Rock Rail attachment

I have a question on rock rail mounting. These are homemade, so some background:

For the base of my protection I have 1/4" plate covering the outer face and immediate underneath side of the rocker - more or less looks like the rockratz protection (BTW, I tested this alone and it will support a hi-lift, but I doubt it would stand up to any real abuse). To that I have added tubing the full length, cut and welded to the plate. basically looks like c<, where the c is the tubing and the < is the plate (no gaps of course). This combination is pretty stiff, and since it is supported the full length by the rocker, I dont see that it is likely to bend. I will have some legs run back to the 'frame' to stiffen things up and add lateral support. The end result will look alot like a traditional rail, but supported at the outer rocker instead of the pinch seam.

Okay, alot of background - I know. Anyway, the question is should I run some support along the pinch seam as well?

I'm not sure it needs it - but then again I though the last set of rails I built would work fine...

so basically its a regular rocker in addition to some angle iron on the panels? all the high quality aftermarket rockers mount to both the pinch seem and the "frame" rails but if your using the panel below the door instead of the pinch seem it should be ok, except that when you come down on them alot of force is still applied to the panels as opposed to other rockers that transmit the stress to the "frame" rails and pinch seam.


Pics would help alot...

Its more like a regular rocker guard with a mount on the rocker instead of the pinch seam. I am attaching to the frame as well, but I still haven't decided if I am going to attach to the pinch seam or not. My working theory is that the vertical load that can be supported by the outer edge of the stock rocker 'box' should be as great as or greater than the load that can be supported by the middle of the same box. Also, there wont be near as much leverage when the load is applied (no load multiplication!)

I know that in my last version, I had square tubing the length of the pinch seam, and the support arms still ended up pushing up into the rockers. This seems to be a pretty common failure with many of the commercial products as well, and is what I am trying to avoid with my new design.

I will take some pictures when I finish it up this weekend.

Pics are good.... Where are they?

Pics are still in my camera. If I find a good hosting site I will put them up along with pictures of other things I have created (rear bumper, roof rack).

I just quit trying to make it a minimalist endeavour and attached it to the pinch seam as well. What's a couple more pounds of steel anyway?

Now I have something like 25 bolts holding these things on. They are supported the full length of the pinch seam, the full length of the rocker on the face and outside bottom edge, and have two legs connecting back to the 'frame'. I will probably add at least one more 'frame' connection, and possibly two before I am all done. They are proabably heavier than they should be, but lightweight requires better fab skills than I have.

The things will take a hi-lift no problem, but as far as I am concerned that doesn't really mean much. 3" and 31's + Rubicon = good test of rocker protection.

Travis

I guess I wasnt as up to date as I thought. Last I heard XJDB was down, but I see its back in action. Pics of my junk to follow...

Okay, here are some pictures (I hope)

This is the quarter inch base I plated the rocers with. The long bolts are just there for ease of install/removal.


Here is basically the same shot with the rail attached.


One more, from the bottom, showing the pinch seam and bottom of the rail. I have since attached the rail to the square tube (wouldnt work very well if I didn't), and finished the welds.


So, let me know what you think.

Travis

I don't see any reason you have to add another mount to the pinch seam as long as you're going to the frame rails. In standard rails the pinch seam mount doesn't really give the support you might think. The force is upward, trying to push the pinch seam bracket "through" the floor. That's why the best rock rails use 1" box tubing at the pinch seam instead of just flat stock. The box tubing uses the floor pan to support the rail, not just the bolts that run through it. What you've done is, essentially, the same thing, spreading the force over the rocker panel.

kid4lyf said:

The force is upward, trying to push the pinch seam bracket "through" the floor.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what happened with my previous incarnation. Result - inverted pinch seam base and support legs denting the body and rockers. I can blame some of it on my design, but lots of other rigs with commercial rails have the same thing happen.

If it didn't turn out to be so easy for me to use both the rocker and pinch seam, I would have probably not used the pinch seam. The whole reason I started the thread was to see if anybody else had done it, or knew of a good reason why I shouldn't. Of course, a weekend in the rocks would quickly tell me whether the no pinch seam design is adequate or not. But if the answer is no... back to the drawing board.

Travis