My rockers (and much of my body) are already buckled and Im wondering if I should bother building or buying some sliders. Its my understanding that sliders just give the rockers protection and offer a hard smooth surface that slides over rocks etc without hanging up on the pinch seam and other projecting crap under the edge of the jeep. So my question is can or should I just weld some 2" or so angle iron along the edge of my rockers, running the full length of the rocker?

 

angle is not really gonna give you the protection you want as you are tieing a very strong bracket to a very thin sheet metal. try that in combo with support struts to the unibody "frame" rails.

 

So your saying build some real sliders

 

you got it. but i like the idea of angle iron. new approach.

 

I was thinking it would be simple but if I need to build mounts Ill probably use the 2x4 tubing or just buy some sliders.

 

A good set of sliders should stick out several inches beyond the rocker panel allowing you to use them to pivot around trees on very tight corners without damaging your doors. They do more than just protect your rocker panels.

 

The thing about real sliders is this, in the case of mine, they are attached to the frame in 8 locations and the pinch seam in 5 locations. They do provide rocker protection and a flat hard steel surface for the Jeep to slide over trail obstacles but, I believe mine also give the jeep just as much additional frame stiffness as any of those weld on frame stiffner things.

 

through up a photo if you could. i'ld like to see it.

 

Depending on how bad the damage to you rockers are now though you might want to look in to doing a rocker replacemeant instead. That is what we are going to be doing to mine a a couple other peoples rigs in our group.

 

LOL you havent seen my jeep! It was t-boned by a tweaker in a '72 F150 that ran a 4way stop at 45ish. The impact was on the drivers side back door and pushed the middle of the body over about 2", I think the only straight body part left is my hood, which is kind of why I was wondering if I should worry about sliders. The rocker replacement idea is kind of what led me to using angle iron, that and some of the wrangler sliders I've seen just bolt to the body. I kinda thought the rockers would be a little thicker than the rest of the body but it seems their not. Thanks for the suggestion tho.

 

Boat side your rockers. Take the old ones out an weld in some 1/4" plate an there ya go. Don't have to work about sliders that stick out, tube that gets bent, an you get that much mote clearance over tube sliders....just my two cents

 

Well if that is the case then save yourself the money and time and just wheel it then.
When I talk about rocker replacement though I am talking about cutting out your rockers and welding in some .188 wall 2X4 in place of the thin *** rockers our jeeps come with.

 

It's what I got planned