Angle Iron Rocker Guards

by Dan Dohrn

I needed some sort of rocker protection for my CJ-7, and after looking at the prices of some available ones, I decided to make my own. I saw a post on the short wheelbase Jeep forum at off-road.com about how a guy had made some rocker guards out of ¼” thick 4”x4” angle iron.
This sounded like the way to go. ¼” angle iron would be about indestructible and provide a great deal of protection. Another advantage to the angle iron is that it provides an excellent place to lift the Jeep using a hi-lift jack.
The first step was to measure the length I would need for the rocker guards. I measured from the rear fender opening to the front edge of the body tub. You can’t go all the way to the front fender opening without some modification since there is a lip that sticks out on the bottom of the front fenders. For now, I decided to have my rocker guards stop at the seam between the tub and front fenders. The correct measurement is 49¼ “.
I took the measurements to a metal shop and had them cut me two pieces of ¼” thick 4”x4” angle iron 49¼ “ in length (one for each side). I think I paid about $35 for the cut metal.

Once I got the metal home, I then cut the bottom edges at an angle to minimize getting snagged on any obstacles. I also had to cut a notch out of each side to make room for the bolts for the front feet of my rollcage.

The next step is to decide where to drill the holes. This takes careful coordination between the rocker guards and the body tub. While the tub looks to be a simple flat surface on the outside, on the back it has seams and welds that need to be considered when choosing where to drill the mounting holes. Also, the floor on the inside is not flat. I made a cardboard mock-up of the rocker guards and used that for deciding where to drill the holes. It’s much easier to attach a piece of cardboard to the tub than try and hold up the heavy angle iron.

Once I had the holes marked on the cardboard template, I center punched and drilled the holes in the angle iron. I then took the angle iron and used a floor jack and a 2x4 to hold it in the desired position on the body tub. I then marked the locations that needed to be drilled on the body tub by sticking a grease pencil into the holes I drilled in the angle iron. I removed the angle iron and drilled the mounting holes.

Next I painted the angle iron with a couple coats of primer and then black spray paint. I chose to use round head allen bolts to mount the rocker guards since they will not have any flat sides to get snagged on rocks. I used a large washer on the backside of the bolts to spread the load along more of the body tub.

It's difficult to get a good picture of the finished product since it matches my black body tub. They blend in well and will hold up to just about any abuse I can throw at them. They will also greatly improve the strength of the body tub in a side impact accident.

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