Rock Sliders / Body Damage, Truth or BS?

[sgregg108]

So if you look at the Jeep specific forums you'll find tons of posts stating body mounted rock sliders are a formula for damaged Jeep tubs, broken sliders, etc.

So does anyone have any experience with damaging their rockers via body mounted rock sliders? Frame mounted are cool and when welded definitely make a good argument as being the strongest, but with an inflated cost they don't seem as appealing to someone who isn't climbing boulders all the time if at all.

Does anyone have any experience with bolt on sliders for the JK Unlimited doing major damage?

 

[Serg5000]

My buddy has a 2007 rubicon with PureJeep sliders which are body mounted. He came down hard on a boulder on the passenger side towards the rear end of the slider. The boulder shoved the rocker / slider into the body section. Now he has a dent just above the slider right before the door. So yes there is some truth to damage being possible.

 

[sgregg108]

Should have expanded a bit, I mean body damage from ones like the JCR Classics or ACE sliders that attach to the body mounts and possibly the pinch seam, not the ones that are screwed into the side of the rockers. Bummer about your buddy's Jeep.

My buddy has a 2007 rubicon with PureJeep sliders which are body mounted. He came down hard on a boulder on the passenger side towards the rear end of the slider. The boulder shoved the rocker / slider into the body section. Now he has a dent just above the slider right before the door. So yes there is some truth to damage being possible.

 

[SiliconTi]

I have the factory Rubi rails and have extensive body damage from them. They are fine for light wheeling, but hit the harder trails and they flex too much causing rail shaped dents in the rockers.

 

[Dozilla]

No Damage thus far BUT I can assure you if I come down hard on one of these rubi rails the body/tub will be damaged without a doubt. BUT a runaway cart at the mall can do that too:Wow1:

Donny

 

[sgregg108]

Are those factory rubicon rails? Can't tell. But as the guy above stated these types of rocker guards will def leave damage. Trying to decide of ACE or other similar looking sliders that mount to the body will leave damage.

No Damage thus far BUT I can assure you if I come down hard on one of these rubi rails the body/tub will be damaged without a doubt. BUT a runaway cart at the mall can do that too:Wow1:

Donny

 

[Septu]

My buddy has a 2007 rubicon with PureJeep sliders which are body mounted. He came down hard on a boulder on the passenger side towards the rear end of the slider. The boulder shoved the rocker / slider into the body section. Now he has a dent just above the slider right before the door. So yes there is some truth to damage being possible.

My friend did this with the stock Rubi rockers. Came down on a rock and it flexed up and dented the body panel.

That said I'm using them, and have even welded steps on to them (DIY Poison Spyder rock rails) to use as steps. But then I rarely see rocks, and typically nothing too extreme. As some point I'll likely get these beefed up a tad and welded to the frame... but I'm in no rush.

Edit,
I see what you mean. Personally if you know you're going to go play in the rocks and whatnot, I'd get frame mounted ones. They shouldn't be that much more expensive. If however you generally take it easy, and these are for steps/just in case protection or light/medium use and you don't plan on rotation off a rock, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

 

[sgregg108]

True, I've been leaning toward White Knuckle Off Road's frame mounted JK Sliders. But they're not cheap, prob around $450 for a set and they're kinda heavy (58lbs each side) but I'm also looking at them saying, I don't plan on doing serious rock crawling, but would like to do the Rubicon in the next couple years. Something to think about and maybe just bite the bullet and get the White Knuckles vs. risking it w/ACEs.

My friend did this with the stock Rubi rockers. Came down on a rock and it flexed up and dented the body panel.

That said I'm using them, and have even welded steps on to them (DIY Poison Spyder rock rails) to use as steps. But then I rarely see rocks, and typically nothing too extreme. As some point I'll likely get these beefed up a tad and welded to the frame... but I'm in no rush.

Edit,
I see what you mean. Personally if you know you're going to go play in the rocks and whatnot, I'd get frame mounted ones. They shouldn't be that much more expensive. If however you generally take it easy, and these are for steps/just in case protection or light/medium use and you don't plan on rotation off a rock, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

 

[Mr.T]

I've jacked the weight (one side) on poison spyder "rocker knockers" without damage, but the g-forces go up with a drop. Haven't had hard landings, but would bet that a hard drop on a rock in the wrong place could damage something. The advantage over frame mounted is virtually zero clearance is lost, and for me that's more important with moderate crawling.

 

[sgregg108]

I was thinking that too about the clearance of frame vs. body mounted.

I've jacked the weight (one side) on poison spyder "rocker knockers" without damage, but the g-forces go up with a drop. Haven't had hard landings, but would bet that a hard drop on a rock in the wrong place could damage something. The advantage over frame mounted is virtually zero clearance is lost, and for me that's more important with moderate crawling.

 

[Septu]

True, I've been leaning toward White Knuckle Off Road's frame mounted JK Sliders. But they're not cheap, prob around $450 for a set and they're kinda heavy (58lbs each side) but I'm also looking at them saying, I don't plan on doing serious rock crawling, but would like to do the Rubicon in the next couple years. Something to think about and maybe just bite the bullet and get the White Knuckles vs. risking it w/ACEs.

If you're even thinking about things like that... get the frame mounted ones. Ace is what... $300 or so? $450 isn't that much more expensive... especially when you consider they're a lot lower profile than Ace. This is my 2nd JK. I've had it over 2 years, and just ordered the lift last week. My mantra with this one is do it right the first time, vs buying something that works (unless it's dirt dirt cheap). It sucks to take something off that you spent decent money on, only because you decided that what you really want is that other brand that you were looking at originally. Sure you can probably sell it and get some of your money back... but doing that adds up pretty quickly. Do it the way you want to the first time... even if that means doing without for a while.

Just my 2 cents. :beer:

 

[sgregg108]

Very true, Septu. I've been thinking this exact same way about my lift and trying to plan smarter about the build and taking my time with mods. Over the weekend I saw a deal on a cheap spring lift from Rancho and upgrading later or just running w/it since I'm not a huge rock crawler. Stepping away from it for a few days, I decided to hold off for a sale on the Metalcloak dual rate lift kit I've wanted for the past 6-10 months. You're right about the price, $100 or $150 isn't really a big deal for the right sliders and another $600 for a much better lift isn't bad either.

If you're even thinking about things like that... get the frame mounted ones. Ace is what... $300 or so? $450 isn't that much more expensive... especially when you consider they're a lot lower profile than Ace. This is my 2nd JK. I've had it over 2 years, and just ordered the lift last week. My mantra with this one is do it right the first time, vs buying something that works (unless it's dirt dirt cheap). It sucks to take something off that you spent decent money on, only because you decided that what you really want is that other brand that you were looking at originally. Sure you can probably sell it and get some of your money back... but doing that adds up pretty quickly. Do it the way you want to the first time... even if that means doing without for a while.

Just my 2 cents. :beer:

 

[DaJudge]

To answer your question...

It is BS unless you are doing some really hardcore, heavy footed wheeling. Well made body mount sliders will do an excellent job of protecting your tub.

 

[aristobrat]

My buddy has a 2007 rubicon with PureJeep sliders which are body mounted. He came down hard on a boulder on the passenger side towards the rear end of the slider. The boulder shoved the rocker / slider into the body section. Now he has a dent just above the slider right before the door. So yes there is some truth to damage being possible.

Same here with the XRC Rock Sliders. To their credit, they're sold as sliders, and this was not a slide...

My experience with the Mid-Atlantic terrain is that you don't have to be doing anything hardcore or heavy-footed in order to have something like this happen. That may not be the case out west.

 

[JeepinJon]

I think that a lot of the body mounted rocker guards are lacking. Most of them are signifigantly stronger than the body, and under hard use something has to give, and it will usually be the body. The only ones that seem to be different are the Nemesis sliders. They do have a component that mounts to the body like many of the other sliders, however there is also an aluminum space frame on the inside that is designed to allow the underside of the slider flex slightly to help distribute the weight across the whole side of the Jeep. To me this makes more sense than just trhoring a bunch of steel/aluminum at the side of my Jeep to make it stronger than a rock while the body itself is the weakest component.