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The Great Rock Slider Debate!

Best Rock Slider for the JL


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DewHawk

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I'm gonna be biased here and say Metalcloak Overline rails.
I had Smittybilt Apollo's before which were super cool and didn't take a ton of effort the customize or bolt on (to the frame), but my Overlines 100% will kick the snot out of them without breaking a sweat and take their lunch money for fun.
They are purely body seam mounted as opposed to using frame or body bolt style mounts. That might sound like a huge fail but consider my perspective for a moment (even if it sounds bat $hit crazy). What is the primary area you're trying to prevent damage from with rock rails? The body, right? If you reinforce the body impact area rather than attach something that curls over it that while attaching to the frame, you've got a little more room to clear over obstacles while still protecting the impact zone itself. Jeep wasn't totally crazy when they designed the factory rock rails, they just didn't give it enough strength. That's where Metalcloak picked up and decided to beef up what the engineers were thinking without being constrained by the accounting department. Credit where credit is due, there are a TON of great options out there that will MORE than cover you if you gotta rub over some boulders by pivoting on the rails (Next Venture Motorsports rails are amazing but require permanent welding). If you can get damn near the same kind of protection with a simple bolt on install, wouldn't that be worth exploring? That was my thinking. I've yet to really bang the absolute snot out of my rails to put that theory to the test, but I have yet to see where this design has failed to do exactly what it was designed to do.

Again, I'll admit I'm biased, but for good reason. Metalcloak doesn't put garbage on the market that doesn't hold up to abuse. Unless you're trying to out crawl purpose built buggies on trails rated for experts, I really don't see why you would need more than this. I'm sure there's gonna be plenty of owners that will pipe up as to why it's a waste of money, but until I see physical proof stating otherwise, I'm gonna keep rocking them without any worries on trail.
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ParadigmDawg

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I went with White Knuckle on my JLU. They are solid, were relatively easy to mount, and support my 225lb body climbing up on them everyday without any wobble.
I think they’re also a relatively small shop. I was able to talk to helpful people there pre-ordering. Good customer service.
I considered White Knuckles for my TRX since there were only 2 companies making sliders at the time. I watched a youtube installation video of the WK and it was almost comical and I decided there was no way I was getting involved in that.
 

jellis4148

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I have the White Knuckle Sliders and they are great. No body mount bolts to remove. For best protection you do have to drill a couple holes in the frame. It's best to a 90 degree attachment for your drill and a stubby bit. Got mine off of Amazon. Other than that the installation is pretty easy with a jack and jack stands, if you are by yourself. I can tell you I landed hard on these in Moab several times. Did hurt them a bit. Would buy again 10 out of 10 times.
 

bchen

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I considered White Knuckles for my TRX since there were only 2 companies making sliders at the time. I watched a youtube installation video of the WK and it was almost comical and I decided there was no way I was getting involved in that.

The installation actually wasn't bad.

I used jack stands to hold up the sliders, laid down the cardboard box it came in (i have a gravel driveway), and spend a lot of time laying on the ground. The first slider took a while just to understand where everything goes. The second slider was much faster. And then you have the satisfaction of installing it yourself.
 

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ParadigmDawg

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The installation actually wasn't bad.

I used jack stands to hold up the sliders, laid down the cardboard box it came in (i have a gravel driveway), and spend a lot of time laying on the ground. The first slider took a while just to understand where everything goes. The second slider was much faster. And then you have the satisfaction of installing it yourself.
I also get satisfaction of installing most of my own stuff. They video I saw had them dropping the inner brackets into the frame rail and trying to line up and then using adhesive on some of the other mounts to hold them in place before you inserted the bolts. It seems like they could have just welded the nuts/bolts onto a piece a metal so you can reach in the frame holes and insert them like you see with a lot of other companies.
 

bchen

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I also get satisfaction of installing most of my own stuff. They video I saw had them dropping the inner brackets into the frame rail and trying to line up and then using adhesive on some of the other mounts to hold them in place before you inserted the bolts. It seems like they could have just welded the nuts/bolts onto a piece a metal so you can reach in the frame holes and insert them like you see with a lot of other companies.
If the adhesive part is using double sided tape to hold a mount/square piece on the inside of the frame rail, that was the worst part. There was definitely dust inside my frame rail that messed up the first piece of adhesive I used. Fortunately, I had a lot more double sided 3M stuff and swapped in new pieces after trying to clean the inside of the rail.

Maybe I'm benefiting from a faded memory, but it wasn't really that bad.
 

rock-rod

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I went with Ironman 4x4 Raid sliders. They tuck up pretty high and run the full length of the door sills. The front mounting point is held in place with three bolts that go through factory holes in the frame. There are plates with nuts welded to them that have to be fished into place (not super hard) and those bolts are threaded into those plates. The middle and rear most mounts attach to the threaded studs on the factory body mount standoffs, so no removing the big body mount bolts. When all said and done, the sliders are extremely secure and don't flex at all. Very happy with them.

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TallDude

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I just had some JCR Classic Slider/Steps installed. They bolt via the 6 body/frame mounts and the pinch weld.

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