By the way, here is a thread I posted at the time of my install. It has a few more pics in it that may or may not help you as I was really "reporting" on the coating that I applied to my rails.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modified-jk-tech-2/do-these-2dr-shrockworks-rock-rails-look-right-61719/

 

Thanks dude. I had already found and read your thread thru all my searches, but as much as I looked everywhere couldn't find the answer to a couple of my questions.

I confirmed that you are correct, the TC skid plate stays on the frame and the slider rear bracket goes over that (i.e. the TC skid plate bar touches the frame, slider doesn't). But in the front this is NOT the case for the AUTO TRANNY skid, that one sandwiches the slider (i.e. the tranny skid doesn't touch the frame, the slider DOES).

Jim at Shrockworks told me I should be fine using the lower bolt on the front. Really it would make a big difference when the load on the sliders was downward, but seeing that it's WAY WAY more likely to land the Jeep on something, with the force being upward it should be fine using the lower hole. Seeing that the upper hole is way harder to drill and that it is so close to another hole, I am gonna choose to use the lower hole.

PS....when taking out my welded nuts I remembered your "please ignore the stupid question" post in your thread and gave me a little laugh as I folded one over. Heheh.

 

Yeah, I was originally going to delete my dumb question, but figured someone might benefit from it, and others would at least get a little chuckle. Glad to add a little joy to the world even if it's at my own expense.

I do remember something I did during the install that should be fairly obvious. Self-tap the holes you drilled while the sliders are off the vehicle - I made sure to keep the bolts "matched" to the holes I used them on. That will make it easier to make sure they tap in straight. Again, very elementary, but just in case someone hasn't thought of that approach.

 

Dammit dude. I wish you'd posted that sooner. I wasn't sure if you were supposed to take self tappers out completely after they were done, so I threaded them in there with the sliders on. They ended up a tiny little bit crooked but it's not so bad, by the time they bottomed out they were straighter. Hopefully it won't hurt anything. The driver's side is done and she's sturdy. Doing the passenger in a few minutes, my 18V did the job but it was runnin slow at the end so I put it on the charger while I reinstalled the slider and threaded the rear.

Thanks for the help.

 

Ah crap, I looked and they did in fact go in pretty crooked. Guess I'm screwed now. Maybe in the future I'll see if I can call up Shrock and ask for a couple of longer bolts with nuts attached to those bars so I can put them in back in place of those self tapping ones. On the passenger side I threaded first and it went perfect. I'm an idiot, I just thought taking the bolt out COMPLETELY woulda been bad (risk creating a different thread) so I didn't wanna do it...d'oh. My excuse is I'd never used self tapping bolts on metal!

Anyway she's done - both sides perfectly straight, my girl marked the holes for me cause she had an easier time getting her small hands in there, then I used a center punch and it's perfectly level both sides:


Hopefully all the crap I've posted will help someone out in the future if they search and come across this thread!

Thanks again.

 

Nice job. And the very worst would be you drill another hole in the slider plate and frame.

 

Yeah, the holes in the slider plate have plenty of play in them. So I ordered some grade 8 7/16"-20 bolts from mcmaster, along with a 7/16"-20 tap and a hand tap handle and a 25/64" high speed steel bit. Cost me $30 but it should be enough to enlarge the holes just slightly and then re-thread using the hand tap and use the regular bolts instead of self tapping bolts (I couldn't find self tapping larger than 3/8" and they weren't rated). My holes were marked and drilled pretty darn well and with the tolerance Shrock built in I think I should be OK.

So if it gets here today I'll hopefully fix it tonight!