slider question...

[aron01]

just picked my 1st explorer. im looking to add a 4" lift and 33's and do a little wheeling with it. my question is about the rear rockers. theyre rotted away on mine and id like to just trim up the whole rocker and add a set of rock sliders. how much does the ex rely on the stock rockers for structural support? ive yet to see this done and im wondering if theres a reason why. i got this thing stupid cheap and dont really want to do a ton of body work to it

 

[Naasau]

It depends on how bad the rust cancer is, and while I'm not entirely sure, I don't think that the lower rocker panels contribute signifigantly to structural integrity.

What kind of wheeling are you thinking of? Are you hoping for just clearance or articulation? Is this your DD? And what kind of skill-set are we talking about? (I.e. can you weld, do you have access to shop equipment, experience, that sort of thing)

 

[CodePoet]

You can cut the rockers out and put your sliders where they were. That's what I did and it hasn't fallen apart lol

 

[Naasau]

looks good!

I cut mine off as well, just below the door line, then welded on some 1"x3.5"x1/8" tubing to make replacement 'rocker panels'. I left the inside area, that was above the metal bars open so that it wouldn't repeat its water trap trick and rust out on me again. I've been meaning to make a thread about it for almost 2 years now, lol.

 

[JDwornik]

Would like to see some better pics of everyones sliders! I wi be doing this real soon to me 94!!

 

[aron01]

im in coastal NC so ill see some light beach wheeling and some trips to uwharrie national forrest for some rock crawling. this thing may even see a SAS in its future.... at a 4x4 shop i worked at we built a 97 ranger that was in a magazine and i cut the rockers off a 1/4" below the bottom of the doors to keep the sliders nice and tight. im wanting the same look, or close to it, on the ex.

as far as my skill set goes, i can handle a grinder, cut off wheel and a hammer lol, but my welding skills arent the greatest. i am willing to try tho

 

[Naasau]

Most of welding is just patience, the rest comes as you melt ****. Or set fire to yourself. ;-)

Here's what I started with, after I got that stupid tupperware off:

And Here's my solution:

Note: I used the body mount reinforcement areas to securely mount the bars, what I consider to be 'faux sliders'. They are damned strong, light, and look good! The idea is for me to manufacture some sliders that will bolt on to the frame rails that will go out farther to protect the doors, these guys are for secondary integrity and looks. And before you ask, yes I did have to create a rear mounting point on each side... that is a bit more substantial, as I used chunks of 4"x4"x3/16" square tubing... excessive? Yes. But it was all I could find in the shop.

While I was at it, I figured that the rear wheel wells looked good enough, but the front ones didn't have an arc that would cleanly follow larger tires, so why not fix it? (I did this the hardest way possible, because I was too stupid to search out a MUCH easier way, don't do what I did here)

As you may be able to tell, I used the smooth, rounded end of the tube to make the body lines look factoryish, and hide any imperfections. I then took the outer edge of the body's sheet metal and seam welded it to the top of the beam, after the brackets were welded in place. That way, It was all closed up on the outside and looked nice and clean. The inside, as I said above somewhere, is open to the elements, between the brackets that I whipped up to mount the beams in the right position; and that area is all nice and Herculined now.

By naasau at 2012-04-30

My goal here was to eliminate all my rust cancer, and to destroy what caused it: the damned water trap area that was created by the lazy way they engineered the body tub.

 

[Naasau]

Btw, those leaf spring brackets were the first thing I ever welded, and I even designed them myself... and I set myself on fire twice while making them.

If someone as stupid as me can do it, you can to!

 

[92exp4x4]

That looks sweet, I really like how you made them look factory. Can you take some pics of how you mounted them to the frame? I'm wanting to do something similar to mine, but haven't given it much thought until now.

My superlift radius arm brackets are making it really difficult to get to the frame in the right spot. I thought about integrating a crossmember/skidplate into the sliders as well.

 

[xsportx]

Ummm.... Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if you dropped and or slid those on a rock wouldnt it crumple the body since it's all tied together?? :scratch: Or are they more like heavy duty rocker panels??

 

[xsportx]

And o ya.... Looks AMAZING!!! btw lol. Very nice/clean work :notworthy

 

[Naasau]

They are 'heavy duty rocker panels' not true rock sliders, and are tied through to the body. The plan was to not compromise the structural integrity of he body, get rid of all the rusted crap, and raise up that bottom edge so that when I fabricate true rock sliders, then I'll have a bit more of my frame rails exposed without doing a body lift.

 

[Naasau]

Let me see if I can clarify a bit... I just ran outside and grabbed a few quick photo's that are close ups of the replaced rocker panels, it's been almost two years since I did this, but it's holding up really well!

As a side note, I have dragged these rocker panels across several choice boulders in the rockies... and no dents, dings, or crumpling. Not that I really want to make a habit of it.

Up first is a pic of the rear passenger door:
(this will all be pics of the passenger side, as the concrete on the drivers side was wet)

Same spot, from underneath, facing towards the rear tire:

And another view of that fabricated rear support, with the camera sitting on th rear passenger tire:

This one shows how the inner surface is open up above the rail, and you can see the center support is an extension of the center body mount reinforcement sheet-metal:

This view is of the front support bracket, much like the center one, it is a welded on extension of the sheet-metal support bracket for the body mount bushing, and believe it or not, is open above the rail as well. No hidey-holes for water to collect, and no open metal. Everything is coated in a LIBERAL amount of Herculiner. <3

By naasau at 2012-04-30

While everything isn't as perfectly clean and pretty as I would like, it does work rather well, especially since this is my first attempt at body work, ever.

 

[aron01]

looks pretty kickass. my idea was just a little different, instead of tying into the body mounts, can i just come straight off the frame? and not weld the sliders directly to the body? i like how yours sit, but can i do them without welding them to the body tub? i know its a lot of noob ?'s, but id much rather get this right the first time....

 

[Naasau]

It's totally possible! In fact, there are a huge number of threads running around this site about home built rock sliders of all kinds. I'll dig up a few of my favorites when I'm at the computer.

 

[CodePoet]

My sliders are welded to 6x6 plates...which are welded to the frame.

 

[Naasau]

Lots of guys do it that way, I'm just a bit too paranoid about welding directly to my frame rails; so I'm opting for the bolt around squeeze method.

 

[92exp4x4]

Actually, I really like how you did yours, Nassau. It wouldn't take much more to build structural sliders with what you already have, and from what you have said they seem to work for the most part as well, at least so far... and bolting them to the frame means easier body removal in the future if you need to go that route.

I think tying the body to the frame, more than just the factory mounts, would be a benefit anyway. The more you can keep the body from flexing the longer it will survive. This is why I want to build a bolt-on integrated crossmember/skidplate that would tie into the sliders. Let the suspension do the flexing.

However the nice thing about a full frame vehicle like the explorer is you can hack the body to bits and it really doesn't matter. Thats why guys can get away with taking the roof off and not need to put in a cage, although its highly recommended. If these were unitbody design like a Jeep Cherokee, then adding structural support would be a must.

By the way, thanks for the pics.

 

[Naasau]

Well, I would be careful with tying the body to the frame in non-isolated ways, the noise would be terrible and the vibrations would be worse, IMHO. And from what I've gathered over the years, the body of the X (especially first gens) is very rigid, it's the frame that does some odd flexing and bending. So if you tie rock sliders, additional skid plates and armor together with the frame rails, then that by itself should extend the life of the body.