Rock sliders
So I decided I wanted some rock sliders, looking around I came to the conclusion that it was going to cost some $600-$700 to buy them.
I have a welder & an angle grinder, so I figured for $200 in steel and consumables I could make some, worst case I screw up the first set and for some $400 still be in front, time was not so much of an issue as when not away at work I am home all day.
I would rate my welding skill as low/intermediate – just a mug with a welder.
The way I approached it-these a rock sliders, if it fails due to the home made factor it will make less of a dint in the door sill than no rock slider.
Looking around on the net I saw pics of lots of XJ sliders I liked these the best:
http://www.rockhard4x4parts.com/xj-sliders.html
For me the pros on this design are:
1. Pipe bending not required
2. A cheap hobby stick welder is all that is required to make this no mig or tig necessary, a drill and an angle grinder are the main tools .
3. Lots of attachment points (9) to the pinch weld.
4. The side struts are cut to receive the pinch weld supports, if the weld fails under compression (i.e violently landing on a rock) nothing is going to move.
5. The bar can be ripped off and the side struts will still locate/reinforce the pinch weld supports.
6. Does not involve drilling into the frame rail (which the majority of other sliders designs required)
7. Each vehicle mounting point can be independently fixed to the body of the XJ (5 of them each side). The Main bar is positioned using 2 jacks to where you want it relative to the vehicle. Measurements for the 3 side struts can then be ascertained, and the side struts made (fitted). The side struts are then tacked to the mounting points and the main bar . The whole assembly is then removed and welded up completely. Then reinstalled.
8. The bar will protect the doorsills from being sand blasted by the front wheels (Maybe).
So I decided to make a bastardized version of these .
The following cost about $75 per side in steel ( so x2 for your budget);
1 of 50 x 75mm x 3mm thick RHS - 1750mm Long
3 of 40 x 5mm thick flat bar - 400mm
1 of 50 x 3mm thick flat bar - 200mm (end caps for the main bar)
1 of 75mm x 75mm x 4mm Angle –700 mm I could only get this in galvanized from my supplier???.
10 of M6 flange nuts
10 of M6 x 20mm bolts
2 of M8 flange nuts
2 of M8 x 30mm bolts
1 pkt (need 6 of them) 8 gauge metal teck screws
What I found in my backyard junk pile:
1 of 5 mm 80mmx120mm. – Leaf spring vehicle mounting point.
3 of 35mm x 4mm thick – 300mm galvanized pipe ( Side struts)
Equipment:
Do not start without 2 jacks / threaded vehicle stands, that can, with or with out wooden blocks, work at a hight of around 400 mm.
A third jack will make life easier
Other tools;
Spirit level
4.5, 6.5, 8,9,11 and maybe a 10mm drill bit
6mm very long drill bit.
Clamps
Angle grinder, grinding, cutting wheels 80 grit flap disk
Drill
Welder & welding gear
10,12 and 15mm spanners/sockets
Set square
Tape measure
Hammer
Round file
Method
Manufacture of vehicle mounting points.
First up I made a template for the pinch weld mount holes, to keep the holes between the mounts the same – mostly for looks- the holes are 4.5mm
I then made up the pinch weld mounts, using the template to mark up the hole position so they are all the same
Next was the spring housing mount with 4.5mm holes
lastly the frame rail mount, the front two holes were drilled out to 11mm, the third will be marked and drilled later
Attach vehicle mounting points to vehicle;
Pinch weld mounts;
Clamp the first mount in position to the outside of the pinch weld, then use a jack to push the mount up into the body. The mount was then teck screwed to the pinch weld.
Same for the other two mounts, note the back mount is reversed compared to the front two.
Bellow is a picture of the distances of the 3 pinch weld mounts from the second torqx fastener behind the mudguard.
Spring housing mount;
Hold the mount in position pushing up and into the frame rail, drill through the spring housing mount to mark the hole positions into the spring housing. I then removed the mount to actually drill the 4.5 mm pilot holes.
I then drilled the spring housing and the spring housing mount out to 6mm. the spring housing mount was then bolted into position.
Frame Rail mount
Drivers side.
Put a jack under the gearbox support cross member, remove the nut from the stud and the bolt and lower the jack till the cross member is hanging down till there is about 6mm clearance between the stud and the cross member.
Slip the frame rail mount over the cross member and onto the stud, come up on the jack now try and get the bolt in, you might need to massage the hole with a round file to get the bolt in.
Now with the stud nut and bolt tight, the drivers side frame rail mount is done.
Passenger side continues.
As above except you would have had to remove the transfer case bash plate to get the frame rail mount on.
On the passenger side remove the frame rail mount, then screw in a M8 “marker bolt”* into the frame rail bolt hole for the transfer-case bash plate.
I had to leave the tip about 5mm proud of the frame rail
Put the frame rail mount back on, now with the fasteners done up, hit the mount with a hammer to force the mount against the marking bolt so the bolt marks the back of the mount.
Remove the mount and drill the mark out to 9 or 10mm.
Reinstall the frame rail mount, do up the fasteners make sure the transfer case bash plate all bolts up.
* Make a marker bolt by putting a M8 bolt into your drill and using an angle grinder with the drill turned on, grind the head of the bolt down to a point.
Position the main bar.
Get the car level, a lot of XJ’s have a lean to the drivers side, I used a jack on the frame rail. Get two jacks/ threaded vehicle stands and lift the bar to about 50mm below where you want it.
Horizontal alignment
Use a spirit level against the bump strip on the side of the vehicle and move the main bar till the out side edge is directly under the bump strip and the bubble in the spirit level is dead center.
Vertical alignment
I lifted it to where the bar was 5mm below the plastic of the mudguard .
Here you can see me learning that 1 jack is not sufficient, and the 5mm MDF spacer I used at each end of the main bar to get the same standoff at both ends.
So now all of the mounts are attached to the vehicle and the main bar is now sitting exactly where you want it relative to the vehicle.
Make side struts
My side struts were made out of 35mm pipe I had lying around, the original design used square hollow section with approximately 35mm sides.
The front side strut attach to the frame rail mount about 100mm from the leading edge of the mount. The side struts have to locate somewhere on the bottom flat of each pinch weld mount.
I measured the distance from the rail mount to the edge of the pinch weld support and made a 6mm cut in the side strut about 2/3 of the way through
I would recommend buying 6 lengths of side strut material for the first slider, to give you some spares, give your self lots of time to do this. I drove my jeep around with the just mounts bolted on to the drivers side for 2 days so there is no mega hurry. Take your time on this bit.
For the record the angle on the ends was around 15 degrees.
The cut to receive the pinch weld was about 6mm and was vertical and went about ˝ way two 2/3 through the side strut.
Once you have all 3 made (mine actually jammed into position and held there by themselves) making sure that the end of the side strut is fully covered by the side of the main bar.
Now go have a cup of coffee.
After a 10 minute brake check every thing again and if you are happy, you now tack the whole thing together. 4 tacks opposite each other on both ends of the side struts, at least 2 tacks where the pinch weld mounts go into the side struts and another 4 tacks where the spring housing mount attaches to the 3rd side strut.
Removing the tacked together slider;
Undo the spring housing mount bolts remove one and leave the other in to act as a locating pin.
Remove all teck screws.
Drop the gearbox support cross member, slide the assembly out, pull out the last Spring housing mount bolt and remove assembly from vehicle.
Weld up the rock slider
Drill out the 6mm Spring housing mount holes on the slider to 9mm.
Drill out the 4.5mm pinch weld mounts on the slider out to 6.5mm
Drill out the 6mm Spring housing holes on the vehicle to 8mm.
Mount the welded up rock slider.
I found putting a bolt through the spring housing mount before trying to slide the frame rail mount into position a lot easier.
Do the frame rail and spring housing mount bolts up.
Put the jack under the front pinch weld mount and come up on it until it is up hard against the body. Looking through the 6.5mm holes you should be able to see the tech screw holes in the pinch weld, do not worry if they are not center, ( things will move a little when welding up the rock slider) Get the long 6mm drill bit and drill the pinch seam through the holes in the rock slider.
Bolt it up, do the same for the second and third pinch weld mounts.
Now mark off where you want to cut the ends of the main bar because 1750mm is to long. I used the line of the wheel arch to mark the angle of the cut on to the bar with a straight edge both front and back.
To get the final cut mark I came back from the original angle mark the width of a hack saw blade. My final main bar length was 1636mm.
I then closed the end of the main bar buy welding a 50x 3mm flat bar cap on it front and back.
I then cleaned the bar up and welds up with a grinding wheel followed by a 80 grit flap disk.
I primed all the holes that I had drilled in the vehicle.
And painted the bar.
I suggest doing the drivers side first, as you do not have to muck around with the transfer case bash plate, so it is a little simpler.
Good luck with it.
Xj Sliders.
