I installed nutserts. You have to get the correct grip range for the steel you’re working with

Thanks Mike. I've ordered some from McMasters and they should be here Wednesday. I'll get this all finished up. It's too much work to mess with all this. We should have just got the Savvy and been done with it from Day 1.
 
Thanks Mike. I've ordered some from McMasters and they should be here Wednesday. I'll get this all finished up. It's too much work to mess with all this. We should have just got the Savvy and been done with it from Day 1.

Agree. They work, but there are too many compromises and/or things to fix to make them "right."
 
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Contemplating cutting this part of the slider off straight and welding the remaining JCR logo closed and painting. What do you guys think?

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I absolutely would, I hate laser cut logos in the armor. Guaranteed rust spots in future.
 
The JCR rock sliders are less desirable than I thought. I had to fix five things:

  1. They use 4 bolts to mount through the torque boxes and the tub. 4? That’s all? That’s not enough. This results in several problems. One, potential movement that can damage either the torque box or the tub by causing the bolt to move laterally. I had one damage part of my tub by stressing it so much it stretched the hole in the floorboard. Two, when the bolts come up through the tub they rub holes in the carpet. I even ground the bolts off and made it and the nut flush and smooth, but it still wore holes over time. Why do that? Just put about 7-8 nutserts in the torque boxes and call it good. So that’s what I did. @Mike_H did that too. The last part of this is now you have 8 holes in your tub floor that you need to plug. Got that done too. 🙄
  2. The stupid clips that hold the boat side slider in the backing plate. Those clips are not really up for the job. All mine were rusted and brittle after 4 years, and when I removed them one of them easily broke. Another place to put nutserts, so I did that too.
  3. The torque box is not level. Behind the center body mount it raises gradually. JCR welded a 3/16” plate to keep the slider up against the torque box. That’s not enough. You need 3/8” at that location. Just forward of that you need a 3/16” plate. I initially welded 3/8” there too, but when I went to fit them that was too much, and the plate farther back was no longer flush, so I took off 3/16” of the plate closer to the center body mount. Then everything was flush.
  4. The 5/16” Allen head screws that hold the slider on the backing plate and the backing plate on the tub dig into the paint when you tighten them. This inevitably causes rust. I got some black nylon washers to resolve that.
  5. They market the boat side slider as having two places you can use a hilift jack. Enough said, but they are just two places that can grab rocks. They also let salt spray in there that causes rust. I’m going to be messing with these again sometime, and I’m going to weld them shut.
At least now they’re acceptable and solid. Hope this helps someone. The main lesson is: don’t buy them unless you want to do all this work to fix them. Granted, it’s easier if you know from the start and prepare accordingly.

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The JCR rock sliders are less desirable than I thought. I had to fix five things:

  1. They use 4 bolts to mount through the torque boxes and the tub. 4? That’s all? That’s not enough. This results in several problems. One, potential sheering that can damage either the torque box or the tub. I had one damage part of my tub by stressing it so much it opened the tub hole up some. Two, when the bolts come up through the tub they rub holes in the carpet. I even ground the bolts off and made it and the nut flush, but it still wore holes over time. Why do that? Just put about 7-8 nutserts in the torque boxes and call it good. I fixed that. The last part of this is now you have 8 holes in your tub floor that you need to plug. Got that done too. 🙄
  2. The stupid clips that hold the boat side slider in the backing plate. Those clips are not really up for the job. All mine were rusted after 4 years, and when I removed them one of them easily broke. Another place to put nutserts, so I did that too.
  3. The torque box is not level. Behind the center body mount it raises gradually. JCR welded a 3/16” plate to keep the slider up against the torque box. That’s not enough. You need 3/8” at that location. Just forward of that you need a 3/16” plate. I initially welded 3/8” there too, but when I went to fit them that was too much, and the plate farther back was not flush, so I took off 3/16” of the more forward plate. Then everything was flush.
  4. The 5/16” Allen head screws that hold the step on the backing plate and the backing plate on the tub dig into the paint when you tighten them. This inevitably causes rust. I got some black nylon washers to resolve that.
  5. They market the boat side slider as having two places you can use a hilift jack. Enough said, but they are just two places that can grab rocks. They also let crap in there that causes rust. I’m going to be messing with these again sometime, and I’m going to weld them shut.
At least now they’re acceptable. Hope this helps someone. The main lesson is: don’t buy them unless you want to do all this work to fix them.

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Yea, those jacking points are something I've been concerned about also.
 
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Yea, those jacking points are something I've been concerned about also.

Not the end of the world, but those clips inside got salt spray and started getting brittle. At least I have nutserts there now. I still think best to weld them up next time I get in there. At least they are ww2ww and they will protect the tub.
 
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The JCR rock sliders are less desirable than I thought. I had to fix five things:

  1. They use 4 bolts to mount through the torque boxes and the tub. 4? That’s all? That’s not enough. This results in several problems. One, potential sheering that can damage either the torque box or the tub. I had one damage part of my tub by stressing it so much it opened the tub hole up some. Two, when the bolts come up through the tub they rub holes in the carpet. I even ground the bolts off and made it and the nut flush, but it still wore holes over time. Why do that? Just put about 7-8 nutserts in the torque boxes and call it good. I fixed that. The last part of this is now you have 8 holes in your tub floor that you need to plug. Got that done too. 🙄
  2. The stupid clips that hold the boat side slider in the backing plate. Those clips are not really up for the job. All mine were rusted after 4 years, and when I removed them one of them easily broke. Another place to put nutserts, so I did that too.
  3. The torque box is not level. Behind the center body mount it raises gradually. JCR welded a 3/16” plate to keep the slider up against the torque box. That’s not enough. You need 3/8” at that location. Just forward of that you need a 3/16” plate. I initially welded 3/8” there too, but when I went to fit them that was too much, and the plate farther back was not flush, so I took off 3/16” of the more forward plate. Then everything was flush.
  4. The 5/16” Allen head screws that hold the step on the backing plate and the backing plate on the tub dig into the paint when you tighten them. This inevitably causes rust. I got some black nylon washers to resolve that.
  5. They market the boat side slider as having two places you can use a hilift jack. Enough said, but they are just two places that can grab rocks. They also let crap in there that causes rust. I’m going to be messing with these again sometime, and I’m going to weld them shut.
At least now they’re acceptable. Hope this helps someone. The main lesson is: don’t buy them unless you want to do all this work to fix them.

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So, if some one gave you a “new sliders for your TJ“ coupon, but it was only good for currently available options (e.g. NOT Savvy), what would you pick?
 
So, if some one gave you a “new sliders for your TJ“ coupon, but it was only good for currently available options (e.g. NOT Savvy), what would you pick?

From what I understand in the most recent threads, Savvy is still a viable business, though I agree they don’t have any currently available. They are the best option.

There are three others that would require modification.

  1. JCR - easy to modify from the start. Mount them with nutserts like Savvy. Add plates underneath for correct spacing. Throw the clips away and use nutserts there too. And, as @All 4 Wheelin' reminded me, they come with solid inner bracing.
  2. Genright Mini Boat Sides- inner bracing and ww2ww. Modifications I’m not familiar with, but I think @rasband and/or @jjvw know what is needed. Cutting the step off would be desirable.
  3. TNT Customs - these have a double break, which is attractive, along with inner bracing. Not ww2ww, so I’d butt weld an extra piece on each end to make them ww2ww. I haven’t seen anyone try these.
 
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From what I understand in the most recent threads, Savvy is still a viable business, though I agree they don’t have any currently available. They are the best option.

There are three others that would require modification.

  1. JCR - easy to modify from the start. Mount them with nutserts like Savvy. Add plates underneath for correct spacing. Throw the clips away and use nutserts there too.
  2. Genright Mini Boat Sides- modifications I’m not familiar with, but I think @rasband and/or @jjvw know what is needed.
  3. TNT Customs - these have a double break, which is attractive, along with inner bracing. Not ww2ww, so I’d butt weld an extra piece on each end to make them ww2ww. I haven’t seen anyone try these, which surprises me, but they are a bit spendy.

Don't forget the jcr's have inner bracing. And the mods to the jcr's aren't too extreme. Thanks for doing all the leg work.
 
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From what I understand in the most recent threads, Savvy is still a viable business, though I agree they don’t have any currently available. They are the best option.

There are three others that would require modification.

  1. JCR - easy to modify from the start. Mount them with nutserts like Savvy. Add plates underneath for correct spacing. Throw the clips away and use nutserts there too. And, as @All 4 Wheelin' reminded me, they come with solid inner bracing.
  2. Genright Mini Boat Sides- inner bracing and ww2ww. Modifications I’m not familiar with, but I think @rasband and/or @jjvw know what is needed. Cutting the step off would be desirable.
  3. TNT Customs - these have a double break, which is attractive, along with inner bracing. Not ww2ww, so I’d butt weld an extra piece on each end to make them ww2ww. I haven’t seen anyone try these.

Great answer. Things to consider…
 
The JCR rock sliders are less desirable than I thought. I had to fix five things:

  1. They use 4 bolts to mount through the torque boxes and the tub. 4? That’s all? That’s not enough. This results in several problems. One, potential movement that can damage either the torque box or the tub by causing the bolt to move laterally. I had one damage part of my tub by stressing it so much it stretched the hole in the floorboard. Two, when the bolts come up through the tub they rub holes in the carpet. I even ground the bolts off and made it and the nut flush and smooth, but it still wore holes over time. Why do that? Just put about 7-8 nutserts in the torque boxes and call it good. So that’s what I did.
I also had holes in my carpet. That wasn't as big a deal to me as the fact that the bolts went through the torque box without any support...which means that the bolts could never get tight. That was my primary driver to installing the nutserts. I thought about doing it from the get go, and actually talked to the tech support at JCR. They told me it would be "fine." I didn't believe them but ended up mounting them through the floor because they didn't sit flat and I didn't have a welder at the time.
  1. @Mike_H did that too. The last part of this is now you have 8 holes in your tub floor that you need to plug. Got that done too. 🙄
  2. The stupid clips that hold the boat side slider in the backing plate. Those clips are not really up for the job. All mine were rusted and brittle after 4 years, and when I removed them one of them easily broke. Another place to put nutserts, so I did that too.
I installed nutserts here from the get go. Whoever spec'd the hardware for this set of sliders is a moron. U-nuts are used by OEMs for ease of assembly, not because they are in any way shape or form a viable, long term fastener solution (where you might have to disassemble).
  1. The 5/16” Allen head screws that hold the slider on the backing plate and the backing plate on the tub dig into the paint when you tighten them. This inevitably causes rust. I got some black nylon washers to resolve that.
Next time you have a metal washer in your hands, look at it carefully and feel the edges. One side is sharp, one side is more rounded and "softer." Happens that way because of the punch process to make a washer. Put the rounded edge against your painted surface to minimize paint damage.
  1. They market the boat side slider as having two places you can use a hilift jack. Enough said, but they are just two places that can grab rocks.
I will be installing Rock Lights in those holes...Stay tuned!
 
I also had holes in my carpet. That wasn't as big a deal to me as the fact that the bolts went through the torque box without any support...which means that the bolts could never get tight. That was my primary driver to installing the nutserts. I thought about doing it from the get go, and actually talked to the tech support at JCR. They told me it would be "fine." I didn't believe them but ended up mounting them through the floor because they didn't sit flat and I didn't have a welder at the time.

I installed nutserts here from the get go. Whoever spec'd the hardware for this set of sliders is a moron. U-nuts are used by OEMs for ease of assembly, not because they are in any way shape or form a viable, long term fastener solution (where you might have to disassemble).

Next time you have a metal washer in your hands, look at it carefully and feel the edges. One side is sharp, one side is more rounded and "softer." Happens that way because of the punch process to make a washer. Put the rounded edge against your painted surface to minimize paint damage.

I will be installing Rock Lights in those holes...Stay tuned!

It was interesting that even the nylon washers I bought had a rough and smooth edge. I am familiar with the fact they have edges. Hold enough of them and it’s obvious.

Rock lights. I gotta see this Mike!
 
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