Unibody Rock Sliders *TESTED*

ken · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 7:22 pm

What did the wifey poo say about cuttin' up Big Black like that. :shock:

Great start, man that is gonna be too cool

Inc · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 8:38 pm

ken wrote:

What did the wifey poo say about cuttin' up Big Black like that. :shock:

Great start, man that is gonna be too cool

She didn't know actually, she came home as I was loading pics for you guys and asked "What happened to your Jeep!?!?!" :shock:

That second chunk of unibody structure is a nightmare to cut out. Took at least twice as long as the outer rocker. It took a sawzall and a 7" cutting blade on my grinder.

Here is how the uncut bars look under it so far. It will actually sit back another 1/4" or so, since I need a tad more trimming done.

I'm not sure I'll get to cutting and capping the bars tonight at this rate.

Kind of like opening a can of worms.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 9:28 pm

oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh maaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn that is sick! :shock:

You go!

PLEASE USE A darn FLASH!!!!! and take more pics!!! of the open rockers!!

You are paving NEW ground here and it is super important theat we get LOTS of detailed pics of the whole process. You CAN'T take too many pics of this. Take them from ALL angles please so we can see EVERYTHING!@!!

Inc · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 9:30 pm

Man, my camera just died... :evil:

j/k

I'll take a ton more right now.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 9:30 pm

oh and did i mention......you are my hero.......Take more pics!! oh and post them too.....or at least link to a PB acct or something....

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 9:33 pm

Keep working on this all night ! Been waiting all afternoon/evening, was going to leave for four days but now will have to stay home just to keep up with what you are doing!

Great job, been waiting along time to see what that looks like inside :wink:

Burchie · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 10:08 pm

Rock rails. You need doors first..... bro. :-)r

Inc · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 10:37 pm

Burchie wrote:

Rock rails. You need doors first..... bro. :-)r

Funny you mention doors, cause I just put the passenger ones back on to see if they cleared and they were perfect. :wink:

I will say that having them off makes me miss my TJs, and really makes me want tube doors for this rig.

I also have the rails cut on the ends but my caps are M.I.A. so I need to find them in order to weld them.

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 11:07 pm

Inc wrote:

Burchie wrote:

Rock rails. You need doors first..... bro. :-)r

Funny you mention doors, cause I just put the passenger ones back on to see if they cleared and they were perfect. :wink:

I will say that having them off makes me miss my TJs, and really makes me want tube doors for this rig.

I also have the rails cut on the ends but my caps are M.I.A. so I need to find them in order to weld them.

well get off the computer and find them. Only time you are allowed back on here is to post new pictures :lol:

We are all waitng on the edge of our seats here! :wink:

STINGN · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2009 11:34 pm

haha

and are you going to weld on end caps to those? or will it add more weight and be the HEAVYWEIGHT KJ!

Inc · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 12:06 am

I am beat. Lifting and moving those 80 pound behemoths over and over is quite the workout. I never found the friggin end pieces to weld in. Guess I'll pick up some more tomorrow. I did get both rails cut, and the bottom gussets cut and wedged in place. They are going to be perfect. The angles are also darn near perfect on the rails, and will match the fender lines nicely. Here are the pics I have so far and I'll get more tomorrow of the rockers completely cut out on the driver's side. In the pics the rail isn't fully seated against the unibody, its just sitting on the jacks for the pics.

End of a rail showing the angle and missing the end cap

Driver side still isn't even cut out

but braces are hammered into place and waiting to be welded

matching nicely

passenger side ready for welding

Not fully seated yet but looking good.

more to come soon...

ken · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 12:11 am

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!

Burchie · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 12:47 am

Inc wrote:

I am beat.

I'm out of beer.

Inc · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 1:05 am

Burchie wrote:

Inc wrote:

I am beat.

I'm out of beer.

Get a 24 pack for tomorrow, because I'm not even 1/2 way done yet.

Also, I am going to drill a few holes in the unibody floor in order to let any moisture or water escape because when you cut away all the rockers, and the structure behind them, there is a large hole that runs the length of the rail. The 2 braces on each side of the jeep that are going to be welded to the frame and pinch weld had to be angled because the unibody bulges down where they need to go. That "bulge" is the back side of the big hole you create when you cut all the material away. Since there will be a little space for water to get in, I am going to make holes to get it out. Hope that makes sense and you can see the "bulge" in this picture, where the braces are cut and angled.

Boiler · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 9:18 am

This looks awesome! I'll be checking in on you for sure.

How are you going to deal with coating all this stuff? I'd shoot some primer on everything once you tack it up and then remove it where you're going to weld. You're going to want those hard to reach areas to be protected I'd think.

But really it looks killer so far.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 10:12 am

Inc wrote:

thoughts: (maybe you are thinking about this stuff too already)

You should consider plating the frame rails and butt welding the braces to the plating instead of just to the frame rail to spread the load and give a stronger surface.

are you going to fold the bottom lip of the old pinch weld up to the rail and weld it up?

I would think that having the braces go Through the remaining pinch weld sheet metal and being welded directly to the rails itself would be Way stronger.

I would also toss at least a 3rd support in there and brace the braces back to the plated frame rail.

Looks killer!

djui5 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:38 am **Posts:** 536

Inc wrote:

more to come soon...

Wow nice work. Those are gonna look really good when your done :shock:

I agree on the 3rd support idea. When I was talking with someone about doing mine we agreed 3 supports would be needed for strength.

Inc · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 12:58 pm

What you see in the last picture I posted isn't all the bracing I am going to use. I still have that 5x68 1/4" flat bar to make them into mini boatsides. The flat bar will weld from near the bottom outer corner of the 2x5 angled down to the pinch weld, where I am going to weld it to the pinch as well. As far as plating the frame rails to spread the load, I will be adding plating to them for my SAS, but don't want to add it right now because I need to add my control arm mounts first to make sure they fit, and they might not if I add plating first. I can always add a 3rd support but I don't think I will need it since the entire rail makes contact against unibody along the parts I cut out. Extra support doesn't hurt at all though. I also thought about cutting into the unibody to make the rails contact the braces that touch the frame rails, but without a plasma, I really really doubt I will be able to get the cuts to exact enough to wok well and not weaken the bulging structure from cutting too much. Plus I am not sure if the rail and the braces would line up exactly and then you'd be screwed because they wouldn't contact enough material to make it worth doing in the first place. It could work, but I couldn't make it. I will be adding some primer to all the bare steel and places I have cut before I weld things up permanently, that way they aren't left bare forever once covered up.

I guess I better get back to work.

Inc · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 2:06 pm

I just added to the design. Where the bottom of the rail meets the cut out unibody/pinch weld. I am going to weld a strip of angle iron flat against it to add more support and this will be hidden behind the 5x68 flat bar. This angle iron will actually add a ton of support.

ken · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2009 2:21 pm

I have a plasma cutter, You want it ?

Unibody Rock Sliders TESTED

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