Rock Slider Mod

[Humminnboatin]

Hey guys as all you H2 owners know its nice to have factory rock rails. But.... It sure would be nice to have them come off the body a little to not only protect from rocks underneigth the truck but also protect the truck when the trail get a little to tight and you are forced to pivot off of a tree.



A before picture!





So to do this you will need.



-5ft. of 1 1/2" Steel Square tubing with a 1/4" wall.

-29 M12x1.75x80MM Bolts. Make sure these are graded 10.9!!!!!!

(I bought 90MM bolts and they were a bit too long and had to stack washers to get them to work thanks to the idiot that took the order at Fastenal)

-Grade 8 washers.

-Black Rustolium.



Cut your tubing into 2 1/2" lengths and drill a 7/16" hole in the center of the pieces. You will need 20 of these and it will take quiet a bit of time to drill and cut. Clean them up and shoot a couple coats of paint on them. When you get done they should look like this.





Then its time to get under the truck. Remove the two bolts from the very front and most rear brackets and tread your new bolts in with nothing on them. Then remove the rest of the bolts from the H2 frame and slide out your rock slider. It should look something like this.





Now that you have room to work, start by placing your spacers between the rail bracket and the frame in the center. Put a washer on your bolt and thread it in...THREAD THEM ALL IN BUT TO NOT GET TIGHTEN THEM DOWN. YOU WANT ROOM TO BE ABLE TO MOVE THE SLIDER AROUND TO GET ALL THE SPACERS IN!!! Work from the center out. Once you have all spacers in and all bolts started then torque to 35ft lbs. or as tight as you can with a small 3/8" ratchet. (Its a tight area to work in I used a cordless impact with a swivel and extension for most of the bolt turning then torqued them by hand.) Any it should look something like this.

[Humminnboatin]

Once you get out from under you got your finished product!

[dwaxman1]

very cool.. I guess I know what I am doing this weekend...Thanks Eric

[dwaxman1]

have you found an issues when you were wheelin Eric??

[Humminnboatin]

[quote name='Hummeron37s' date='11 March 2010 - 12:04 PM' timestamp='1268327054' post='14345']

I have seen a few people do this mod already and one person already has had a problem because there is more leverage on the slider and it started to bend up.Where did it bend up? What exact part bent? Do you have pictures?? If it is done you weaken the overall strength because the only thing holding the slider on is the bolt and now you have a longer bolt with spacer. Actually there are 10 Bolts and 10 Spacers on Each Rock Rail. The reason you use a spacer like this is because its super strong. In fact they are overkill for this application. I could have used .120 wall for this application but I wanted it to be bullet proof. Hence when you are crawling rocks and slide on the rail the pressure goes directly to the bolt and spacerThe pressure again is transferred to 10 bolts and 10 spacers these are across the whole frame member just no different than the slider in factory location. instead of the slider and the frame. I like the look but I think it weakens the slider. Just my opinion,You can have you opinions but the laws of physics are FACT but looks good.

[/quote]

[Humminnboatin]

[quote name='dwaxman1' date='11 March 2010 - 12:05 PM' timestamp='1268327146' post='14346']

have you found an issues when you were wheelin Eric??

[/quote]



The only issues I have had is they seem to do too good of a job in keeping the body of the truck from getting pinned up against trees. In all seriousness I have used the piss out of my rock sliders. I should go take a picture of the underside of them, The tubing is all dimpled, scratched etc.... But thats what they are there for. The MASSIVE 1.5 inches of extra leverage has had no effect on the strength of the rock rails.

[dwaxman1]

cool.. I will give it a go.. Thanks guys.. I hear you Brian opinion and I am also a bit questioning it too but now I see Eric's experience with it.

[dwaxman1]

Welding it to the frame is a great idea..now that is a extra next step...thanks Brian.. I don;t have a welding device at home but I may have someone else do it.