ACE Slider Install - Hints from fellow JL/JLU Owner's

[schneidvegas]

Success !! Really happy with these.

How do they do against rocks from your tires?

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[Hughesonthenet]

Tackled the installation of my Ace JL Rock Sliders today. With minimal cursing, the install went really well. A few points for others (i.e., lessons learned):

1. I thought I could get by with my 15" breaker bar because the back 2 body bolts came off fairly easily on the driver's side. But when I got to the front one ... ... so I ran to a local store and picked up the 24" breaker bar. It made a world of difference! It's amazing what 9 extra inches will do for you!
2. I didn't have any extra help around to help hold the sliders while I attached the body bolts. As a result, I learned that two stacks of two 12 packs of Diet Coke, plus three 2 X 4 scraps is about the perfect height to hold up the sliders!
3. Simple downward pressure with my hand was sufficient for five of the six bolts, but one refused to come off the rest of the way. It took the small pry bar to apply sufficient pressure to allow it to finally come unscrewed.

All-in-all, it took just over an hour for each side. Not bad at all!

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

The feedback provided here was extremely helpful. Thanks to the OP and all who contributed!

For what it's worth, if you get any nicks or blemishes, the Black Rustoleum Bed Liner product (spray can or tub) matches nearly perfectly.

 

[JeepJets]

Wow Jeep didn't want me to remove the front bolts at all. Someone got crazy trigger happy with the threadlocker. All done now and worth the wait from ACE. These are a thing of beauty. It's the new design as mentioned earlier with zero noise when I test drove

 

[JeepJets]

Tackled the installation of my Ace JL Rock Sliders today. With minimal cursing, the install went really well. A few points for others (i.e., lessons learned):

1. I thought I could get by with my 15" breaker bar because the back 2 body bolts came off fairly easily on the driver's side. But when I got to the front one ... ... so I ran to a local store and picked up the 24" breaker bar. It made a world of difference! It's amazing what 9 extra inches will do for you!
2. I didn't have any extra help around to help hold the sliders while I attached the body bolts. As a result, I learned that two stacks of two 12 packs of Diet Coke, plus three 2 X 4 scraps is about the perfect height to hold up the sliders!
3. Simple downward pressure with my hand was sufficient for five of the six bolts, but one refused to come off the rest of the way. It took the small pry bar to apply sufficient pressure to allow it to finally come unscrewed.

All-in-all, it took just over an hour for each side. Not bad at all!

To your point 3 was it the front passenger by chance? That was the crazy difficult one for me.

 

[JeepJets]

Tackled the installation of my Ace JL Rock Sliders today. With minimal cursing, the install went really well. A few points for others (i.e., lessons learned):

1. I thought I could get by with my 15" breaker bar because the back 2 body bolts came off fairly easily on the driver's side. But when I got to the front one ... ... so I ran to a local store and picked up the 24" breaker bar. It made a world of difference! It's amazing what 9 extra inches will do for you!
2. I didn't have any extra help around to help hold the sliders while I attached the body bolts. As a result, I learned that two stacks of two 12 packs of Diet Coke, plus three 2 X 4 scraps is about the perfect height to hold up the sliders!
3. Simple downward pressure with my hand was sufficient for five of the six bolts, but one refused to come off the rest of the way. It took the small pry bar to apply sufficient pressure to allow it to finally come unscrewed.

All-in-all, it took just over an hour for each side. Not bad at all!

To your point 3 was it the front passe

Tackled the installation of my Ace JL Rock Sliders today. With minimal cursing, the install went really well. A few points for others (i.e., lessons learned):

1. I thought I could get by with my 15" breaker bar because the back 2 body bolts came off fairly easily on the driver's side. But when I got to the front one ... ... so I ran to a local store and picked up the 24" breaker bar. It made a world of difference! It's amazing what 9 extra inches will do for you!
2. I didn't have any extra help around to help hold the sliders while I attached the body bolts. As a result, I learned that two stacks of two 12 packs of Diet Coke, plus three 2 X 4 scraps is about the perfect height to hold up the sliders!
3. Simple downward pressure with my hand was sufficient for five of the six bolts, but one refused to come off the rest of the way. It took the small pry bar to apply sufficient pressure to allow it to finally come unscrewed.

All-in-all, it took just over an hour for each side. Not bad at all!

To your point 3 was it the front passenger by chance? That was the crazy difficult one for me.

 

[Hughesonthenet]

To your point 3 was it the front passe


To your point 3 was it the front passenger by chance? That was the crazy difficult one for me.

No, for me it was the middle passenger bolt. Insane how easy the others came out with simple pressure, except for that one!

 

[Gunnut45]

• I start this thread with high hopes that other's who have done the Ace Slider install, will post here what their experience was with the install on their JL/JLU.
  
  $ Important: Call ACE to order your Ace products and ask them for the forum discount or military discount and save a few $.
  
  The info in this thread will also be pertinent to those that install any brand of slider that uses the vehicle's body bolts to secure the sliders to the vehicle.
  
  Note: If your JL/JLU has rock rails/ "rubi rails", they do not need to be removed in order to do the Ace Slider install. The Ace Sliders use the body bolts for mounting and the rock rails do not.
  
  The install of Ace Sliders on a new Jl/JLU is really an easy process even if you are not that mechanically inclined... regardless of whether you are a 16yo or 80+ yo.
  
  You will need the following tools for the slider install:
  1. Long Handle (say 24") Breaker Bar Tool 1/2" Drive
     
  2. 6" Extension Bar 1/2" drive
  3. Torque Wrench 1/2" Drive
  4. 18mm 12 pt. 1/2" drive socket
  5. Small Pry Bar
  Note: With a short handle ratchet you may not be able to get the leverage necessary to break the body bolt loose.
  
  Do have a second set of hands (Wife or Husband will do) as it is easier to deal with the install if you have somebody help you hold the slider up during the install versus balancing the slider on buckets, etc..
  
  Important: When you break loose the body bolt(s) and then when unloosening to remove, you pull downward on the bolt a little or it will often just turn, turn, turn and not come out. You can place a small pry bar, etc. between bolt head and frame (see pic below) and use it to apply a little downward pressure on the body bolt when unscrewing it and they come right out.
  
  Do one slider at a time. Do not remove all body bolts on the vehicle at the same time!
  
  Torque body bolts to the torque recommended by Ace.
  Not torquing to properly may find the bolts working loose/ walking out, in a few days!
  
  When reinstalling body bolt(s), always insert bolt and hand tighten it first! You do not want to cross thread the body bolt. You must push firmly upward when trying to thread the body bolt or it will not grab and just keep turning and turning without grabbing. Tighten up the body bolt real tight with a socket wrench. Careful not to over tighten and break the body bolt.
  
  After both sliders are bolted up, use a torque wrench to torque all the body bolts to the torque recommended by Ace. If you do not have a torque wrench, you can drive a couple of miles or so to a friend that has a torque wrench or to a local automotive shop and have them torque the body bolts for you.
  
  You can do no harm by trying / doing your own Ace Slider install. Worse case scenario you have to get someone at the last minute to help you out.....you have to drive to your local shade tree mechanic/garage with a body bolt partially in or out. And of course, your local stealership will bail you out..
  
  
  Note: If you don't have the 24" breaker bar tool, pry bar and the socket, go to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy them. Save your receipt! You can do as many others do, (yeah, maybe not right to do so but..) use the tool and then return to where you purchased for a full refund on the same day. The socket will probably not be refundable as it will be marred with use but the handle will not see any evidence of use as long as you don't bang it around. As far as the torque wrench to do the torquing..... IF you don't have one just stop by a local Mom and Pop garage and ask the guy there for him to use his torque wrench to torque the bolts.(Takes 5 min.) He will either charge you a few $ or do for a small say $10 tip. (Most guys/gals that own torque wrenches will wisely not loan them out) You can always buy a torque wrench and return that as you do the breaker handle. Reality is the tools mentioned are nice to have around the home garage so you may just want to buy and keep.

Thanks for this, I just ordered mine. Are you supposed to use loctite on the bolts?

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

Blue Loctite is recommended.

 

[Martindfletcher]

Urgent help needed. My rear bolt was a real pain to loosen. Got it off but there is nothing to thread the bolt into now. Any tips?

 

[uudog]

Urgent help needed. My rear bolt was a real pain to loosen. Got it off but there is nothing to thread the bolt into now. Any tips?

I think you need to apply pressure up as you are trying to tighten. I did mine two weeks ago and had the same worry. But it finally threaded with upward pressure and went in.

I had to call Ace Engineering when trying to remove them. They mentioned that there was a clip of some sort that was holding them in.

Good luck!

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Encourage all that plan on installing any brand slider that uses the Jeeps body bolts to read this thread before you do the install

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/broken-body-mount-bolt.8835/page-2

 

[Martindfletcher]

I fished the nut out enough to put it back together, with another set of hands I will get the sliders on without stealership Intervention

 

[Jeepmarkjl]

1. The rear 2 bolts should be torqued to 80 ft/lbs, same as the JK. For the front bolts the information we're getting from Jeep dealerships is 49 ft/lbs + a 155 degree turn. If we here differently we will let everyone know.

2. Anyone ordering now, or who has ordered but not yet received their sliders will be receiving the new design.

3. Nothing is needed on the buyers end. We are only producing and shipping the new version. No old designs are currently in transit.

Thank you,

Hey. I found A table of torque values that you can also google The 3 body mounts are the A B and C pillars body bolt mounts
On the JL there seems to be another at the D pillar in far back and another in the vey front (looks like you can see it in front part of wheel well). This table suggests 92 lbs for A B C Pillar bolts but that doesn’t account for what you guys reccomend for your tab in these spots. What do you all think?

 

[Martindfletcher]

The nut was floating around inside I had to fish it out and align it with a hook. All good sliders are on.

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