PING - Snow

I cant wait to see them lol. The weather here is just now changing and it is officially Desert season. Come down from Canada and visit! KH

Thanks for the invite, I'll bring beer and mirrors - Saturday around 4ish okay for you? While taking the interior out to do the floors, I thought of you. When you rolled your beast, it looked like a good angle for floor repairs.

-Brian

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Uhmmmmm "under way" lol Picking up the sheet metal sometime this week and rough cutting it to size, one of the structures guys at work said he would bend it up for me. As long as I get the drivers side done before the January freeze I'm ok..besides when I did my floors it was late November and lightly snowing ..lol

Snow...

You are making rockers? Mine were $41/each and fit perfect, you are punishing yourself!

-Brian

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Gents, I just had a look at my wife's daily driver, our XJ and it is a total 'Flinstone' machine on the drivers side. Just carpet and a frame rail, nothing else.

It also has ratty but not too bad rockers. Where did you find them for $41?

I have a little 115V 'MIG' flux core wirefeed welder that is sweet for sheet metal on low power. It will cut it on high.

Though I think I might just plate the floor with anything, maybe just duct tape and cardboard as a filler and 'glass the sucker. That way they can never rust out again! I have tons of nice fiberglass sheet and rosin around and I have had past welded rust repairs rot out fast because of the loss of temper at the weld joint.

I hear if you are 'really' good you can weld it twice to restore the temper in the metal, but I am not that experienced.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Cherokee-LTD wrote:

I got it through the guy that painted my XJ... where he got it I don't know but he charged me $41. It doesn't seem likely that he made any profit from me.

I'd be willing to bet it's more than just the drivers side. Check over the muffler area on the pass. side. Lift the thick rubber insulation on the firewall/footwells. Under the rear seat at the interior crossmember.

: : I have a little 115V 'MIG' flux core wirefeed welder that is sweet for : sheet metal on low power. It will cut it on high. : : Though I think I might just plate the floor with anything, maybe just : duct tape and cardboard as a filler and 'glass the sucker. That way : they can never rust out again! I have tons of nice fiberglass sheet and : rosin around and I have had past welded rust repairs rot out fast : because of the loss of temper at the weld joint.

That might work for a quick fix but as you know the pseudo-frame needs steel floorpans to limit twist. It's pretty thin gauge (10-12), if you glass to it I'd be willing to bet it would crack your repair the first time you pull out of your driveway. Glass would likely be fine in the cargo area but I'd weld in the pass. area.

-Brian

Good point. I am getting the welder out anyway to make strikers for my hard doors. I want to mount them off my roll bar so my 'glass body doesn't have the impact on it.

I figure after 4 years of driving with just the bikini and soft tops it's time to have a comfy winter with the hard top and hard doors on seeing as I have the things collecting dust in the garage.

Mike

The cheapest rockers I've found so far are $61 (plus taxes) and they are "dent & ding" from a semi-local parts place manufacture wants $61 (plus taxes) and $25 to $35 for delivery, so for the $120 to $155 I figured I could pick up either a sheet of 22-20 gauge sheet metal (about $45) or 3x3 box tubing (about $50-$75 for the lengths I need), I decided that since 1) my passenger side rocker is still solid and 2) since the box tubing would require cutting out both rocker remains, I would go with the sheet metal and weld them back on , guess really it would be more like a rocker skin. Also this way I only have to do them one at a time.

Snow...

Hi,

I say box steel. Why invest time and money in sheet metal that will get shredded by rocks or rotted by salt? I replaced mine with 2x6x3/16 box and couldn't be happier with the result:

It was really easy to do. I got the box tube and end plates cut to size by the metal retailer. I used a 4" grinder to chop out the old rocker panels in a matter of minutes. I chose to run my box tubes from wheel well to wheel well, so I cut the front and rear fenders & flares to sit flush on top of the tubes. Again, no big deal to cut them. I used the grinder to cut 1-2' sections of 2x2x1/8 angle iron to act as support shelves with intermittent spacing to accommodate frame bolts and provide access for undercoating and drainage. The tubes were intended for air tanks, so I drilled and tapped them for fittings and drain plugs, and used the grinder to round and bevel the edges of the end plates to make a good mate for the welds. All this prep work took just a few hours including the requisite number of beer breaks.

I had help from an experienced welder to put it all together. First, he welded the end caps in place and ground and rewelded to get a good air seal. We then held the box tube in place with jacks and tack welded the angle iron sections in place. The tube was then removed and the angle irons were fully welded to the body. The worst part of the job was pulling up the edge of the carpet and applying air and water from the inside to keep things from burning as the weld progressed. From there it was easy going to weld the tubes in place.

Finishing was quick. I applied flexible auto body sealer to cover the weld seams and the gaps between fenders and rockers. Then some rattlecan black to complete the job.

I love this mod. I can slide over and pivot on rocks, I have a solid hilift jack point anywhere between the wheels, and I have 24 litres (6.5 US gal) of air cushion to inflate tires, run air tools, and engage lockers with my 80-110 psi onboard air system. Total retail cost for box tubes (2 x 66.75"), angle iron (12'), and end caps was under 150 loons.

Steve

Snow wrote:

I don't blame you!

-Brian

Looks good Steve, I've seen several DIY solid rockers and that is bar far the cleanest looking! When my rockers rot out again (and they will) or start getting beat up, I will be doing the same. I have a few projects planned ahead of that however.

-Brian

By the air supply (not the band) are you pumping air in to the rockers and using them as a pressurized reservoir??

Hi Steve,

The air supply is actually my Sanden 508 air conditioning compressor. I tore out all the AC components I could get at (system was screwed anyway and I don't really need AC much where I live) and connected the compressor to a pressure switch, filter, oil separator, relief valve, check valve, air chuck, regulator, locker switch, etc. The whole system is connected to the two tanks. They're not as much a reservoir as they are a cushion to keep the compressor from running continuously when inflating tires or running air tools.

Steve

SteveBrady wrote:

leak tested?

Yes. Everything past the check valve, including tanks, is air tight and holds 110 psi indefinitely. Okay, you could call it a reservoir, but it doesn't hold enough to reinflate a tire without cycling the compressor.

Steve

SteveBrady wrote: