Body armor

[curtis]

Why do we build the body armor so extreme? I don't think it should be over 1/8 thick. I think heavy steel & aluminum fenders do more harm than good. Have you seen a jeep put on it's side with steel or aluminum fenders and corners? They crush the tub. I have hit my front fenders on rocks and I'm sure my full doors won't fit any more. So I'm thinking if my fenders and corners are made of light weight metal or plastic the damage would be less. I have torn the rear fenders off my jeep(Plastic) and never hurt the tub.

So what do you guys think?

[RAT]

I am a big advocate of lighter is better. Aluminum is the choice for armor, but plastic is ok if you don't mind replacing the fenders every time they get ripped off. What I've seen online as far as plastic fenders go, they are not so inexpensive. So it's a personal choice.

[curtis]

But my question is why does the aluminum need to be so thick? And I have never replaced my rear plastic fenders and they were half the cost of what metal were.

[aw12345]

3/16" Aluminum armor dents fairly easy, I can show the dents on my yellow Jeeps rear corners.
For my use steel sliders are essential, the aluminum ones would not survive. My belly skid is the biggest piece of aluminum hasn't dented to much, mainly because it has good support from several crossmembers, the edges are wearing pretty badly though.
It all depends what you do with your Jeep. You can get plastic front fenders, or sweep the front of the tube fenders back like Fred originally made them. That cuts greatly on the contact with rocks, secondly skin them with thin aluminum sheeting., no need for steel plate on those.
make the fender out of a single tube and 2 short pieces of angle, the rest make out of sheet aluminum. Or run the fiberglass hood from
Shannon Cambell. The sliders and rear corners are the most vulnerable after the stock front fenders

[curtis]

Why not make it out of 1/8 or 1/16 material (corners & fenders) with rub rail?
But sliders and skid plates need to made out of heavy material.

[aw12345]

The corners could be made out of a thinner material if you stiffened the bottom edge and gave it a few 1" solid rails that wrap around the corner. Or simply roll the axle back, takes care of most of the banging and bashing of the rear corners.
By the way is this something for ya?

Anybody know of someone looking for a Currie Hi9 axle? 488's, ARB, VANCO 17" kit, chromos, new synergy ball joints, blah blah blah? $4700 includes install.

[mkjeepers]

Why not make it out of 1/8 or 1/16 material (corners & fenders) with rub rail?
But sliders and skid plates need to made out of heavy material.

I guess it depends on how hard you hit the body armor - but I would think 1/8 steel would be plenty thick for normal bashing. Aluminum would probably need to be thicker than 1/8th - and it's also real light.

I've got some 18 guage (1/16) stainless with a peel coat left over from some parts counter counter tops - maybe I'll try bending it into some rear corners. The stainless seems to be pretty stiff material. It's been holding up pretty good at the Kenworth parts department.

[Tumbleweed13]

I run the T&T Customs tube fenders. The tube is thicker then the sheet panels. I believe the sheet is 1/8th. I do believe the thick tube has saved my tub the few times, that I've been on my side, and hit/grinded, on a wall. I do think rockers and center skids need to be thick and strong steel. My stock rear flares have taken a beating, but like Timex, are still ticking. I do plan on aluminum corners. I don't care how thick they are, cuz they're so light, anyway. I do plan on keeping the plastic rear fenders, cuz if it ain't broke... In general lighter is better. you just need to figure out where it's best to save weight, and where's the best place for maximum protection, for you.

[curtis]

Art is that the guy who just put a RJ60 in place of that?

[aw12345]

Yes Curtis his sale fell thru. Might be a nice addition to the Silver bullet, since the lil D30 keeps giving your right foot some trouble

[curtis]

Art the new idea on the stretch is to go to comp corners so I can get more lenght. So I don't see why I need anything over 1/16th if I run a rub rail. On the front fenders i will replace the sheet metal with aluminum and drill lightening holes in the tubing.

[aw12345]

That be fine. On a compcut you could possibly just run rub rails and be ok. For the front fenders see if Fred can bend you a single tube that has the front corner swept back at say a 30 degree angle that should keep it away from rocks.

[curtis]

I have the 4" flares on the front fenders. So I've been thinking of cutting that part off.

[inVERt'D]

On the front fenders i will...drill lighting holes in the tubing.

You gonna put LEDs in them? That's a pretty cool idea!

[aw12345]

Well Curtis if you don't mind a bit of body damage, just forgo armor all together is what this guy did.
Nice nimble Jeep and it has character. By the way it looks worse now. This is an old picture





My Jeep would look like that by now without it's armor. But it's nimble fer shure