Rock Sliders / Rocker Guards Guide

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Anyone see this?


There is a lot baked into the video that explains why the Savvy sliders and the modified GR mini boatsides are the way they are. All of his justifications for wanting the tube step ended up with him having the very thing thing that created the damage. Add to that, the absence of internal support to the sliders.
 
Update on JCR sliders. There are at least 6 things to fix on these. You might consider modifying the Genright Mini Boat Sides or TNT, or if you want you can still modify the the JCR's and get something solid.
  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 the bolt twisted and 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 in the carpet 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. 🙄
  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. You may have a better solution.
  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.
  6. The backing plate really needs another hole and nutsert near the factory Jeep insignia to hold it tight to the tub.
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.
 
I ordered CavFab rockers and will report when I get them. The only mod I think I will make is at the rear wheel opening. There is no support to the rockers there.

Keep us informed! I'm trying to decide on a set, since I'm sure I'll never get a set of savvys, and the CavFab look like they might be a decent option.
 
I emailed CAVFAB asking for a picture of how it attaches at the bottom and did not get a great one but here it is. It seems to me that it only bolts on to the sides of the cab. Might need some modifications to be fully secure.

E04E09CE-AC95-41B3-84E2-45BE6482C35F.jpeg
 
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I emailed CAVFAB asking for a picture of how it attaches at the bottom and did not get a great one but here it is. It seems to me that it only bolts on to the sides of the cab. Might need some modifications to be fully secure.

View attachment 408008

It looks as though it has two bolts in the bottom. Think it was disgust before that there might need to be some slight modification to that.
 
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I just recently got the poison spyder ricochet rockers. I am having to Fab them due to metal cloak fenders (I would not use these again, but they came with the jeep.)
0.jpg


https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui...316745&th=186f0df86dade549&view=att&disp=safe


The PS dont quite align to the tub floor in the forward section on my LJ. There is a gap in the front body mount about 3/8" Not a fan of how these were made. and not sure if its a one off or not.

The other issue i'm having is with the body lift pucks. "Body lift pucks sit between the rocker metal of the upper body mount" They dont fit inside the mounting plate cutouts by about 1/8-3/16. I am likely going to trim some flats in the body mounts, but curious if anyone has had this issue or has BL that are wider or narrow than these. I would assume wider would actually be better to hold against the rocker to the tub. I would love to have gotten the rubber gasket for these before installing but they are 90-120 days backordered. (maybe) Has anyone used home made rubber gasket? If so what material is it? I have access to cnc cutters and was on hold for PS for an hour and a half with no answers before giving up. Wish I could just get a cad file.



IMG_7003.jpg
 
The mods to CavFab seem to be what any other comparable sliders would require. The main thing I see is the lack of support at the rear ww.

Does the length at the front ww matter, with in reason, if you have aftermarket fabricated fenders?

Is the cost of stiffeners and hardware going to make $250 sliders too expensive?
 
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The mods to CavFab seem to be what any other comparable sliders would require. The main thing I see is the lack of support at the rear ww.

Does the length at the front ww matter, with in reason, if you have aftermarket fabricated fenders?

Is the cost of stiffeners and hardware going to make $250 sliders too expensive?

Probably still ahead at that price point
 
The mods to CavFab seem to be what any other comparable sliders would require. The main thing I see is the lack of support at the rear ww.

Does the length at the front ww matter, with in reason, if you have aftermarket fabricated fenders?

Is the cost of stiffeners and hardware going to make $250 sliders too expensive?

I personally like ones that get sandwiched inbetween the body mounts instead of just on the tub. A lot of talk on problems like this. Theyre 499 and just had a 10% off sale. Not sure if its still going. CavFab was new to me in the last couple weeks and they are very responsive and looks like quality components.
https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/poison-spyder-ricochet-rockers-bare-steel-15-50-050/_/R-FVNN-15-50-050
Not a fan of PS the company or like blaine or jerry say, lazer cut emblem, but ive had them on 3 of my jeeps and taken pretty good hits.
 
I just recently got the poison spyder ricochet rockers. I am having to Fab them due to metal cloak fenders (I would not use these again, but they came with the jeep.)
View attachment 408074

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui...316745&th=186f0df86dade549&view=att&disp=safe


The PS dont quite align to the tub floor in the forward section on my LJ. There is a gap in the front body mount about 3/8" Not a fan of how these were made. and not sure if its a one off or not.

The other issue i'm having is with the body lift pucks. "Body lift pucks sit between the rocker metal of the upper body mount" They dont fit inside the mounting plate cutouts by about 1/8-3/16. I am likely going to trim some flats in the body mounts, but curious if anyone has had this issue or has BL that are wider or narrow than these. I would assume wider would actually be better to hold against the rocker to the tub. I would love to have gotten the rubber gasket for these before installing but they are 90-120 days backordered. (maybe) Has anyone used home made rubber gasket? If so what material is it? I have access to cnc cutters and was on hold for PS for an hour and a half with no answers before giving up. Wish I could just get a cad file.



View attachment 408075

Do not modify the body mounts or the lift pucks. Open up the slider to fit correctly.
 
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I personally like ones that get sandwiched inbetween the body mounts instead of just on the tub. A lot of talk on problems like this. Theyre 499 and just had a 10% off sale. Not sure if its still going. CavFab was new to me in the last couple weeks and they are very responsive and looks like quality components.
https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/poison-spyder-ricochet-rockers-bare-steel-15-50-050/_/R-FVNN-15-50-050
Not a fan of PS the company or like blaine or jerry say, lazer cut emblem, but ive had them on 3 of my jeeps and taken pretty good hits.

If you like the ones that get sandwiched between the body mounts and the body, then you are not understanding how bolted connections work and why you do not want to disrupt the unified structure between the body and frame. There is no defense to prefer that method of attachment over sliders that are entirely tub mounted and have nothing to do with the body mounts.
 
If you like the ones that get sandwiched between the body mounts and the body, then you are not understanding how bolted connections work and why you do not want to disrupt the unified structure between the body and frame. There is no defense to prefer that method of attachment over sliders that are entirely tub mounted and have nothing to do with the body mounts.

Those are both great points. Thanks for bringing that up. I just like that they go further underneath the tub instead of wanrs or i think it was hard rock or someone that they only went 1-2" past corner. Have you seen anything on people reinforcing or upgrading the PS ricochets? Or should i do any underside bolts? From one of Mr blaines previous posts, i was looking at an inner tub plate or big washers or something.
 
Those are both great points. Thanks for bringing that up. I just like that they go further underneath the tub instead of wanrs or i think it was hard rock or someone that they only went 1-2" past corner. Have you seen anything on people reinforcing or upgrading the PS ricochets? Or should i do any underside bolts? From one of Mr blaines previous posts, i was looking at an inner tub plate or big washers or something.

Lots of sliders get bolted to the torque boxes, meaning they extend 6-7" underneath the body. And do so with no interference with the body mounts. As far as reinforcement on the vertical faces, you want a plate that extends the length of the door and covers as much surface area as is reasonably achievable inside the tub. Use thick fender washers wherever else you can.

I haven't paid much attention to fixing Poison Spyder sliders because there is nothing there that interests me in trying to make work better.
 
Those are both great points. Thanks for bringing that up. I just like that they go further underneath the tub instead of wanrs or i think it was hard rock or someone that they only went 1-2" past corner. Have you seen anything on people reinforcing or upgrading the PS ricochets? Or should i do any underside bolts? From one of Mr blaines previous posts, i was looking at an inner tub plate or big washers or something.
I have the same sliders and did modify them to get them off the body mounts and onto the torque boxes. I also removed a lot of the unnecessary material underneath.
 
Those are both great points. Thanks for bringing that up. I just like that they go further underneath the tub instead of wanrs or i think it was hard rock or someone that they only went 1-2" past corner. Have you seen anything on people reinforcing or upgrading the PS ricochets? Or should i do any underside bolts? From one of Mr blaines previous posts, i was looking at an inner tub plate or big washers or something.
Here are my mods before I reinstalled. If you want a step by step let me know. I think they dropped 6-8 lbs per side also.
E83C7F46-D67C-4710-ABCA-B17A355EA435.jpeg


29D5336C-4A61-4E83-A1EC-F613950ECB4E.jpeg
 
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I emailed CAVFAB asking for a picture of how it attaches at the bottom and did not get a great one but here it is. It seems to me that it only bolts on to the sides of the cab. Might need some modifications to be fully secure.

View attachment 408008

Those look good. Just add several more attachments (nutserts) to the torque boxes underneath. Make sure the underside is flush. The torque boxes are not equal height as you move front to rear. They taper up after the center body mount. 3/16 to 3/8 plate is needed to level with the front unless they’ve CNC’d it to compensate.
 
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I got to install a set of Savvy sliders on mine today. This is my first time being able to really study Blaine's design. Something that I have never noticed and am really enjoying is how the aluminum rocker sits higher at the bottom corner of the body than one might expect.

20230325_173550.jpg


20230325_174613.jpg


The underside has a bend on the outboard side of the torque box that brings the corner up to the height of the tub lip.

Which means that the outer steel slider angles upward. Meaning that despite the double layer of materials, the Savvy design has a bit more clearance than the more common 90° bend most other sliders have. There can't really be more clearance than this without modifying the body with a boatside design.
20230325_174135.jpg