I had about 2 hours of extra time today since I got to work remotely - so no getting ready, no driving in and I can use my lunch.
I decided I'd tackle the rocker rail.
I had to cut off all of the little tabs off of the tub. Here are most of them (one of them is hiding in the garage somewhere).
I removed the two bottom front most bolts from the rear fender flares as those holes will be reused to mount the rocker rail. I also removed the interior panel on the drivers side that covers all the wires and pulled everything well away from the tub so I would not drill into it. I also plan on placing a 2x4 between the wire and the tub when I drill to be safe.
I'm only showing photos of the driver's side but will discuss both sides as the passenger side had some challenges. I lifted the rail into place with my jack and used one of the bolts I removed earlier to secure the rear. It fit nice and flush (unlike the passenger side, more to follow).
Once everything was lined-up properly, I used a center punch that matched the diameter of the holes in the rocker rails and marked center for everywhere I'd need to drill.
I drilled all the holes and painted over the holes, random nicks and scratches, and where I cut the tabs off earlier with brush on Eastwood rust encapsolator. It looked really pretty...
I installed a Riv Nut where I drilled through the UNLIMITED decal. I took several photos and measurements of the decal and may create a pair with out Cricut out of white exterior vinyl and place it in the same spot (or maybe just below the screw). This was only the fifth or sixth riv nut I've ever installed, so I was worried. It went well; I used an actual riv nut tool instead of the nut/bolt/washer deal that came with the rocker rails. Here is a shot of the rail installed on the driver's side.
I thought I'd knock the passenger side out really fast. I was wrong. First off, either the rail or my tub was warped a little. The Passenger rail did get banged-up a bit compared to the driver's side, so it could be the rail. The sheet metal on the tub under the door on the passenger side is a bit more beat up than the driver's side, so it could be the tub. Maybe it's a little of both. Once I got the rail jacked up and the rear bolt in, the rail did not sit flush against the tub like it did on the driver's side. I used a C-clamp on the front to draw it in so I could mark all the centers for my holes. The top of the rear of the rail was still a little proud of the tub, maybe 1/16".
I lowered the rail, drilled, painted (more paint due to the aforementioned banged-up'ness of the tub on this side), and installed the riv nut. I must not have been paying attention to the riv nut install becuase I did not seat it well enough.
This is probably a lesson many of you have already learned. If you ever have a bunch of bolts to install and only one of them is secured by a riv nut you just installed, install that bolt first. I had not learned that lesson yet.
I installed almost all of the bolts except the one that went through the riv nut. Despite my practically perfect drilling on the driver's side, my holes were off by a wee bit on the passenger side. This is not an issue with regular nuts and bolts and they are very forgiving. The riv nut shows no mercy. The combination of the misalignment and what I believe was a crappy install of the riv nut by me resulted in the riv nut just spinning around. I tried to get it to seat with the tool, but I could not get the tool threaded in far enough for it to work properly due to the misalignment and spinning. I ended up removing all the bolts except for the rear one which allowed me to rotate the front of the rail down enough to cut out the bad riv but (I'd pretty much destroyed it already) and install a new one that I was sure would not spin. I then reinstalled all the bolts, starting with the one that went in the riv nut, and everything was fine. Both sides are installed and feel very sturdy.