Strength of the frame pinch weld

[jhnvan]

Just wondering if anyone has any info as to how strong the main body pinch weld under the BS is? The one running the length of the car below the doors.

I'm looking at fabrication my own set of sliders but i don't want to drill into the car. I'm looking at making a set that would essentially pinch onto the weld seem with brackets along the way. Would it be strong enough to withstand mild impacts? I'm not looking at rock crawlingbut simply preventing damage of the doors in mild offroad scenarios.

Cheers!

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[RiotfunK]

I wouldn’t unless you have an actual hard point to mount up to like the others that are out do.
It’s a lot of weight to come down on that and then you’re gonna punch the tub with the sliders and mount, no?
And I wouldn’t want that to come loose on the highway. Ugh. Would be nice though

 

[jhnvan]

Plan is to have two hard mounted tabs at either end from the backside. My slider would have 100% contact with the outside of the pinch weld and threaded bolt tabs behind at 6 different places. I'm not too worried about it falling off but my thought was to use the strength of the pinch weld to disperse the force and using a square tube that can crumple to also take some of the force from the frame.

I'm just thinking that the pinch weld there can take a lot of the weight of the car since it's your jack spots. But that's where I'm wanting more info.

 

[Maxwellian]

They seem to be a very strong boron alloy steel. Pic is an extrication test, where they ripped the roof off with a jack against the rocker that didn’t budge. https://www.boronextrication.com/2021/05/30/2021-ford-bronco-sport-body-structure/

Having trouble finding some other pics I’ve seen of extremely smashed up ones with pristine looking rocker panels. There was one that rolled way down a mountain.

I haven’t gotten around to modifying my go rhino sliders. But I plan to add clamps to the pinch weld. I’m not an engineer, but I think also having a couple arms to bolts in the belly is good to resist tourqe. That way when you come down on the outer edge, they don’t bend the pinch weld flange and slip off.

 

[Meanderthal]

Just as a reference, the pinch weld under the doors is the jack point (at least in 2 areas). So that area is strong enough to take the weight of the vehicle in that area. You can see the difference in the pinch weld where they are made stronger for the jack points. It's not a big change but there is a difference.

 

[jhnvan]

Maxwellian, that's an awesome picture! Thanks for that. It definitely helps with my idea.

belly pan brackets for the outer edges to help minimize torque être in my design idea.

I'm just not super stoked on the current options. I don't want a foot step and i want my sliders to be low profile, easily replaceable and serviceable.

 

[Maxwellian]

Yeah, I’d like to get mine tucked a little higher, but not really sure if it’s worth how much cutting and welding I’d have to do on the bracket. Will probably just add clamps for now. pretty happy with the profile of the Go Rhinos otherwise though. Step plate is kinda vestigial, can barely get a toe on them depending on footwear. I think they they stick out just far enough to offer good protection.

 

[Meanderthal]

I'm just not super stoked on the current options. I don't want a foot step and i want my sliders to be low profile, easily replaceable and serviceable.

Same here!

 

[jhnvan]

I've got a few sketches drawn up and hopefully i can start working on something by the weekend and post some pictures.

I'll be buying all 1 inch pieces. 1 inch square tube, 1 inch dom round tube, 1 inch flat bar. I should be able to keep everything within 1/2 inch lower than the pinch weld.

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