Rocker replacement help

I am doing the prep work to replace my rusted out rockers with some boxed steel. I have read all of the write ups that I could find and I have decided to weld to the sheetmetal on the the top and fold the pinch seam over and weld it to the bottom of the boxed steel. This seems to be strong and easy. I will also put some spot welds through the floor (that I also need to replace). What the write ups don't talk about is what to do witht the anchor bolt (seat belt?) under the B pilar (interfears with the boxed steel position).I know that this thread has been beaten to death, but I am very busy with work and need to make sure that I can do this in a weekend. If anyone has any tips and tricks for making this project easier on a noob, I would really appreciate the help.
I am using 3x5" 3/16

Here are the links that I have been looking at.
http://www.4x4trailhunters.com/article.php?id=17
http://www.projectxj.com/mods/rocker.replacement.htm
http://www.madxj.com/MADXJ/technical/technicalfiles/SRrockerPanels/RockerPanels.htm

94,4.0L,d44locked,d30locked,5.5reSA,acos,35's

Mine was the 3rd link you showed.
It is an 88 2 door and there are 2 bolts that hold a metal bracket that the seat belt loops through on the bottom. There was no interference with either bolt.

Oooh, sweet. I'm gonna do this one myself as soon as I get my ass in gear (could be a while...). Post pics please.

As for the seat belt bolt, hmm. That never occured to me. Could you just make a cutout in the box steel? Hmm. Dammit. See what youv'e done? Now I have to go out and look at my exposed rocker guts. (Yeah, I cut em off. No I haven't fixed it yet. It's parked and it's covered in rust preventing goop, I hope it works...)

Mine was the 3rd link you showed.
It is an 88 2 door and there are 2 bolts that hold a metal bracket that the seat belt loops through on the bottom. There was no interference with either bolt.


Scottroz,



The link doesn't say what size steel was used. What size did you use for the main tube? Has it held up well?

When I built mine I used 2x4 squair tube 1/8th wall, but I didn't cut all the way to the front wheel well. My rockers start where the body curves around the seams are sealed with black RTV.
The ones I built are 100% bolt on and look similar to madxj.com's and they bolt through to the inside of the jeep. One thing to know is that xj bodies taper out like an inch front to back, so if you mount them to the inside of the body (behind the rocker) you will need to compensate for this to make it look even.

I have some pics but I am not aloud to post attachments????

I decided to weld because there is a ton of salt on the roads in winter and I wanted the strength as well as the seal that a weld will provied. I have seen a write up on a rocker that was built with a taper. Seems like some additonal work, but it may end up being necessary. My rockers are pretty much rotted away, so I want to ensure that I do this right, so my unibody doesn't rot away to nothing. I also have to replace the floor of pretty much the entire jeep, but this project is my priority because I don't want the body where the floor pans line up to get any rustier.

I don't salt on anything other than a pretzel.

Check out this thread: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=907891&highlight=project+rocker+&+roll

There is a lot of good info and pics. As to the seatbelt issue, I never ran into that when I did my replacements.

-----Matt-----

Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that one. Plug welds in through the top of the door sil is a great idea. Thanks for the help. I'm feeling a little better about this project after seeing that mangled pinch seam...damn!

MSLD said:

I'm feeling a little better about this project after seeing that mangled pinch seam...damn!

Click to expand...

Thanks, I do what I can!

We ended up welding in supports to the "frame" to keep the replacements from buckling in the future. FWIW, this is one of the best mods I've ever done. Beats the hell out of any rock rails you can buy. Very helpful where breakover angle is an issue:



-----Matt-----