rock sliders and spare tire carrier build

[wheelin99s]

heres some pics from last weekend.

for everything i used 2"x3"x1/8 rectangular tubing.

for the rock sliders i actually cut my rocker panels out and welded the tubes in for the extra clearance and i had a few rust spots in my rockers anyways.


i didnt take a picture of it but i actually sandblasted inside the rockers and sprayed undercoating in there.


as you can tell in the pic below i painted the half of the tube that fits inside the rocker so there should be no bare steel inside there.

i started welding a little at a time all the way down

 

[wheelin99s]

after welding them in and grinding the welds a bit to pretty them up i used an auto body sealant all the way around the tubes over my welds to make sure its all water tight.




painted them with this..

 

[wheelin99s]

now for the rear bumper and tire carrier

same 2x3x1/8 tubing



i welded tabs on the ends for the factory end caps

now for the swing gate

 

[wheelin99s]

and for the finished product...well almost, still needs a liscence plate light.

 

[wheelin99s]

this weekend i will be building a front bumper out of 1-1/2" .120 wall round tubing and installing my badlands winch. ill update pics when done

 

[wheelin99s]

Oops I just realized I put this in the wrong spot maybe a mod can move it over to the regular be tech section?

 

[POSJ]

I am going to preface this with a real disclaimer, I am not trying to be a dick or put you down. I am not an internet thug that talks trash or trolls for fun.

There is a single bolt through what appears to be 1/4" plate holding on at least 50lbs of weight with a significant amount of leverage. There is a very good reason that companies sell swing out tire carrier kits with large bearings and joints. Check this out spindle from ruffstuff: http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/STIRES.html. Also the factory stamped steel bumper mounts are not up to the task.

 

[wheelin99s]

I am going to preface this with a real disclaimer, I am not trying to be a dick or put you down. I am not an internet thug that talks trash or trolls for fun.

There is a single bolt through what appears to be 1/4" plate holding on at least 50lbs of weight with a significant amount of leverage. There is a very good reason that companies sell swing out tire carrier kits with large bearings and joints. Check this out spindle from ruffstuff: http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/STIRES.html. Also the factory stamped steel bumper mounts are not up to the task.

Yes one bolt.... One 1/2" grade 8 bolt through two plates of 3/8" thhick steel. If you notice I did not put any sort of tow hooks or d-rings on it. I didn't build it to pull anything with or hold up anything more than a 33" tire. After building the hinge and welding it fully I put the gate in the completely open position and sat on the very end if it. I weigh 165 lbs and there were absolutely no issues.
As for the stock bumper brackets.. yes you could be right there but it IS bolted to a very weak and thin unibody after all. The stock brackets seemed sufficient for my use otherwise I would have made my own, but again what good would it do building some super beefy redicilous 1/4" brackets and bolting them to 14 gauge uni body sheetmetal.
For the intended purpose it will hold up absolutely fine. I've had Ford broncos a chevy S10 blazer, and a Nissan Pathfinder all with factory tire gates bolted to the quarter panel body sheet metal and put 31s and 33s on all of them.

 

[POSJ]

Okie dokie, good luck in your future endeavours.

 

[Bent]

You may find that 1/8" wall is a little light for rock rails. I had a set that I bought years ago that were 1/8 wall. They didn't hold up too well in the rocks. It wasn't the rocks that damaged my rockers, it was the "rock rails" themselves.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

You should add some frame Tie ins to the rock sliders if you dont want them to rip off with moderate use. It just looks like they are butt welded, then some little tabs going to the floor. I mean if its just to replace the rockers with something beefier , then I guess thats ok, but if you want to use them as actual sliders, they will need legs. You dont have to take my word for it, but with some hard drops and regular use on rocks you will probably regret not adding legs now.

 

[wheelin99s]

You should add some frame Tie ins to the rock sliders if you dont want them to rip off with moderate use. It just looks like they are butt welded, then some little tabs going to the floor. I mean if its just to replace the rockers with something beefier , then I guess thats ok, but if you want to use them as actual sliders, they will need legs. You dont have to take my word for it, but with some hard drops and regular use on rocks you will probably regret not adding legs now.

Yep I was thinking that too, I'll get to it soon, thanks for your advice

 

[wheelin99s]

Okie dokie, good luck in your future endeavours.

I didn't mean for my reply to sound so angry. Im just saying I personally think it will hold up but hey if something does happen to it you can say I told you so and I'll try a ball bearing type hinge.

I put my spare tire one today and bounced it around good and violently and don't see anything flexing. We'll see how it goes.

 

[POSJ]

I didn't mean for my reply to sound so angry. Im just saying I personally think it will hold up but hey if something does happen to it you can say I told you so and I'll try a ball bearing type hinge.

I put my spare tire one today and bounced it around good and violently and don't see anything flexing. We'll see how it goes.

Tone doesn't come off very well through text. Sorry that I took it the wrong way.

 

[themauler]

Looks good. Like others and from personal experience the tire and carrier will probably start bouncing around. A simple fix would just be welding supports onto your trailer hitch. I built mine off of that and don't have to worry about it ripping off of the stock bumper mounts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[whitexj98]

I wouldn't recommend using bed liner as a single coating, it doesn't seal well and will rust. I did my rear inner fenders like that it they rusted bad. I now primer/ paint and then bed line if I use it.

 

[burntkat]

I am going to preface this with a real disclaimer, I am not trying to be a dick or put you down. I am not an internet thug that talks trash or trolls for fun.

There is a single bolt through what appears to be 1/4" plate holding on at least 50lbs of weight with a significant amount of leverage. There is a very good reason that companies sell swing out tire carrier kits with large bearings and joints. Check this out spindle from ruffstuff: http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/STIRES.html. Also the factory stamped steel bumper mounts are not up to the task.

The OP would be WELL advised to listen to this guy. Those stamped steel mounts for the factory bumper are NOT up to this task.

 

[burntkat]

I wouldn't recommend using bed liner as a single coating, it doesn't seal well and will rust. I did my rear inner fenders like that it they rusted bad. I now primer/ paint and then bed line if I use it.

This!

A good start would be to clean it well, removing all loose material and roughing things up- then hit it with Ospho, then proceed with coating of choice.