Any reason to NOT boatside the TJ?

At Long's this weekend I took some damage to the driver's side rocker panel (under the door). It's not catastrophic, but it'll take a BFH to get it back halfway straight under there. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but I was putting off deciding what to do about rocker guards until the rear corners finally came in so I could figure out how to match everything up.

Now I'm thinking I might as well boatside it. Here's an article giving kind of an idea of how to do it: http://offroad-review.com/new/index.php?&page=320

In this case I'm talking about boatsiding to above the body mounts, like in the article, as compared to some dedicate trail rig boatsides I've seen that involve relocating the body mounts inboard and welding to the bottom edge of the frame under the body mounts. I think I'd still like to maintain separate of the body and frame to reduce NVH when actually driving on the street. Then again when I add a legitimate cage I don't know if I can keep that up.

This seems like a good way to get extra clearance to avoid the rocks when possible or to slide over them if not, while also providing protection for when I drop my side onto a rock like I did Sunday. Plus, it's not something everyone else on the trail has already done, and I don't mind being different. The only real downside I can see at the moment is that it's definitely a no-going-back commitment, as compared to just bolting some rockers on it. Also, I don't see options like Rev111 used to make where there's a setup ready to go in, just cut and go, so I'd have to make my own or have someone else make it.

Thoughts?

I like it... If I were in your shoes, I would go for it and never look back

the sawzall is your friend, just do it

Terrahawk has boatsides on his JK...absolutely what I eventually want to have with a nice set of skids. I think there are BS's that are now being produced for TJ's...why chop your stuff up when you can just bolt this stuff on???

GenRight mini boat sliders shown below...no tub cutting accoding to GR. Look, they even have MetalCloaks on!

That yellow TJ is a guy on JeepForum who just happened to have them.

The problem is those aren\'t true boatsides. They\'re just rocker guards that instead of fitting flat to the rocker panel and flat underneath have a small angled portion at the corner. They don\'t really fix my problem with the busted up rocker panel.

Compare that bottom picture to this:



The cool part is that it can also be used as a backing plate for a roll cage when it comes to it.

I see no reason not to boatside the TJ...besides looking too cool while driving over the rocks.


Just make sure you post pics of the project because as we all know....

Well - so far as boat sliders go - these are the ones I want for my JK...lovely huh? The boat sliders tie all the way down to the underside of the frame rails. So lovely. These are by TNT Customs...will prob get this setup over the River Raider setup (both about the same price).





http://www.tntcustoms.com/page.asp?pageid=88

That looks really pretty

just start cutting...................now go do it...............come back and post pics