Reviews for Rock Hard 4X4 RH6009 Patriot Series Tube Slider Rocker Guards for 07-18 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited JK 4 Door
These are the perfect balance between giving you a step and a rail and covering the pinch seam. They are heavy so you may need a friend to help or use a floor jack to hold them up while you install. Everything fit perfectly and the sliders look great. They are tough too, I have really beat on them and they still look great.
Great Quality Product, just installed on my '17 JKU - the fit was perfect. I did need to drill out pinch seam holes but other than that it was a straight up clean fit. Shipping was really fast, well packaged and online video spot on - took about an hour to install.
These are solid, provide great protection and provide a step for those that need it. Guys at Rock Hard are great and will give you direction if necessary during install. I will be purchasing more products from Rock Solid in the future!
I just installed a set on my 2017 JKU. Had to wait a bit to receive them but well worth the wait. Shipment and packaging was flawless. Materials are excellent. Weld quality is exactly what I was hoping for from a 100% made in USA product. I had a little challenge with the driver side install. The trick is to use painters tape to secure the spacers tightly. Prior to this, the spacers were moving and riding up on the weld and not allowing the slider to center up on the body mount holes. After I did this, install was 10 minutes. Thanks guys for kicking out a great product. Now I am looking at the RockHard Alum bumpers :).
Could not be more please with Rock Hard products, make sure you install as instruction say to and drill out the hole up front.
The Rock Hard 4x4 Patriot series rocker guards are very well made. Installation was pretty easy, I did have to clearance out two holes in the pinch seam. One on each side. A little unnerving drilling in to my brand new Jeep (only 400 miles). The fit other than make the holes lager was spot on. I was able to reuse my original body mount bolts. The only thing that I would like to know is the torque specs for the body bolts. I guess I will have to look it up online. I definitely recommend them. I really like that the tube step is angled up a little for extra clearance.
Installed them on our 2016 JK shortly after purchasing the Jeep. Have logged lots of miles overlanding around the US. We found that small rocks can get wedged between the rock sliders and Jeep punch seam, which caused a little rust. Not a big deal since they are rock sliders. Simply removed them, sanded down the rust, and repainted. Should be good for a few more years.
One of the key exterior mods is to get something on your Jeep along his area. I wanted something functional and good looking.
The design perfectly checked all the boxes for me: middle mounting point, mounts use the bigger body bolts, Beefy enough to provide real protection, a lip to use as a step and lower profile.
Install alone went okay-ish. The problem I ran into is the bolt holes -especially middle tab and engine side were winking. As much as 50% in two cases on opposite sides of the vehicle. So these holes needed drilled out - not super difficult provided you have the right bit size. Due to how far off the hole was I drilled a pilot with an HSS bit and was surprised how easily my larger bits chomped thru this steel. After this I needed to paint these spots and wait a few hours.
Speaking of paint -I am concerned about the type of powder coating. In my 20+years of developing, inventing and making powder coatings I have always advised against the use of hammer finish for exterior applications. Even when used over ecoat or primer which this was not. So I’m estimating a year before I see red rust. Not enough of a concern for me but something to consider.
Once I modified the mounting points they bolted up nicely. One key point here -when you pull the body bolts look for corrosion on them. If there is rust on them then chase the bolts on the Jeep with a tap to facilitate assembly. I Used blue Locktite In two holes I needed to use the longer supplied bolts which are mediocre compared to OEM.
Looks darn sharp and I’m glad to have them on the Jeep only because of the style. If you can live with another style then I wouldn’t pay more than @400 for this level of quality.
They look great, seem really solid, were well packaged, and showed up fast! Pretty easy to install - at first I thought the body bolt holes wouldn't line up, but tightening the pinch seam bolts brought everything in to alignment.
Written instructions were decent - combined with their online video it made my first mod to my first Jeep a snap. There were however two issues as far as installation:
1. The factory body bolts are now too short - they realize this and provide longer hardware (M12 x 1.75 - 120mm), but the new bolts were grade 8.8, not the stronger 10.9 factory hardware (and that factory hardware has a really heavy flange on the head, as well as a very robust, captive washer - I don't think losing the washer is a big deal, as the rails themselves become the new washer, but I sure think the beefy head on the factory hardware puts their new hardware to shame).
2. Instructions didn't state to apply threadlock to the new bolts - it's pretty easy to figure out you need it since it is on the factory hardware, but it seems like a major oversight to not mention it in the instructions!
Seems like a good deal, and I'm glad I got them.
I put these on my 2016 JK and they started to rust the first mild winter in the midwest. The second winter the powder coat started to chip off. I have since started to sand them down and will be spray painting them soon. The quality of the material is there besides the powder coat.