Rocker panel alternative

[nightflyers]

Well I started working on the jeep again. My rocker panels are no existant due to rust. I replaced the one side and it looks good, but I can see myself smashing them on the trail.

I would like to just keep them off and maybe get some 2x3 steel put in their place. My question is how is the best way to attach it. I don't want to have them ripped off on the trail. I ain't the best fabricator, but I have a friend who will do the work. Anyone done this? Any pics? Other ideas?

[Stuka]

erm.....how diid they rust?

They should be galvanized steel of a pretty heavy guage. I have had my whole truck resting on mine severall times..they have some dents and only about half their paint left....but zero rust on them (I drive through snow 4 months out of the year too)

RiverBeast made some nerf bars on his rig. They are connected to the frame. But hhe has a 3" body lift so they come straight out the side from the frame. If you dont have a body lift you will have to go under the body annd thereby decreasing total ground clearance...

[ October 15, 2001: Message edited by: Stuka ]

[Bob Barry]

They probably rusted the way mine are rusting; from the inside out, starting at the back. I've hung mine up on some pretty ugly rocks, and though they have stood up pretty well, it's starting to take its toll. The rocker-panel "wear" is evident in the following not-so-flattering shot of me doing a field-repair of my pretzeled driveshaft:

http://home.off-road.com/~wagoneer/cherokee/me03.jpg

2"x3" tubing will be much too small; you need something more like 4"x3" in order to protect the bottom of the doors. I was planning on using some super-thick 3"x3" tubing, but that would leave the edges of the doors prone to damage from rocks. I'm planning on cutting mine out entirely and bolting some "L"-section steel (possibly fabricated from the framerails of an E350 van that they may be parting out here at work) in their place. I plan on attaching them with bolts through the body-braces that meet the current rocker, plus a lot of screws/rivets through a strip of 1/8"-1/4" steel strap, sandwiching the sill-plate to the top of the rocker, then filling the void with some aeresol foam (the top of the rocker is contoured, not flat). The section will have to be at least 3" vertical, and I'd like to see about 6" horizontal, to extend out and provide some door-protection.

[jeepbob]

if your rockers are that bad the inner rocker is prolly bad too. I used 5x2 tubing split to make 5x1 c channel which is an exact replacement for the orig but you could just run the 5x2 tube.

[Ralph]

Let me tell you guys about rocker panels!

For one thing, the rockers on FSJ's are really well-made items, heavy guage sheet metal seam-welded all around, with similar guage perpendicular brackets. These brackets all have drain holes.

They're attached by about 70 spot welds. Took me a whole day just to get one rusted panel off. And because the job of putting new ones on is similarly tedious, I've surrendered the idea of doing my own body work and given my Jeep to a specialist.

The short version of the above is that the designers really thought about these rocker panels and what they might have to endure.

As for nerf bars, check out Frank Almaas' website (http://home.online.no/~falmaas/). He has a set of drawings in there somewhere. Killer 32 Fabrications (http://www.rosenvick.com/killer32/) offers a set for sale.

Here are a couple photos of my rocker panel journey:

http://fs4.dotphoto.com/MemberImages/180113/i4604599C-9D47-4717-9F3C-5FEE5C5BF431.jpg
http://fs4.dotphoto.com/MemberImages/180113/iB243019A-6A1F-4200-914D-9FDA80D7DED3.jpg
http://fs3.dotphoto.com/MemberImages/180113/i7A662484-6A33-4F20-BAB1-8F7641CDEAB9.jpg
http://fs3.dotphoto.com/MemberImages/180113/i0F9C22FC-276C-4A86-B8C1-1812693C7819.jpg

[Dan]

The driver side rocker has a couple of small holes from rust, but otherwise looks pretty solid. Would it be worth it for me to try to have a patch welded in to place? Or just leave it for a while and eventually have the whole rocker replaced?

[Mikel2]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jeepbob:
if your rockers are that bad the inner rocker is prolly bad too. I used 5x2 tubing split to make 5x1 c channel which is an exact replacement for the orig but you could just run the 5x2 tube.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Any pics?
Thanks.

[nightflyers]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> They probably rusted the way mine are rusting; from the inside out, starting at the back. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Exactly the way mine were. What really made it worse was the PO took duct tape to cover the rust holes, put body fill over it and than bolted diamond plate over it. When I went to remove the diamond plate, pretty much the only thing left was the duct tape and body fill.

Since I really don't need to do much to get the rest off, I thinking it would just be better to upgrade to something that will look OK and hold up well on the trail.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> if your rockers are that bad the inner rocker is prolly bad too. I used 5x2 tubing split to make 5x1 c channel which is an exact replacement for the orig but you could just run the 5x2 tube. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

jeepbob, You got any pic's?

[Ralph]

Weld-in rocker panels aren't the only fix. Just the most thorough one. You can also get so-called "slip on" rocker panels that essentially cover the rusty areas and do a pretty good job.

[Dome]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cfsja/files/Pics/

Look for images named Mvc-018s.jpg
and Mvc-013s.jpg


A member of the CFSJA replaced his rocker panels with some steel plating.

[andy d]

Bob Barry, i wouldn't use foam in a can. it holds water. the po of my 88 used it to glom together the skidplate /frame area. it rusted out the brake line in no time flat.

[newbie]

Bob, if I didn't see that guy handing you a wrench, I'd sware it looks like you're passed out under there! smile.gif

[Bob Barry]

Newb: smile.gif No, but this trail was along some power-lines, and the little climb in which I broke this shaft put me on top of a little mesa right under (about 15'-20') under some high-tension lines (this is a power-line trail). I thought I was feeling the sharp edge of the crossmember on my forearm as I was working on the bolts for the double-cardan joint, but it turns out I was getting a little shock from touching metal! I guess my truck's proximity to the electrical field generated by these lines was generating a current to ground, and my forarm was providing the path for that current to reach ground. In retrospect, I probably should have removed the CB antenna pointing straight up from my truck at those lines, just in case there was some wierd power-surge that turned it into a kind of lightening-rod and turned the underside of the Jeep into a little toaster-oven with me in it! (I don't even know if such an event is possible, but I wouldn't want to make it into the Darwin Awards trying to find out...).

Andy: Does the foam absorb water, or just trap it? I'll be coating the steel surfaces with hammerite paint, and water is going to get up in there anyway; the point to the foam would be to fill the void that water might otherwise occupy, as well as spreading out the load on the metal. The passage would be basically closed in as well, whereas that skidplate is right out there in the open. What, though, was he thinking foam would do? Was he using it as a structural support? :confused: