Well I'm lucky the only rust i have is a nickel sized spot on the cowl so I'm just tying in to the rocker.

 

My 2x6! 2x8 would stick out pretty far. Would be interesting to see

 

If you are going 8 inches go 3 x 8 for certain. Much stronger.

I went 3x5 and its virtually impossible to move.

 

hey isn't it time to change your sig to welcome to the double L forum

 

I am going to keep it. Its catchy you know.

 

3" tall tubing just looks bulky and doesnt fit in the pocket as perfectly as the 2 inch stuff. Not to mention you will lose an inch of ground clearance at one of the most vunerable areas of your jeep. The 2" sits nice and flush with the floors.

 

I dont understand the much stronger comment. Maybe it is, but that strength is useless in this application. My 2x6 have been used on 2 jeeps so far and both rigs have had the unibody where they are mounted pushed up and in from them making the doors not exactly seal.

 

The three inch offers more strength when you are putting pressures on the outmost edge. Its simple physics here. You have 3 inches of leverage to support 8in wide beam or 2in of leverage to support an 8in wide beam. There is no comparison. You are 30 percent stronger with a 3in beam. Period.

The 3in tubing fits the standing seems perfectly on an xj. It fits the doors flush as the 2in and the bottom of the beam sits flush with the bottom seam. If you plug weld the seems as well as welding the edges you have a slider that is indestructable.

I can literally slam the sliders on to a rock. Have the weight of the vehical on the slider and it does not move even a 1/16 of an inch. Doors open perfectly.

Can take a high lift jack on one of the out most edges of the slider and lift it as high as it will go without the slider moving any at all.

And honestly as far as looks I don't want a running board look. Most people don't even know I have a rock slider. They think its factory.


One more edit! LOL I don't lose any clearance. How could I? The slider sits flush with the lower seam.

 

And I am just saying the op wants an 8in wide slider! Common sense says go 3in thick. If it was only a 4 or 5in slider, thats another story.

But on the other hand a 3x8 in slider is one big unit! LOL

 

Oh.... you said floors not doors. LOL my fault. Yes the 3 inch sits about 1in below the floor, right with the seam. Maybe thats why yours are turning in? Welding and plugging that lower seam I believe keeps everything more rigid.

 

when wheeling that lower seam gets crushed in, i just folded what was left of it up. boom, easy one inch of ground clearance, as do most other people who install these.

and yes the larger structure is stronger, but what you dont get is it doesnt matter in this application. sure make it out of 1/8" and most people will find the bending point, but I assure you, both structures will bend.

Go wheel some more and harder. The tubing will soon find its way into your doors and eventually start crushing the unibody in. If you place some box tubing on top of some tin cans then smash the tubing, the tin cans will still crush. It has nothing to do with the choice of materials.

 

Your right, time will tell. I am wondering if the way I use the seam for structure makes the whole thing stronger? That and its kind of nice not to be slamming my floors on rocks as much.

The steel I used is 3/16" I think, maybe it was just a little more. Got it from a machine shop.