[GADave]

So I ordered some Mopar black diamond plate rocker guards (Rubicon style) online, got them for $223 shipped from newmoparparts.com. I'd conquered my fear about drilling the side of the Jeep and set off this morning to do the install, here's my story.

Side note: If your wife/girlfriend/significant-other (wife in my case) asks you to keep an eye on a pork roast that's cooking on the stove for your southern B-B-Q supper - say no if you're about to do an install like this. I wish someone would have told me this.

So I rounded up all the tools - cordless drill - sockets - torx sockets - 1/8" & 25/64" drill bits - some "Rust Bullet" rust prevent stuff I had from a previous golf-cart lift project - couple clamps and I'm ready to go. I removed the side steps and the fender extensions first...



The instructions that came with the Mopar kit are hilarious. Pictures only! No writing except drill-bit sizes under the pic of a drill bit. I guess this is for illiterate folks, illegal aliens in the US, and/or distribution to non-english-speaking countries. Anyways, the kit came with a nut-sert installer tool and cool little picture of how to work it. So I dry-fitted the guards and found out I already had the 5 hexagonal holes on the underside of my body to install the lower nutserts, and I quickly became an expert nut-sert installer. At one point I even overheated my nutsert installation tool and had to let it cool off (seriously) ...



I quickly found out that the torx bolts they sent me wouldn't work for the underside because the head of the bolts are smaller than the holes in the guard. So, off to Lowes and I bought some M6-1.00x25 body bolts (qty. 10), returned home and they worked great, add $6.30 to the cost.

This is about the time I walked back into a smokey house with the fire alarm going off. Adiose one pork roast and b-b-q supper. burned pork stinks.

So I loosely installed the underside body bolts then lined up the guards on the tub side using clamps to the underside of the tub to get them straight where I wanted them (even gap between rocker guard bottom and bottom of tub as per little picture on instructions). Then I used a center punch to punch the sheet metal for drilling and drilled away. First the 1/8" bit...



Then the 25/64" bit which makes what looked to me like one big-azz hole; x5 for each side...



I took a woodworking countersink and used it as a de-burring tool, worked good. HINT: Don't try this with your finger, the little jags WILL cut you, take my word for it. Now I took a Q-Tip and smeared the previously mentioned "Rust Bullet" stuff around each new hole. Then I installed my nutserts using my cool new nutsert tool, here's a pic. You have to hold the tool with a 9/16" wrench as well as the 8mm socket. I just couldn't take the pic and hold both...



Once all the nutserts were installed it was a quick bolt-up and wham-bam..



Total install time 2.5 hrs including the trip to Lowes. Cost $223 + $6.30 = $229.30. Plus another pork roast, probably about $8, AND taking the family out to supper tonight, another $50 *SIGH*.

Next is to install a MML to get rid of the t-case drop, but I really don't want a body lift, and also don't want to relocate my fan shroud. Hummm.

Dave

[TheBoogieman]

Nice write up there and I think the pork roast is more like $15(if it's center cut).

[03silversport]

I just recently had the same mopar rockers installed, they look tons better than the factory side extensions and step. I had a freind put them on for me as i was hesitant to drill into my tub (myself). You paid a lot less than i did, as i got mine from quadratec (and had to send the first set back as they were badly banged up). Wish i would have known about the website you ordered yours from. Looks good

[GADave]

Originally Posted by Theboogieman

Nice write up there and I think the pork roast is more like $15(if it's center cut).

Turns out it was a tenderloin... ouch! Mamma wasn't upset though, she kinda laughed about it, plus, she's being taken out to eat tonight, who could complain? She did complain about the steps being gone on the Jeep though. She's only 5'1" tall and now she says she "can't get in it". I held off giving her my first reaction which was "maybe ya need to go work out then"... and I just said... "Hummm". Surprizingly she accepted that reply without getting an attitude of any kind!

Originally Posted by 03silversport

I just recently had the same mopar rockers installed, they look tons better than the factory side extensions and step. I had a freind put them on for me as i was hesitant to drill into my tub (myself). You paid a lot less than i did, as i got mine from quadratec (and had to send the first set back as they were badly banged up). Wish i would have known about the website you ordered yours from. Looks good

I appreciated your response when I posted about the pros & cons of these guards. I laughed when ya said you couldn't bring yourself to do the drilling so you got a friend to do it... I almost did the same thing. Not so sure now why drilling is so intimidating to us 'cause it was easy. I guess it's just so "permenant" and if you screw up it could be disastrous!

There's quite a few mopar parts web sites out there if you google "Mopar Parts". I just kept going to each with the part # and getting their prices, this one came up with the lowest @ $208.xx plus shipping. I couldn't get their online ordering deal to work so I called them, shipping was only $15.

Dave