John Cappa
Former Editor, Four Wheeler
Let’s face it, if you’re driving a Jeep Wrangler you have more bolt-on accessory options available to you than Wal-Mart has creepy shoppers. We’re sure there must be over 100 different rocker guard designs available for the current JK, but what if you are driving a fullsize truck? You probably won’t find anything durable, and any search will likely result in some electric or chrome tube steps that would simply tear off at the mere thought of scraping an obstacle on the trail. So if you are the fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) owner of a fullsized truck or SUV, you’ve probably found out by now that there isn’t a wealth of aftermarket products available to protect the rocker area of your 4x4. You either have to be creative with your searching and shopping skills or have the ability to fabricate and weld metal.
The main tube for your fullsize rocker guards should be at least 1¾-inch, 0.120-wall tubing. DOM and chromoly slide over rocks best and are the most durable but HREW (welded-seam) tubing can be used too, although it is a little softer. We’ve built several rockers where we welded the main tube to the body, however this will usually cause them to tear the sheetmetal when the chassis flexes so it’s best not to weld them as shown here.
We’ve built and installed functional rocker guards on several different fullsize rigs with great results. So if you are looking for some rocker protection for your fullsize 4x4, here are a couple of build-it and buy-it options along with a few rocker installation tips.
