Rocker Armor and Rust

[Haggis]

Times come to get some rocker armor for my LJ. Been doing alot of ckecking with some of the local boys and some reading here and elsewhere, and haven't quite made up my mind as to what style I want, tub mounted or frame mounted. I'm leaning towards the frame mounted ones like the Body Armor ones. Why? Because in this corner of Pa we have salt on the road at least 5 months of the year (usually 6) and in massive quanities. I've seen tub mounted guards, even intalled with gaskets, hold salt and salt water and start rotting the tub out. Then there's drilling holes into the tub , more edges for salt to eat at. Plus I like the thought of being able to dismount the armor to give it another coat of paint or liner when the salt starts to eat at it. We don't have that much rocks here, more like log crawls and stump shots, so a little loss in clearance along the rockers isn't that big of a deal. Now mud, we have alot of that. Any thoughts from the Snow Belt Expo Brethern as to their experiences with rocker guards and avoiding Jeep Rot? Which brands powdercoating holds up best to salt and antiskid? Have you had better luck with bed lining?

 

[computeruser]

Not directly on point, but I had a YJ with the body-mounted step thing that grew out of the full-body fender flares. It was a MI jeep, and the whole thing rotted out behind the flares and step. Definitely not something I'd do again.

Frame mounted is definitely the way to go here in the land of salt. And if I was starting from scratch, I'd get 'em galvanized and be done with it. Looks be damned.

 

[86cj]

Rockers for a "Salt Ride"

I have still not decided that question for myself and my LJ is 4yrs old........I cannot Break the paint on my LJ after nursing a rustbucket CJ forever, (way to much mental trama there).....

I do like the idea of adding some strength to the thin sheet metal and would like a set of stainless Kilby rockers but they don't exist and I could not afford them either. Even if made of material that won't rust or corrode they still will trap salt and rust behind them. I thought of putting some bedliner or undercoating on tub and back of rocker and install wet, then wipe off excess. (Tough to pull off quickly, considering all the odd bolts and brackets involved).

I have been letting the stock Rubicons salt test the factory sliders and the exterior seems to hold up pretty good to rust so far, behind them could be another story. I have only seen a few brands of "real" rocker sliders and they rust within the first few years...

I probably will make some frame mounted sliders using bushings.... I need the step lowering effect they offer to keep the navigator happy, and coated with some Rustoleum black for touch up. Then maybee a set of factory Rubicon sliders with a good coat of single stage factory black paint before installation..

I must confess I am not a "Real Rockcrawler" , I just do some Expedition type Wheelin'.............

 

[preacherman]

when I was up north I saw a few guys run a bead of black rtv around the inside of rocker guards and rock sliders to keep water from getting inside, between the rocker guard and the sheetmetal. the only down side would be if you ever wanted to remove the guard, you would have all kinds of reside on the sheet metal.

 

[Haggis]

Yeah, thats the problem with rtv. No matter what brand I'm sure they'll need to come of to freshen up the powdercoat at some time and the rtv would be a mess.

 

[86cj]

If you seal all the edges with RTV it will trap moisture from condensation and rust with no salt. The bottom needs to be open for a drain and air circulation, which would allow salt water in and defeats the purpose.....
I still like the idea of a stainless guard installed with a wet coating of bedliner or undercoating on the back sealing out everything and never needing removal for corrosion. (or damage if the frame mounted sliders do their job)......
I have not worked with stainless much or figured how to install them before the back dries yet.....

 

[over2land]

I'm from NJ originally... and they salt the roads there just like PA... maybe a few less months, but same idea.

My last two CJ7s, I made rocker guards out of 4x4x1/4 inch angle iron. I painted them Rustoleum black... like 3 or 4 heavy coats. I then mounted them directly to the body with the entire surface that actually touched the body being RTV'd. Not just the edges, the whole dang thing where paint touched paint. One one, I masked and rustoleum'd the body too (the '80). I painted where the bolts went through. I siliconed the washers to the inside of the tub, after painting with Rustoleum.

I never found tapered head bolts that didn't rust... even the stainless ones. The '84 (the one with the tapered bolts) I RTV'd behind the head of the bolt too.

What I did was spooge RTV all over the rocker (after holes are drilled and rockers/Jeep well painted) and put it on without tightening the thing all the way. Basically tighten until RTV starts coming out, then stop. Wait for it to cure, then tighten all the way. This keeps from paint on paint contact.

On the bottom, because it was only 4 inches, it drained pretty well, and I made sure to power wash up between the rocker guard and the body. Also, the under side of the Jeep would get a fresh wire brushing and re-rustoleuming every spring.

I never pulled the rockers off the 84... but the guy I sold it too told me before he replaced the body that the rockers were just about the only non-rusted out section (some 4 years later). The 80, I pulled one off.... mainly cause I'm a glutton for punishment. Ok, I was going to boatside it... but once I got that one halfway off (cutting RTV the whole way) I was like "screw this". But it was too late. I had to take the thing all the way off.... saw no rust, cleaned RTV off, repainted and reinstalled... that was after about 2 years of use. And, the CJ's got winter duty more than the YJ did cause they were lincoln locked on 35's... where the YJ was open on 31s.

And, FWIW, Semi-Gloss black Rustoleum looks just like the powdercoating a lot of manufacturer's use on their stuff. You could mask the Jeep off and re-shoot the rockers with that at will. No need to remove them.

Just my 2 cents. I'm always leary about going to the frame, cause there is no way to make good and sure that the inside of the frame isn't rusting where you either bolted or welded the out riggers to the frame.

 

[trail-explorer]

One of the nicest frame mounted sliders was made by Jeeprman, called the SKIDZ.

They closed up shop and another outfit took over, and it looks like there are still some of the LJ versions available.

They are total bolt on, not drilled in to the frame for mounting.

http://www.redrock4x4.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=50&products_id=1611

Keep your eyes open on other forums, or do a search for them and you can likely find some better pictures of them.

 

[orangeTJ]

I bought a set of these used back in December and finally got them installed earlier in the week. Here's a few close up pics of them:

Driver's side, front:

Driver's side, rear:

This shows how the frame is sandwiched between the mount.

 

[Tanto]

Electro-galvanization is an interesting idea. If you etch the metal properly after they are galvanized they can be painted too.

 

[orangeTJ]

Found these too, new product:

http://www.redrockfab.com/shop/tj-rocker-guards/tj-frame-mounted-rocker-guards.html

though it looks like no LJ version listed yet.