armor

well.. its about time i start to think about armor... im going to the steel yard tomorrow to buy some 1 1/4 .120 wall square tubing for rock rails, 3x3 angle for stiffiners, and a 1/4 plate for a belly pan.

for the rock rails im thinking about 5ft long and about 12 inches out from the frame. that should let the rail sit about 1/2 inch proud of the outside of the rocker. im not sure how tight against the bottom of the rocker the rock rails should be, should i use the pinch seam to help support them, or should i hold them off the pinch seam? (since they'll be welded to the stiffiner in 4 places, i dont think i need the added support from the pinch seam)

thank in advance

rob

In my opinion the pinch seam adds A LOT of support, and should be done. Especially if you plan on jacking from them at all, imagine how much less stress the seam on the "frame" rail would be if weight could just be evenly distributed through the pinch seam, directly above the jacking point.

Here are a few pics of mine. (the welds are a buddies when he was first learning, not too pretty but they work.)

they still look better than my welds

nitrogt101 said:

In my opinion the pinch seam adds A LOT of support, and should be done. Especially if you plan on jacking from them at all, imagine how much less stress the seam on the "frame" rail would be if weight could just be evenly distributed through the pinch seam, directly above the jacking point.

Here are a few pics of mine. (the welds are a buddies when he was first learning, not too pretty but they work.)

Click to expand...

Are those homebrewed?

those are the coolest sliders ive seen.. i think im going to make mine very similar to those, except im adding full length stiffiners.. thanks for the pics, and info!

I bet those work awesome on the rocks!

Yes, those are homebrew. I designed, measured, and cut, my buddy welded and I grinded and painted and thats what we came up with. They work great from the use they've gotten, and are strong enough to hi-lift from.

I originally wanted to add full length stiffiners too, however after being under there looking at it, and how not-so-straight the "frame" rails really are, I decided against it, mostly because this was my friend's and my first metal/welding project on the jeep.

I looked at as many pictures as I could of other rails, bought or built, and printed out pics of the ones I liked, circled certain features that i wanted, and added everything circled together into one, and this is what I got.

I'm more than glad to answer any questions or take some pics if you need em. Good luck!

I couldn't agree more. But I will add to the hi lift comment...

Using a jack is a pretty smooth and easy transfer of weight...

"Rock Sliders" are just that... they are intended to slide your vehicle over and around rocks and other various objects that do not give or move.

Imagine the weight of your vehicle DROPPING or slamming into a rock... that multiplies the weight because of the momentum...


I guess what I saying is OVER build them...Can the rock sliders actually be too strong?

The answer to that questions should answer the question that you asked.

Good luck.
By the way...a great design to look at is AJ's siders....he overbuilds everything. Take note to how his mount to the rear spring mounts...BEEFY!

nitrogt101 said:

In my opinion the pinch seam adds A LOT of support, and should be done. Especially if you plan on jacking from them at all, imagine how much less stress the seam on the "frame" rail would be if weight could just be evenly distributed through the pinch seam, directly above the jacking point.

Click to expand...

Oh I like those sliders. Could you do a write up on how to make those?

please more pics... as many as you'll take

Unfortunatly, it would be difficult for me to do a write up since my rails are already welded on and painted, so I have no way to take pictures in sequence of the assembly. It is pretty straight forward. I believe there are a few write ups here on naxja if you search.

I'll get some more pics up tomorrow afternoon.

And kewlkatdady, I completly agree... overbuild them, that way they'll handle whatever rocks you'll be coming down on hard.