I found a good set of instructions for building/replacing the rock panels on my Tracker here in the DIY, wrote by Jimiweld.  Instructions very close and very helpful when cutting into still straight body panels.  Good tips to, I hadn't used 1/16 cutting wheels on angle grinder before, I have used lots of them since.

I have added my photos to the various steps in Jimiweld's instructions and my remarks are in bold italics.  (Hope this doesn't cause any problems)
    
Re: Replacing Sidekick rockers question
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2007, 04:32:49 AM »
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Making the Tube Rockers

Step 1
Measure the length of the rocker to replace, at this point make them a bit longer to allow for cutting and fitting later on.

Step 2
Either weld two pieces of 2"x 2" square tube with a 1/8" wall thickness together as shown or purchase 2" x 4" tubing with a at least a 1/8" wall thickness. I think the two pieces welded together is a bit stronger as it has the center web in it but realistically either will be strong enough.  (I went with 2X4X1/8)

I used 2X4X1/8"

Step 3
 At this point if you are thinking about running big tires and are going to need to do any trimming to the fenders or front floor area to clear the tires I would suggest getting that done and have the tires fitting how you like them before putting the rockers in.
  From the bottom of the door measure down about ½" to 5/8" and scribe a line approximately parallel to the bottom of the door on the existing rocker and across onto the front fender and rear fender area of the body. Have a friend hold a long aluminum drywall ruler for you and you can stand back and adjust it as needed until your happy. It"s flexible enough to match the body as well to keep a straight line.

I cut at the bend line below the door.  take the front fenders of first and cut separately.


Step 4
   I used a 1/16 cutting disc on an angle grinder to cut out the old rocker. I just followed the line and cut it off. I cut the front fender and rear fender portion out at the same time. On the backside or under the truck I came down a good 1" or so and cut across the rocker. Just be sure not to let the grinder go in too deep on the drivers side, there"s a bunch of wires that run through that rocker.

Cut just inside pinch seam on bottom of rock panel, for 2X4 rails.  On my first one, I cut to far inboard and had to add some metal to make it fit.



Step 5
   Fitting the new rocker isn"t too hard. Push the new rocker into the area that was just cut out, let it come to rest on the inside rocker that was left 1" long (the underside of the truck) as shown, this will give you a pretty good lap joint to weld to. Fit it in there and hold it in place with a couple jack stands or something. Mark the overall length once you have it positioned how you like it, take it out and cut it to size then refit. Now you can take the front fender off to allow for welding since the rocker is already fit. I flattened out the bottoms of my front fender a bit and let the rear portion sit out a bit more and tapered it in to the front, I kind of like how it looks like that.

I tack welded it front, back and middle on the outside and then the same on the underside or backside so that it wouldn"t twist while welding. You can weld it like this or you can put in the additional 1/8" thick material that I used. I have a vertical band saw so it was easy to cut the material to fit. I like the 1/8 material as the rocker area to weld to is thin and mine was still slightly rotted that makes it easy to blow holes while welding to the raw edge. I found that the 1/8" flat bar made it strong and easy to weld. Now you are performing an edge joint (no raw edge) where it is welded to the existing rocker material and the visible area is easy to weld since it is 1/8" material to 1/8" thick material and if done nicely no grinding is required where visible.  Where I tig welded it you could easily mig weld it as well, I just tig welded as I could fuse the material together and not have to grind later.
   Make sure you put lots of tack welds all over before welding, also clean all rust and paint away from the areas to be welded, it will weld much nicer. It"s always a good idea to stagger your welding (weld 2 – 4" long beads and then move to another area). This will help to reduce overall distortion. Allow the welds to cool between beads on the drivers side, don"t forget those wires are in there and you don"t want to melt them by overheating the material

I had wires on both sides, used duct tape to hold them up out of the way.  Still be cautious with the heat.



Step 6
Make end caps for the tubes and weld them on.
 I think that"s about it.

* Rocker Sketch.JPG (23.47 KB, 958x612 - viewed 31 times.)

* Tube Sketch.JPG (17.11 KB, 958x612 - viewed 18 times.)
   
I tapered the front of the rails to match the wheel opening, same with the back.  Then I cut off bottom of fender an added a tab bending inward so I could bolt the front fender on for easy removal.  I welded a bolt up from inside the rails, but drilling an using a self tapping bolt would work.





These work!!!  First time out I was sliding over roots & rocks.  Had a couple drops onto rocks, and just scraped paint off the bottom.  Satisfaction every time I drop onto something.
It took a couple of days, but it was just the start of modifications.

Almost finished product

I like the front bumper - looks like it can take and dish out a good beating

Derek

He hasn't had a chance to beat up the front bumper yet.  It was just put together on Saturday. 

When building the tube rockers I knew that I needed to have a winch, so started the process by welding a piece of 7" X 1/4" channel iron in place.


After the tube rockers, painting, and building the rear bumper (posted earlier), it was time to make the front bumper.
My nephew works for a metal shop, and agreed to (help) build it for me.  Taking it to the shop with a winch in place, we got started.


We made a drawing of what we wanted it to look and fit like on cardboard.


Then checked the cardboard creation for fit.


After transferring the cardboard to metal, cutting it, and a few bends, the bumper starts taking shape.


With numerous adjustments,fitting and welding, the shell was done.  I wanted it strong, so we boxed the wings.


Thanks to my nephew's HELP!!!  With hangers installed my tracker was ready to leave the shop,
 

Full size pics can be found online at http://picasaweb.google.com/CrawlersNW/Misc 

Finally got motor for my winch, and installed.  I think it really adds to the bumper.



With both bumper and winch up front looks like I lost some lift up front.  Since I just acquired a 92 parts 4 door, I thought I would try the heavier front springs to see the change.

4 door front spring on the left, 2 door spring on the right.


This brought ride height up about 1" - 1 1/2".  (Of course I didn't measure before the change.)  Now have 2" spacers, 4 door springs, and 2" strut spacers up front.  I do not have much down travel left, so not sure of effect on cv's.  Hope to try it out at Walker Valley this weekend.
Will post photos of how it sets tomorrow.  Ride is good right now, not too stiff.  I need to install a camber bolt also, and will get alignment after the trail run. 

Nice work. You got a nice lookin' tracker/kick. I don't think I've came across the original post b4, and I have been exploring rocker options, so another idea to add to my list......

I'm also curious on trail response of the 4door springs with coil spacers. I've debated doing it, and just don't know about the down travel...

I believe the 92 4 door had the 5.38 R&P in them. Worth looking!!!

I believe the 92 4 door had the 5.38 R&P in them. Worth looking!!!

I wish it did.  They were 5.12 same as my tracker, 41 teeth.  Already installed the front diff. in mine. 

Nice work. You got a nice lookin' tracker/kick. I don't think I've came across the original post b4, and I have been exploring rocker options, so another idea to add to my list......

I'm also curious on trail response of the 4door springs with coil spacers. I've debated doing it, and just don't know about the down travel...

As I feared, lost a CV after about an hour.  I do not have much down travel, meaning CV's close to maxed out.  (2" coil spacers with 4 door springs on 2 door.)  I like the ride, and do not want to loose the lift, so I am now considering dropping the A arm mounts & diff to reduce CV angle.  Will have to lower steering linkage also.  If going that far, I will see if I can get the mod. in to run drivers side CV on both sides done also.  I was lucky that the ds broke, and did not take that long to replace.
It just goes on.

After blowing a CV during the first hour at Walker Valley I decided to lower my front diff., to reduce the CV angles.
Here is my CV at rest (before).

And here it is fully extended (before).


I cut the diff. hangers and added 2" spacers (which was to much, so they are now are at 1 1/2"), and replaced the cross member to get clearance for back of diff.
Here is the rebuilt diff. hangers, with a stock drivers side for reference.


And here is what the cross member now looks like. 

I have about 1/4 clearance on bottom of diff. snout.  I welded a heavy washers on to the bottom both sides of back diff. mount.

I achieved much better CV angles as show at full extension.

I tested for clearance/binding of the CV's due to having moved the diff. lower.  No problem with the CV shafts straight, they still have clearance at the flanges.

If you notice the springs are bowed outward, and were pressing on the brake calipers at times when working it off road (brakes seem to disappear at times).  I have modified the A arm spring pads, so the spring sits straight without bowing.  I will post photos as soon as I get them installed.

Looks good.  We'll have to plan another Walker run to try them out. 

Thanks for the feedback on the springs, and nice article/pics BRD HNTR. You seem to be going through the stages I currently am. Luckily I "Finally" found a sami axle locally and now I'm going to put the steel third in the frt. I was thinking about fabbing drop brackets and your little writeup helps out a lot, thanks.

I noticed you dropped the crossmember, any reason in particular for doing this? It seems easy enough since you are "dropping" the diff. But I notice most "bolt-on" lift just change the snout mount somehow, I'm assuming to angle it more.


I have thought about dropping the crossmember, and if I do so I thought why not drop the Aarms like the old procomp kits use to do. I guess this may reduce the frt clearance some, but improve/reduce spring "buldge."


Also as a side, do you still run your swaybar in the front? That was one of the first things I scrapped and didnt even notice it change any "on" road characteristics.

I like the rockers and bumper. Nicely done

Thanks for the feedback on the springs, and nice article/pics BRD HNTR. You seem to be going through the stages I currently am. Luckily I "Finally" found a sami axle locally and now I'm going to put the steel third in the frt. I was thinking about fabbing drop brackets and your little writeup helps out a lot, thanks.

I noticed you dropped the crossmember, any reason in particular for doing this? It seems easy enough since you are "dropping" the diff. But I notice most "bolt-on" lift just change the snout mount somehow, I'm assuming to angle it more.


I have thought about dropping the crossmember, and if I do so I thought why not drop the Aarms like the old procomp kits use to do. I guess this may reduce the frt clearance some, but improve/reduce spring "buldge."


Also as a side, do you still run your swaybar in the front? That was one of the first things I scrapped and didnt even notice it change any "on" road characteristics.

Reading through lots of posts, it seems that Calmini just drops the front brackets and allows the back to rotate up, changing angles on U-joints.  I wanted to keep it square, and lowering it allows the skid pan to still protect the Diff.  I tried cutting the original down, but after putting a stiffener across the top, I didn't gain much.  (I also ran out of gas for the wire feed, it looked like s--t middle of night work, this works/looks much better.)  I tried 2" of drop on the front brackets, but would have to drop the back cross member more, so went back to 1 1/2".  It really made a difference in CV angles.

I am also considering dropping the a arms (which would make the diff./CV shafts back in alignment).  I have modified the spring pads and squared up the springs.  I have one side in now, and going back to garage to get other side in now.  I will post on it this evening.

With the increased height the steering linkages need to be addressed.  So I am looking at making drops for both control arm and idler.  If you have done this, or have ideas, let me know.  Seems like we are both going same direction.