Angle Iron Rock Rails

June 2001

Background | Installation | Cost | Postscript

Background

After landing on my rocker panels a couple of times, they were looking pretty bad. I decided to reinforce them with some angle iron.

Installation

I pulled the old fake diamond plate off and pounded out the worst of the dents. I then purchased 2, 4-foot lengths of 2"x2" angle iron from HomeBase. They were going out of business, so I got it for 60% off. ;-)

After removing the fendor flares, the 4 foot pieces fit perfectly. I drilled them and bolted them through the sheetmetal. Once they were installed, I realized that there were some sharp corners sticking out where they might damage a tire during heavy articulation, so I marked them and cut off some corners. I then smoothed the cuts with an angle grinder.

Removing the fake diamond plate revealed rust and other paint problems, so I used this as the excuse I need to get new paint. While I was waiting to get the jeep back, I painted the rails with rust inhibitting primer and then black paint.

When the paint was done I bolted them back into place. See them here.

Cost

Postscript