OEM factory rock sliders

[Xyleff]

They'll protect even pretty hard rubs and they look really cool...they're 40lbs each..would have kept them, but wife 5' 2" and hated them

How hard were these to take off?

 

[Airmousam]

How hard were these to take off?

Buddy and I took em off...had it on a lift...half hour....bolts thru the pinch welds were a little tricky to get to...I think he used an extension to get to those

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Has anyone tried to leave the rock sliders on and mount a set of AMP retractable steps on? I havent gotten my truck yet. I will be installing AMP steps for the wife to be able to get in the truck easier. Was just wondering if anyone else besides me have thought about doing this or has tried.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Has anyone tried to leave the rock sliders on and mount a set of AMP retractable steps on? I havent gotten my truck yet. I will be installing AMP steps for the wife to be able to get in the truck easier. Was just wondering if anyone else besides me have thought about doing this or has tried.

I would guess they use the same mounting holes so.. no.

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Yea, I looked at the install manual and it looks like it does use the same bolt holes. But wondering if you can use longer bolts and sandwich the sliders in the middle. Or will the step hit some of the sliders when retracted?

 

[Grumpy dober]

Did you get them? I'm interested. I want something to protect against rocks thrown up by the tires without losing ground clearance.

I just took mine off I’ll take 500 for them plus shipping

 

[Shake N Bake]

Yea, I looked at the install manual and it looks like it does use the same bolt holes. But wondering if you can use longer bolts and sandwich the sliders in the middle. Or will the step hit some of the sliders when retracted?

I was thinking of trying this, but after removing the factory "slider" there is no way to mount the AMP Power Steps and keep the factory slider. The AMP Power Steps use the same pinch weld holes the sliders use (as well as the same rocker panel holes). The only combo I've seen that could work together is the Randy Ellis model with AMP power steps. I thought about doing this but the price would have been about $3400 with shipping for both sets.

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Great. Thanks for the info. I have no problem removing the sliders and just using the AMP steps. Just thought if I could use both, it would be a little extra protection for the step and the body when I go off road.

I may still look at it when I get my truck and see if I can figure something out. If I do, I'll post up pictures and all.

 

[Xyleff]

Buddy and I took em off...had it on a lift...half hour....bolts thru the pinch welds were a little tricky to get to...I think he used an extension to get to those

Thanks… still going back and forth with wifey to see if i can just leave as is until it actually needs to come off.

 

[jadmt]

Thanks… still going back and forth with wifey to see if i can just leave as is until it actually needs to come off.

my wife is approaching 60 and 5'2" and said they are not bad.

 

[Xyleff]

my wife is approaching 60 and 5'2" and said they are not bad.

Will definitely use your statement here as one of my rebuttals.

 

[WisHawk]

Can you order these as a kit through Mopar? Part # or #'s

 

[JM15]

Gents I want to also keep the factory rails and add Amp steps and I think I cracked the code how to do it. There are holes in the rocker panel every 12” or so. One can use the holes and the template that comes with the amp steps to drill and mount the nutserts up top (where black tape is) and then just drill the bottom flange out like one would if you didn’t have the holes already there. The only cutting of the factory slider should be between the yellow lines on the pictures I added and this would be to allow the bottom amp mount to sit flush against the very bottom of the rocker panel. I have seen the mounting point moved for a mega cab setup on YouTube and unless I’m missing something it should be able to handle it structurally. Sarcastic Remarks and shooting holes in my plan is welcome. I’ll be the test mule if I can convince the wife. Anyone know where is the best price on the Amps?

YouTube video below:

 

[Crusty old shellback]

I think you are on to something. When I get my missing support brackets, I'm going to try it.
Looking under the truck, there is a hole at the same level as the ones above the slider mounting holes that you need so you can put in the backing plates for the steps.
The front one is about a foot back from the front slider mount. The rear one is about 6 inches in front of the rear slider mount.
Not sure if there are holes in the pinch weld in that area.

 

[JM15]

There aren’t holes, but one can easily drill them out and then thread the amp steps from the outside, then mount the sliders and bolt them in from the inside. That video I linked showed using the inside holes, drilling them out and how to mount them on the inside due to that dudes long arm lift kit in the front. I’m frantically searching for some Amp steps in stock but striking out.

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Guess I scored then. Knowing I wanted to install some, I went ahead and ordered them. Been sitting in the garage for almost a month. Got the truck last thursday. Went to install them and found I was missing 3 of the backing plates. Now AMP is being buttholes and wont help because I bought it off Ebay and not from them. But its brand new and drop shipped from their warehouse.

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Oh, and check out my build thread. I made a simple bracket to mount the AMP controller rather than ziptie it to the wire bundle.

 

[Crusty old shellback]

Did a little Moc up.
Heres pics of the AMP mount open and closed.
Closed, the edge of the step is 3/8" back from the mounting surface that butts up to the pinch weld.

 

[jenninr]

Rock slide engineering makes a rock slider with a built in power step for Jeeps. Maybe if there's enough demand they would make them for the Power Wagon.

 

[Crusty old shellback]

OK, I don't think we are out of the woods on this yet. I do my best thinking at 2 AM when I can't go back to sleep.

So the slider actually has to go on first. here's why. To put the slider on, you have to basically put the bottom outside edge on the outside of the pinch weld. Then you roll it up into place and the back main section goes on the inside of the body. Hope that makes sense. That's how I had to put them back on after taking them off. So you cannot install the Amp brackets first.

On the slider, it mounts with the 2 large bolts you can see that go into Rivnuts that are mounted to the body. Under those two holes, you can see a larger hole in the lower section of the slider. Inside of that hole is two smaller bolts. These go thru the holes in the pinch weld and screw into captive nuts in the sliders.

But I may have a solution I had been working on. Just need more time to figure it out.

My solution is basically this. at the two end mounts on the slider, you will need to cut out the lower section to a width that is slightly wider than the AMP brackets. You will use the same mounting holes for both the slider and the AMP step. You then weld back in a angle support bracket that you wound up cutting out. Make sure the AMP bracket fits between them. On the AMP bracket, near the bottom, which you can see in the second picture I posted above, near the top section of the bracket, is two holes. The bracket is upside down in the pictures.
On the AMP bracket, you will need to drill out those two holes to a larger size. I'll have to check, but you may also need to machine a flat spot on the back side so the bolts will have a good flat mating surface. You will need longer bolts that will go thru those two holes, thru the pinch weld holes, and screw into the slider captive nuts. You are basically sandwiching the pinch weld between the slider and the AMP bracket.

Hope that make sense. I'm waiting on the missing support brackets for my steps before I proceed any further. I still need to remove my sliders again and see if there is going to be any interference between the actual step and the bottom of the slider when they are in the stowed position. That I think is the only remaining issue I am not sure abbout.

Hope this makes some sense.