My review of Rock Hard 4x4 angled down sliders

[Bowerss2]

Hey all, I know someone has reviewed these in the past but I thought I would throw my hat into the ring. Two part review, one for the product and one for the install. I chose these because I feel the way they mount is extremely strong, better than mounting something over the existing rails.

I chose the down angled ones as part of a cunning plan you see. With tires and a lift on the way, my 5'0" navigator will never notice them...

Firstly, the product
Shipping. A+, wow these things were packed like they were shipping a porcelain tea set. They arrived without damage


Finish. A-, the powder coat is well done, some of the welds have a few apprentice marks.

Bit of a missed weld there (hard to see, but the end is open), but honestly nothing major. A few other sags, but again nothibg major. I was a certified TIG welder in years past so I'm overly critical. These welds are PLENTY strong

Build quality B+ Holy crap these things are overbuilt. I think a Abrams could use these as sliders and it would be fine. The issue here is not all of their studs line up with the pinch seam holes. They are upfront about this, and say in advance that you will probably have to drill some out. A STEP DRILL IS YOUR FRIEND HERE. I had to drill out about half of the holes to get them to line up, and even then it took some he-maning to get everything lined up. Rock Hard says this is due to "Manufacturing differences with FCA" I think this is a cop out. If they don't have issue getting the Rubi rails to line up I don't see what is up with these.

Again this is really not much of an issue. However I should have preemptively drilled them out, as test fitting them gave me a workout.

Install review... NONE OF THIS IS A REFLECTION ON ROCK HARD 4X4.
I will be upfront here, this sucked way more than I thought it would...

Two major issues contributed to the suckage. First this...

That bolt broke during removal of the stock Rubi rails. It broke using a normal 1/2 ratchet and with very little effort. I wonder if it was over torqued from the factory... The rest of the removal went very easy.
I have three choices
1)ignore it, the front body mount is close and these are strong enough that it shouldn't matter
2) wire wheel it and weld it up.
3) try to easy out it hahahahahaha... We all know how that will go.

The second issue is this

This body mount was awful. If you have never removed body mount hardware before you should know they can be tight to say this least. I strongly advise against using impact tools on these to avoid stripping anything. the passenger side mounts came loose with no real issue. The driver side center mount and rear mount were awful. This center mount required a 4' cheater bar the entire way out. It sucked. Rear mount was just as bad. I was really afraid I was going to liberate a captured nut the entire time. If you do this then congrats, you just made a lot more work for yourself. I had to reuse the factory bolts in these two locations as I could not for the life of me get the new hardware started on these two.

Those two mounts accounted for about 40% of the install time....

So I did this all by myself, which was dumb. These things are heavy, and I'll be feeling it tomorrow.

I give this project a solid 7 out of 10 on the Wheaties scale If done solo.

Overall I am super pleased with these. I plan on testing them out soon!!!

My other convertible pickup

Sponsored

 

[MomsSpaghetti]

Thanks for the review. I ordered these and they arrived last week but my truck is still being repaired from my crash a few weeks back. Hopefully it’ll be back later this week so I can get these installed

 

[jayqwellin]

Hey all, I know someone has reviewed these in the past but I thought I would throw my hat into the ring. Two part review, one for the product and one for the install. I chose these because I feel the way they mount is extremely strong, better than mounting something over the existing rails.

I chose the down angled ones as part of a cunning plan you see. With tires and a lift on the way, my 5'0" navigator will never notice them...

Firstly, the product
Shipping. A+, wow these things were packed like they were shipping a porcelain tea set. They arrived without damage


Finish. A-, the powder coat is well done, some of the welds have a few apprentice marks.

Bit of a missed weld there (hard to see, but the end is open), but honestly nothing major. A few other sags, but again nothibg major. I was a certified TIG welder in years past so I'm overly critical. These welds are PLENTY strong

Build quality B+ Holy crap these things are overbuilt. I think a Abrams could use these as sliders and it would be fine. The issue here is not all of their studs line up with the pinch seam holes. They are upfront about this, and say in advance that you will probably have to drill some out. A STEP DRILL IS YOUR FRIEND HERE. I had to drill out about half of the holes to get them to line up, and even then it took some he-maning to get everything lined up. Rock Hard says this is due to "Manufacturing differences with FCA" I think this is a cop out. If they don't have issue getting the Rubi rails to line up I don't see what is up with these.

Again this is really not much of an issue. However I should have preemptively drilled them out, as test fitting them gave me a workout.

Install review... NONE OF THIS IS A REFLECTION ON ROCK HARD 4X4.
I will be upfront here, this sucked way more than I thought it would...

Two major issues contributed to the suckage. First this...

That bolt broke during removal of the stock Rubi rails. It broke using a normal 1/2 ratchet and with very little effort. I wonder if it was over torqued from the factory... The rest of the removal went very easy.
I have three choices
1)ignore it, the front body mount is close and these are strong enough that it shouldn't matter
2) wire wheel it and weld it up.
3) try to easy out it hahahahahaha... We all know how that will go.

The second issue is this

This body mount was awful. If you have never removed body mount hardware before you should know they can be tight to say this least. I strongly advise against using impact tools on these to avoid stripping anything. the passenger side mounts came loose with no real issue. The driver side center mount and rear mount were awful. This center mount required a 4' cheater bar the entire way out. It sucked. Rear mount was just as bad. I was really afraid I was going to liberate a captured nut the entire time. If you do this then congrats, you just made a lot more work for yourself. I had to reuse the factory bolts in these two locations as I could not for the life of me get the new hardware started on these two.

Those two mounts accounted for about 40% of the install time....

So I did this all by myself, which was dumb. These things are heavy, and I'll be feeling it tomorrow.

I give this project a solid 7 out of 10 on the Wheaties scale If done solo.

Overall I am super pleased with these. I plan on testing them out soon!!!

My other convertible pickup

Thanks for this review! My Rock Hard angled downs are arriving in a couple of weeks and I cant wait.

 

[whiteglad]

I discussed my installation in the big 40 or so page rock rails thread. I found my rear body mount bolts (the 8" long ones) easy, the center ones hard, and the front ones very hard to thread out. None broke. Some others day to heat the bolts with an induction heater to soften the Loctite. I also bought M12x1.75 grade 12.9 allen bolts, 120 and 220 long, and high grade washers. see posts #396, 415 of that thread. You might also benefit from perusing the whole thread when you have time.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/rock-rails-thread.16475/page-28

 

[Gatorized]

I discussed my installation in the big 40 or so page rock rails thread. I found my rear body mount bolts (the 8" long ones) easy, the center ones hard, and the front ones very hard to thread out. None broke. Some others day to heat the bolts with an induction heater to soften the Loctite. I also bought M12x1.75 grade 12.9 allen bolts, 120 and 220 long, and high grade washers. see posts #396, 415 of that thread. You might also benefit from perusing the whole thread when you have time.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/rock-rails-thread.16475/page-28

Do the Allen heads provide an advantage over the hex heads?

 

[whiteglad]

I was seeking grade 12.9 (stock is 10.9) and the high grade is readily available in allen head, but not hex head. McMaster had the allens in stock at a reasonable cost.

 

[rvillano8188]

I discussed my installation in the big 40 or so page rock rails thread. I found my rear body mount bolts (the 8" long ones) easy, the center ones hard, and the front ones very hard to thread out. None broke. Some others day to heat the bolts with an induction heater to soften the Loctite. I also bought M12x1.75 grade 12.9 allen bolts, 120 and 220 long, and high grade washers. see posts #396, 415 of that thread. You might also benefit from perusing the whole thread when you have time.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/rock-rails-thread.16475/page-28

Any chance you have a quick purchase list of what you bought quantity wise to install? The last thing I want is to be halfway through removal of existing rails or install of new ones and be caught with my pants down. I saw on the other thread you used some grease and a wire brush to re-insert existing hardware as well.

My rails are scheduled to come in soon and your posts have been very helpful.

 

[whiteglad]

1 91290A434 Black-Oxide Alloy Steel Socket Head Screw, M8 x
1.25 mm Thread, 30 mm Long, packs of 50
1
pack
Feb 27 8.87
per pack
8.87
2 91290A643 Black-Oxide Alloy Steel Socket Head Screw, M12
x 1.75 mm Thread, 120 mm Long, packs of 5
1
pack
Feb 27 6.89
per pack
6.89
3 91290A654 Black-Oxide Alloy Steel Socket Head Screw, M12
x 1.75 mm Thread, 220 mm Long, packs of 1
2
packs
Feb 27 2.96
per pack
5.92
4 90850A250 Grade 9 Steel Washer, Zinc Yellow-Chromate
Plated, 7/16" Screw Size, 0.937" OD, packs of 25
1
pack
Feb 27 8.89
per pack
8.89

Two caveats: I already had a supply of grade 9 washers in 5/16, and the 7/16 washers had to be ground out a few thousandths with a carbide bur. I did not want to use metric washers because the holes are oversized, but if you don't have a high speed grinder, they would work.

I used grease because I don't want stuff to be impossible to remove the second time, and I want to get smooth, reproducible torque. I re-installed the stock bolts while waiting for the allens and the rails to arrive. I wanted to get the stressful, risky removal of the stock body mount bolts done in advance. I painted the allen bolts after cleaning them, so they wouldn't rust.

 

[kevman65]

Great job, sorry the one broke on you.

I have the same set up and did a write up somewhere on here.

The reason you couldn't use the new bolts are the metal retainers in the holes that keep the stock bolts from falling out. I could NOT get any of my new bolts to pop through those, so I took loooooooong nosed needle nose pliers and pulled all of the clips out.
On videos you will hear them say they are plastic, NOPE, spring metal retainers.

 

[whiteglad]

I was able to push the bolts through the retainers. It can help to use an air ratchet and some upwards force.

 

[HermosaBeachBum]

Hey all, I know someone has reviewed these in the past but I thought I would throw my hat into the ring. Two part review, one for the product and one for the install. I chose these because I feel the way they mount is extremely strong, better than mounting something over the existing rails.

Can you measure from the bottom of your door to the top of the Rock Hard?

 

[whiteglad]

Rock Hard angled up, 4" from top of step tube to bottom of door.

 

[Bowerss2]

Can you measure from the bottom of your door to the top of the Rock Hard?

 

[brianinca]

OK, my navigator is 5'3" and has a dodgy knee. How does yours find the step for getting in and out? Liveable? Would you do something different?

I really wanted to like the RSE step sliders, but even with the armor shell, they just look super vulnerable to damage. Like, I wouldn't put a jack under them to pick the truck up. I did plenty of body mods to my Ranger rockers, I know how much abuse there might be even when you're careful.

Obviously NOT an issue with these sliders! Thank you for the write-up!

Sponsored