Thanks mate, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Little update time................
I cut and welded some 3mm checker plate to the rock sliders.
Not only will this provide a lot of grip when standing on them but it will also stop mud spraying up the sides of the car as much.
Next I made the clamps that would clamp around the chassis rails to attach the rock sliders.
There are at least 4 or 5 different ways of attaching rock sliders to the chassis, but this is the way I consider to be the best. They require minimal bolts using this method making fitting and removing them quicker and easier and I believe this is one of the strongest methods of attachment.
I cut, marked, center punched and drilled some 50mm x 6mm flat.
Then got them into the bar bender for bending.
Sadly my chassis rails are slightly too wide for the bender to bend a perfect U shape.
So they didnt come out perfect.
So I had to finish them off in the vice.
All done!
The very front brackets needed to be slightly different due to the shape of the chassis, there is no where to slide a U shape section around the chassis.
So I chose to make them similar to the rock sliders I made for my LJ70, like this.
These will pick up on the body mount and clamp around the chassis and bolt through a convenient hole in the body mount.
I welded some captive nuts on just to make fitting even easier.
Found some bolts.
All assembled ready to bolt on to The 78.
I bolted them all on and then drove The 78 in to the factory after work, to weld the rest of the rock sliders to them.
I supported the rock sliders on axle stands and once I was happy with the position cut and tack welded in some tube to connect the rocksliders to the chassis clamps.
Sadly the front radius arms get in the way when fitting/removing the rock sliders on the ground. So ideally they need fitting on a hoist or with the car jacked up.
A forklift is perfect for this!
Due to the position of the exhaust I had to make the front mount out of round tube.
Turned the car around and did the same on the other side.
I pulled that side off and then fully welded them.
So not only did I have to use tube on the front, drivers side mount.
I also had to notch the next leg along to give clearance where the exhaust goes over the chassis rail.
The joys of having a 3" mandrel bent exhaust system!
The other side was much simpler.
I knew before I started this project that we didnt have any 32mm round tube, which is what I used on the rock sliders on LJ.
I could have bought some in but decided to just use what we had instead.
This would mean my High Lift jack adapter would be too big.
So I decided to make a new one, a better one!
I cut, drilled and notched a piece of box section.
My original one, from the UK was made with 4" box section which was completely unnecessary.
So I chose slightly smaller box section (75mm I think it was)
My solid bar had to obviously be slightly smaller to fit the smaller tube in the rock sliders.
I believe it will still be strong enough.
New one has 20mm bar old one has 25mm.
Test fit.
The old one just had a bolt to attach it to the Hi Lift, but it had been long since lost.
With the new one I drilled a bigger hole so I can just use a standard 50mm towbar receiver hitch, pin. Always useful to have a spare pin in the car anyway, and now I will have.
I welded the 20mm bar on.
Then 2 days after dropping it off at the powder coaters and $80 later I had them all back, all shiny in satin black!
Fits beautifully and will give me a nice secure jacking point.
I only change wheels with a Hi Lift when on trips, I dont mess around under the car in the dirt winding the silly little standard jack up and down. Oh no......... I use the High Lift and jacking the car up and down takes seconds!
But having secure jacking points and an adapter like this is essential to do it safely!
High Lift jacks can be very dangerous, but used with respect and with these proper jacking points its very safe!
I'm dedicating one of my 3 days off this weekend to The 78, so I will get the rock sliders fitted and get a few other little jobs done.