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& Installation - Body Interior / Exterior > Poison Spyder Rocker Knockers Installation |
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Technical / Installation
Articles - Body Interior / Exterior
Poison Spyder Rocker Knockers Installation
Article written by Rico
Date Added: 04/16/2006
God forgives, Rocks DON'T! |
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 Knowing the permanent damage a hit to the rocker panels will do it was time to install some Poison Spyder Rocker Knockers.
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Installation |
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1. The first step was to loosen the body mounts from the TJ because the rocker seats itself on the two rear body mounts along the driver and passenger side of the vehicle. The instructions called for us to remove the two body mounts that the rocker was to fit on and shave 3/8 off of the top of the body mount to accommodate the slider width. Not fully aware of where all the body mounts were, we proceeded to locate the four on the passenger side and the four on the driver side. After removing the body mounts we started to raise the body from the frame, and (for those of you who know better) we noticed the body was not separating enough for us to remove the body mounts. After attempting to lift the body from different angles, we decided to call a friend and ask, What other body mounts have we forgotten? Low and behold we missed two body mounts that are located just in front of the gas tank and one in front of the radiator. Once the remaining body mounts were located the removal of the two necessary body mounts was very easy.
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2. The next step was to shave or otherwise remove 3/8" from the top of the hard rubber, not the metal insert. We first attempted to use a band saw for this, but the saw we attempted to use started to really take the rubber mount from the hand and thus became very dangerous. We had another option so we used a hand held reciprocating saw, and within a few minutes and being careful to stay level on the rubber, we had all four shaved to the correct height. Now comes the trick. The body mounts have a raised lip at the top where you're supposed to cut. Fortunately for us there is a seam at right about 3/8" (give or take 1/64"), so the mounts were basically already marked for us. (Now if Poison Spyder did this on purpose, it's downright ingenious and takes a lot of guesswork out of cutting hard rubber.) It's a good idea as well to remove all four body mounts and cut them at once to get back to work with all the necessary and proper hardware.
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3. Ok, now that we are ready to proceed we needed to remove the extended flare that comes from behind the front fender flare. This is pretty straightforward except that when you take the 3 bolts out, it leaves you with 3 pushed in grommet holes. We simply drilled out the holes and punched out the grommets. We also added some silicone sealant to try to prevent any rust from kicked-up water and dirt.
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4. The directions tell us to put the rocker on the body mounts, between the mounts and the body. (This is not at first apparent in directions, but if you want them to seat closest to your body, I'd recommend it.) We then installed the two body mounts back onto the vehicle while at the same time lining up the rocker with the side of the vehicle. The directions continue with C-clamping the top of the slider to the inside of the jeep along the door entry. We looked and decided to use a floor jack with a 4x4 piece of wood to basically ensure that the rocker was all the way up against the body. (We deviated from the instructions at this point to ensure we were level and straight with the door and the tub.)
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5. We then ensured we had a sharp drill bit and followed the instructions by drilling a 3/8" hole using the rockers as guides. The directions recommend using a center punch and so do we - you don't want to drill any larger of a hole than need be. If you don't have a sharp drill bit, I would recommend using a smaller bit to start the hole and continue once you have the starter hole done. Once the holes were drilled we installed all five bolts and put on the provided washer and locknut. At first we just put the hardware on and then proceeded to put a small bead of silicone between the rocker and the body to try to alleviate the likelihood of moisture thus possibly creating rust points inside the rocker. When the bead of silicone was in, we tightened all of the bolts, and just like that we were done with the one side of the rocker. We repeated step-by-step on the other side, and in no time we had the finished product.
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6. Once the rockers were on we reinstalled the rest of the body mounts and we were done.
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Final Thoughts
So what do we think? Installation was great and not that bad, but&. the real test was a recent trip to Moab where I tried to find a way to bend or hit the rockers in odd places. The only small scratch I got was on the front driver's side when I came down hard on the front fender. The rock bounced right off the slider where it would have otherwise crunched the bottom of my jeep. It's a great product, and I look forward to many more installs. |
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Purchase / Vendor Info
| Vendor Name: |
Poison Spyder Customs |
| Address: |
2140 W. Dartmouth
Englewood, CO
80110 |
| Phone: |
303-777-4820 |
| Website: |
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