DIY rock sliders (Dropkick Slyders clone)

[Bofa-Deez]

So I set up to weld the brackets and as I tacked them down to the plate to avoid welding distortion, it dawned on me. Why not use it to my advantage? I tacked the open end of the bracket slightly tight of perfectly square to keep it true

Then I cranked up the amps and poured on the coals with a 3 pass weld. This sucked up the measurement slightly on the closed end. Now the bracket fits like a glove.

I think I almost got the hang of this stick welding thing.

 

[Bofa-Deez]

Today I found my old body mount bolts and cut the heads off so I could use them to fabricate the clamps. I cut slots in the clamps where the bolts would weld so I could weld them from both sides.

When I went to test fit the clamps and slider before welding them together, I realized that my original plan to weld them to the frame placed the back standoff welding to the frame near the rear of the transfer case. Since I cannot fit a clamp here, the back brace had to be cut off and moved 3" to the rear and rewelded. In addition, I also did not see that the supports for wiring and brake lines were also in the area of where the clamp would be. The front clamp was able to me moved an inch or so to clear, but I made a trim on the rear clamp to get it closer to the body mount.

After all that crap was handled, I was able to put the clamps in place and tack the slider to the clamp and reposition and tack the rear brace to the slider.

All that's left is to weld it out and touch-up the paint, then the driver's side is complete, but it's way too hot out there now. Maybe tonight.

 

[Bofa-Deez]

So today I managed to finish up on the clamps and modifications to the passenger side slider. The passenger side did not have the brake line and wire supports that the driver side had so it was easy sailing.

One thing to note here is that if I had known I was going with clamps when I started, it would have been much easier to tack the braces to the clamps, then weld the slider on, like this.

Another thing noted was the crud stuck under the stock rubi rocker panel protectors. I'm gonna pay more attention to this area in the future.

Then I finished painting the clamp plates. Since each was made separately with spare bolts on hand, I marked each clamp plate before paint for easy identification during assembly. Here are the passenger front and rear plates.

Had I been making more than one of these or fabricating it for a customer, I would have made a jig to ensure the plates and clamp measurements were identical. Also, the holes in the plate were drilled by hand because I don't have a drill press... yet

If the paint cures completely overnight, they should be ready to mount tomorrow. Oh Happy day!

 

[Serbonze]

Good job sir, you’ve done well. I’ve been pleased with my Dropkicks.

 

[Bofa-Deez]

Good job sir, you’ve done well. I’ve been pleased with my Dropkicks.

Thanks. I appreciate that. I hate it when I find the perfect product only to find it's discontinued.

 

[Bofa-Deez]

I got them installed today and I am extremely happy with the finished product

So in closing, lessons learned:

1) A plasma cutter and small drill press would have made life a whole lot easier. I have already notified Santa of these findings.

2) A budget of even $50 would have allowed some local scrap bin diving for more optimal materials like 2x3" tubing for the sliders and 1x2" tubing for the braces and larger channel or tubing for the clamps instead of fabricating them from plate. This also would have saved a ton of time.

3) making the decision to fabricate it as clamp on instead of weld on in the beginning would have made things much easier.

4) Make the welds that will be showing after the install after a little bit of practice so the finished product looks professional.

My total budget for the build was $0, but I did have to spend $1.84 on some nuts for the clamp that I did not have on hand. I did prove that a dude with some simple tools and a little math can build a set of these in his garage.

Thanks to all of you who took interest and offered suggestions.

 

[2006TJ1]

Do you have any plans to add bracing to tie the slider into the body?

 

[lowranger]

I was following along. Great job! You should be proud of those.

 

[TurboTJ]

I have Dropkick sliders on my TJR that were installed by the PO. After reading this I realized that he put them on backwards (left on right, right on left). That results in the sliders hanging about two inches below the tub rather than right up against it. I actually like the looks of it that way but of course it results in less clearance to obstacles. Hmmm, got to decide now whether to change it.

 

[Bofa-Deez]

Do you have any plans to add bracing to tie the slider into the body?

I was thinking about welding some ears onto the braces and sliding them under the stock Rubicon rocker protectors and use longer screws to attach to the same holes as the rocker panels.

I can tell you this, I am what some might consider "a tad beefy" and when I stand on them and bounce all of my weight on them, there is zero deflection, so I'm not sure if additional bracing is needed. The clamps I fabricated are also thicker (1/4" plate) and also wider than the stock dropkick ones. I'm not sure I need any additional bracing to the body. If you have any suggestions, I might give it a shot. It certainly wouldn't hurt.

 

[Bofa-Deez]

I was following along. Great job! You should be proud of those.

There is always an undescribable sense of satisfaction upon stepping back and taking in the results of a plan that comes together nicely, especially when you fabricate parts yourself.

I have plans for a couple of additional "low dough" builds that I will document here as well. If I named my vehicles, my jeep would probably be LoDo