DIY Nerf Bars Rock Rails

[NavyVet1959]

All the nerf bars / rock rails that I've seen so far have been a bit overpriced (or they don't even have them for the 2-door models). So, I've decided to play around with hacking together a mock-up to see what would be necessary if I decided to build my own. As such, I figured this would be a good place to document what I've discovered along the way in case anyone decides to make their own.

First of all, it seems that existing threaded holes in the bottom of the body are M8x1.25 and the holes in the pinch seams would probably be M6x1.0 if you were trying to match was was used on the commercial products.

I'm doing the mock-up in wood initially since it is easier to work with for me since I have a table saw and compound miter saw. I'm more concerned with determining the spacing on the support brackets right now.

Turns out that the distance from the threaded M8 bolt to the edge of the pinch seam is not the same on the front and the rear, so if you were to make everything equal, you would end up with less of the rail showing in the rear than shows in the front.

You need about 1.5" between the bottom of the threaded M8 hold and the bottom of the pinch seam. Conveniently the size of the short end of a 2x4.

There is quite a bit more distance between the rear bracket and the rear fender than there is between the front bracket and the front fender.

I'll post more as I discover it...

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[Arrowhead]

Thanks for this, I'm a DIY guy and rock sliders are on my list along with bumpers (and also have a 2dr). Kind of difficult to build parts when it's your daily driver but I have the tools and shop space to do it so it's just a matter of getting some other projects out of the way, Honestly, I haven't even really looked, but aren't there body mounts available rather than bolting to the pinch weld? I did see where someone made thier own and attached them to the side of the frame.

 

[47Jeepster]

... You need about 1.5" between the bottom of the threaded M8 hold and the bottom of the pinch seam. Conveniently the size of the short end of a 2x4. ...

Which END is the short END of a 2x4? You did mean short EDGE I presume? Thanks for making me smile this morning.

 

[NavyVet1959]

Thanks for this, I'm a DIY guy and rock sliders are on my list along with bumpers (and also have a 2dr). Kind of difficult to build parts when it's your daily driver but I have the tools and shop space to do it so it's just a matter of getting some other projects out of the way, Honestly, I haven't even really looked, but aren't there body mounts available rather than bolting to the pinch weld? I did see where someone made thier own and attached them to the side of the frame.

There looks to be some holes that go all the way through the frame rails that could also be used and there might be some aftermarket solutions out there already that use these holes, but I haven't seen any photos of them, so I figured I would just go with how the factory mount points are attached. With the factory rails, it appears that they mount with a single M8 bolt that goes vertically into a threaded hole in the bottom of the body and two M6 nuts & bolts that go horizontally through holes in the pinch weld.

Mounting through the frame and/or the body mount bolts would probably be better, but I'm less concerned with protection from sliding across rocks than I am about people opening their doors into the side of my vehicle. The reason for that is that I'm in the Houston area and we just don't have any rocks to slide across unless you are talking about the boulders that some parking lots put by their entrances to discourage the tractor-trailer rigs from cutting the corners and coming up on the curbs.

So, giving myself something to step on while getting in and out of the vehicle and something that would damage the other person's door when they swung it open instead of damaging mine is more of what I need. If it also cuts down on paint chips from rocks tossed up by the tires, that's even better.

Wood is a more forgiving medium for doing mock-ups since you can just put pieces in place, tack them together with brads or screws and when everything looks good, carefully remove the entire assembly and decide how to recreate it from steel. With a table saw and power miter saw, I can recreate standard metal stock pieces easily enough. I consider it like doing a drawing in pencil that you can easily erase instead of starting off by drawing in ink.

Now, from what I've seen so far, it looks like you could start off with a piece of 1.5" square tubing with holes drilled in it to match the position of the two M8 body threaded holes. This piece could be as long as the distance between the two body mount bolts that you are talking about and still stay as a straight piece without any bends in it. It would need an 8mm hole drilled through the top and bottom of the square tubing and then the bottom hole would need to be drilled out even larger so that a socket would be able to fit in there to tighten the M8 bolt that attaches it to the bottom of the body. This would provide a base upon which you could make other attachments.

To attach to the pinch seams, there are two holes in the front and two holes in the rear where M6 bolts can go through them. I'm thinking a piece of angle iron (probably 3/4") with matching holes drilled in there would be appropriate. This will give you two attachment rails along the length of the door that you could then use to attach horizontal pieces to act as brackets that would act to support the actual rails. Some plastic washers might be appropriate to keep from marring the finish on the paint. The rails could be made from channel iron or rectangular tubing.

Although the distance from the M8 threaded hole to the pinch seam is different on the front and rear (which means you can't just make a rectangular support structure), the vertical distance from the hole to the bottom of the pinch seam appears to be consistent, so at least that part of the design is simpler.

 

[NavyVet1959]

Which END is the short END of a 2x4? You did mean short EDGE I presume? Thanks for making me smile this morning.

I'm talking about the cross sectional dimensions of the 2x4 as you look at it from the end and the short one (i.e. the "2") is 1.5" across and the long one (i.e. the "4") is 3.5".

 

[47Jeepster]

Yes, I know you're talking about the cross section. Your explanations are generally very clear, that's why it seemed funny for you to reference the short END of a 2x4.

 

[NavyVet1959]

Yes, I know you're talking about the cross section. Your explanations are generally very clear, that's why it seemed funny for you to reference the short END of a 2x4.

Well, it *was* 01:00 and there were a few beers involved...

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