about these having "the best mounting system out there". It looks like the "frame" mounts don't wrap around the bottom of the frame, and they are each attached with only 2 bolts? Are the bolt holes through the frame sleeved? You can't tighten those grade 8 bolts enought to clamp properly without crushing the frame if they aren't sleeved.
How many bolts, and what size, hold the sliders to the pinch seam? How thick is that square tube they go through? Again, I'd be suspicious that you can't get enough clamping force on those bolts to hold the pinch seam without crushing the square tube.
For reference, a good clamping load for a bolt is 75% of that bolt's proof load. A 3/8-24 grade 8 bolt should have a clamping load of about 8,000 lbs, and a 1/4-20 grade 8 bolt should have a clamping load of about 2,800 lbs.

Anyway, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, I'm just questioning whether that mounting system is really all that good.
Nice pictures by the way; the jeep looks good.

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Great information in your post. It would be even better if you had a point. What bolt-on rock rails do you know on the market that wrap around the frame rail. What bolt on rock rail do you know on the market that has a better mounting? No bolt on system is bomb proof. The best rock rail mounting system out there is from home fabricators that sleeve their rails, replace their rockers, and then weld it all together. Rails are rails. Bolt on anything and it has limits. As far as rails go, it is a well thought out design that has a bit more than the average rails. However, if you have better ones that I can buy, I would be willing to take a look! Don't rag on stuff just to disagree. Offer something up. Ok, I'll shut up now.

GottaBeJeep said:

The have (7) 5/16" bolts through each pinch seam, (1) 1/2" bolt through the rear leg attaching to the front leaf spring hanger, and (4) 7/16" bolts per side going through the unibody. The crush sleeves are 1" x .250 wall DOM. I have never claimed to have the absolute best mounting system, but it is one of the best. There is no way any rail using Grade 2 or 5 3/8" self tapping bolts through the outer surface of the unibody will ever be as strong.

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By "crush sleeves" do you mean sleeves inside the unibody frame, or the square tube running along the pinch seam, that the 5/16" bolts are clamping to? If they are inside the unibody frame, that was one of my questions. Sleeves inside the frame definitely make your mounting system stronger. (Sounds like you own/work for Rocklizard?) I agree that self tapping bolts aren't stronger, but they can provide more clamping force without crushing the frame rail than bolts that run through the rail without sleeves.

The original post was pretty lacking in details, other than saying these were the best thing out there, so I had questions.

Dirt Surfer said:

Great information in your post. It would be even better if you had a point. What bolt-on rock rails do you know on the market that wrap around the frame rail. What bolt on rock rail do you know on the market that has a better mounting? No bolt on system is bomb proof. The best rock rail mounting system out there is from home fabricators that sleeve their rails, replace their rockers, and then weld it all together. Rails are rails. Bolt on anything and it has limits. As far as rails go, it is a well thought out design that has a bit more than the average rails. However, if you have better ones that I can buy, I would be willing to take a look! Don't rag on stuff just to disagree. Offer something up. Ok, I'll shut up now.

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Chill dude. I wasn't trying to insult you or anyone else, no need to be sensitive just because you bought these rails for your rig. I'm not selling anything myself, but I am building some for my own XJ, so I had questions about the mounting system of the rails pictured in the first post. I've seen plenty of pictures of rails on this board that wrap around underneath the frame and are bolt on; I never paid attention to who sells them because I prefer to build my own stuff, not buy it from someone else. I've also seen pictures of much weaker rails than these on this board, so I'm not saying they are bad, I just was asking questions.

I did not say that they were the BEST just one of the best. They are really Heavy dudy and will pack a punch when it comes to mounting. There are not mant rails out there that use 4 legs. This helps support the middle of the rail.

I have been keeping an eye on these sliders ever since he had the prototypes on his website. I remember back then that the mounting surface did wrap around the bottom edge of the frame to help stiffen it - thats what it said on the website during the prototype/test phase, I guess they went with just mounting to the outer surface. It is a great idea to use the crush sleeves for mounting but I can't really see how they are going to stiffen up the frame. I am not here to bash on Rocklizard's stuff at all-I think alot of the products they offer is well thought out and excellent in quality/workmanship.

zthang43 said:

By "crush sleeves" do you mean sleeves inside the unibody frame, or the square tube running along the pinch seam, that the 5/16" bolts are clamping to? If they are inside the unibody frame, that was one of my questions. Sleeves inside the frame definitely make your mounting system stronger. (Sounds like you own/work for Rocklizard?) I agree that self tapping bolts aren't stronger, but they can provide more clamping force without crushing the frame rail than bolts that run through the rail without sleeves.

The original post was pretty lacking in details, other than saying these were the best thing out there, so I had questions.

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All valid questions due to lack of details, which is no big deal. The 1" crush sleeves go in the unibody. There aren't any crush sleeves in the 3/4" x 3/4" 16ga tubing for the 5/16" hardware. I haven't been able to crush that pinch seam tubing, but I can understand the concern. I do own Rock Lizard, and I have never claimed to have the best mounting system, but it is right up there in the top.

jxj said:

I have been keeping an eye on these sliders ever since he had the prototypes on his website. I remember back then that the mounting surface did wrap around the bottom edge of the frame to help stiffen it - thats what it said on the website during the prototype/test phase, I guess they went with just mounting to the outer surface. It is a great idea to use the crush sleeves for mounting but I can't really see how they are going to stiffen up the frame. I am not here to bash on Rocklizard's stuff at all-I think alot of the products they offer is well thought out and excellent in quality/workmanship.

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The original mount design was using the 3/8" self tapping hardware everyone else uses, but decided to go with something a lot stronger that would help in unibody stiffening a lot more that surface mounting 3/8" bolts could. The stiffening is there, but it doesn't take care of all of it, just does it's part. Adding a good TCase skid system to the whole thing will really make the biggest diffence, besides just plating the entire unibody. About every little thing you bolt to the unibody will help in unibody stiffening; hitches, bumpers, skids, sliders, etc. Just can't read too deep into product description and think sliders alone are miraculously going to turn the unibody into the frame of a 1 ton pickup. I'm not saying you are, but they do a small part in the bigger picture, and a bigger part than most self tapping rail mounting systems.

GottaBeJeep said:

All valid questions due to lack of details, which is no big deal. The 1" crush sleeves go in the unibody. There aren't any crush sleeves in the 3/4" x 3/4" 16ga tubing for the 5/16" hardware. I haven't been able to crush that pinch seam tubing, but I can understand the concern. I do own Rock Lizard, and I have never claimed to have the best mounting system, but it is right up there in the top.

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Good job on a well thought out design then. I've been wondering whether the 3/4" square tubing would be crushed by the bolts on the pinch seam for my own rock sliders, it's good to hear that it works for you.

I've decided to go with riv-nuts (they are a nut built in to a rivet) in both the unibody frame and the 3/4" tubing on the pinch seam. In our testing here at work, these riv-nuts work pretty well, almost as good as a regular nut.

On another note, GottaBeJeep, how big is your company; is it just you or a couple other guys, or what? Do you sell a large volume of jeep stuff? As a mechanical engineer I've been interested in having a small company as a side job that builds products like yours, but haven't ever done it yet.

zthang43 said:

The original post was pretty lacking in details, other than saying these were the best thing out there, so I had questions.

Chill dude. I wasn't trying to insult you or anyone else, no need to be sensitive just because you bought these rails for your rig. I'm not selling anything myself, but I am building some for my own XJ, so I had questions about the mounting system of the rails pictured in the first post. I've seen plenty of pictures of rails on this board that wrap around underneath the frame and are bolt on; I never paid attention to who sells them because I prefer to build my own stuff, not buy it from someone else. I've also seen pictures of much weaker rails than these on this board, so I'm not saying they are bad, I just was asking questions.

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My point was that if you don't think they are what one person claims, then what do you think is? People can be a little overboard when they buy stuff, just let him be happy.

Normally I don't pick fights. It has been a bad day, and I am also claiming low blood sugar. If that isn't it, the only thing left it could be is PMS! Yes I have some RL rails, but it isn't like he is having my baby or anything. I wish I could build my own stuff like you, but I can't weld. If I could I would have boxed my frame and replaced my rockers. I think that the RL rails are better than most, but no one would agree to a #1. So it is all good. I think some sleep would do me good. :kissyou:

So how hard to install with TNT Stiffiners? Or should I just weld them on to the stiffiners?