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Jack Rails

Coug

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So I've kind of beaten up the bottom edge of the truck. Just because you can make it through the jeep trails doesn't mean you won't take a few hits from it.

Anyway, I decided I wanted some protection for the edge.

Talked to a friend who's business orders steel for their own needs, and he got me some at a decent price.
Ended up going with 4"x4"x3/8" angle iron for the rails. A little overkill perhaps, but the future goal is to extend it to full underbody protection so I'd rather have a little more to work with.

Anyway, project was straight forward enough.

Cut the steel into 2 8' pieces.

Measured in 8" from one end, and cut out a notch approximately 60-65 degrees. Cut a bevel on the edge for the later welding.
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Use the oxyacetylene torch to heat up the metal, then used a 2' crescent wrench for leverage to bend it. Bending was a little slow, as it was apply steady pressure while continuing to heat the metal until it was bent far enough. Of course it doesn't bend perfectly straight, so had to whack it with a big hammer a few times to straighten it out.

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Test fit

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Then ended up switching it around and making this the rear notch on the opposite side. Measured 10" forward from it, but out about 10 degree cut to follow the bottom edge of the truck. Then approx 70 inches forward from that and another 60-65 degree notch and bend.

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Lots of welding to fill in the notches. Probably did more grinding than welding as I'm a hobbyist not a professional and what I had just wasn't working that well on the thick metal.
cleaned the metal a little then primered it. Started marking spots to drill.
Ended up basing the holes centered on the base of the B-pillar between the braces and rivets, then measured 8" out to the next hole, and had them 1.5" down from the top edge of the rail (or 2.5" up from the bottom edge) At the back edge I juse went with where it looked good and had nothing behind it.
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Drilled all the holes in 1/4" on the truck, then pulled the rail off and used a drill press to move them up to 3/8" and then countersink them all.

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Some degreaser afterwards to remove the oil I used while drilling and countersinking.
More painting to get everything black. I had left the outside face in brown primer so I could see the spots I marked using a sharpie marker, rather than having to acquire a paint marker in a light color.
After a day for the paint to cure a bit, I used some 20 mil pipe wrap tape made of PVC as a physical barrier between the steel of the rails and the aluminum of the body. 50 foot roll is only $6 so a cheap and easy solution.
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Put the jack rail in place, installed the bolts with fender washers on the inside. Bent the edge of the fender washers because they were just a little too big to fit that close to the bottom edge inside the truck. The holes I drilled are pretty much in line with the rivets holding the floor and sidewall together, so a double layer of metal to bolt through.
I also put a layer of tape on the back side of the fender washers as a barrier. Put them in the 2' crescent wrench used before for bending the rails, and smacked the washer a couple times with a hammer.

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Here is the rail fully installed with the countersunk bolts. Still need to do a little paint to blend the bolt heads into the rail a little better, but I like the cleaner appearance vs the ones you see online that come with the carriage bolts. Bolts are rated for 140,000 psi; grade 8 is 150,000 psi strength, so closest I can come is they are the equivalent of grade 7. Not that it matters too much because the aluminum body is likely to give before any of the bolts would.
4ee919a43176ef3f3c361be833bffe0d572d017d-7.jpg
I did use a little bit of Lexel sealant inside the upper edge of the rail to keep water from coming down the side and getting caught in there. I'm sure water will still get in over time, and that's why the PVC tape is there.
Also in the last picture it does kind of look like my rear tire is flat, but that's just a trick of the light (it's bugging me in the picture so I just had to go check it again)


So now for a tools and materials list

oxyacetylene cutting torch
2' crescent wrench, purchased for $20 once upon a time from Harbor Freight
3 lb hammer
6 lb hammer
wirefeed welder (used flux cored wire because I don't have a MIG setup)
angle grinder with metal grinding disks, flap wheel, wire brush
Battery drill
Drill press
drill bits in 1/4" and 3/8"
countersink bit
Floor jack
4x4 wood blocks to support angle iron when working on it
driver bit for bolts
9/16" wrench
sawzall with metal cutting blade
Metal primer
flat black spray paint


2 8' 4x4x3/8" angle iron bars
1 package of 25 torx flat head screws 3/8" x 1.5"
22 grade 8 nylock nuts
22 3/8 x 2" fender washers


Link to the flat head screws I used

The countersink bit. Worked decently in a drill press, but had issues when trying to use it in a handheld drill where it made elongated holes.



Total cost for this project was right around $300 not counting the flux core wire or the oxygen and acetylene gas used.

Can't really give a total time it took as I wasn't keeping track, but with decent skills and tools it should take maybe a full day of actual working on shaping/welding/drilling/etc, but a couple of additional days are needed to allow the paints to dry and cure properly before doing the final install.
 

Maxjeep1

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If your score the angle with a cutting wheel and then bend it. You will get a nice straight bend. Looks like you did just fine. I don’t have a torch set up but I have miller mig welder. I have thought about making rock rails out of aluminum. I have other stuff to do before I get around to it. Really nice work
 

Lothar

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Looks good, nice work. 3/8" you can ski over the rocks now. I was going to add the same advise with a slight difference. We usually use a portable bandsaw for cutting angle iron or a cutting disk if one isn't available. But cutting a V groove in the inside leg keeps the bend straight. Adds another spot to weld but no hammer marks.
 

Coug

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If your score the angle with a cutting wheel and then bend it. You will get a nice straight bend. Looks like you did just fine. I don’t have a torch set up but I have miller mig welder. I have thought about making rock rails out of aluminum. I have other stuff to do before I get around to it. Really nice work
only issue with doing aluminum is it's too soft for going on rocks. Edges of rocks will dig into the aluminum, preventing it from sliding. Would work okay as just a jacking rail, but not rock sliding.

I though about scoring it with a cutting wheel, but since the first one came out almost straight and nothing a couple smacks with the hammer couldn't fix, I decided to not go to the extra effort.
 

Coug

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So how strong/durable is this?

If systemically overloaded, what breaks first?
This is only a guess, but most likely thing to break is the HMMWV bodywork.
It depends a lot on how it's hit though as to how bad.

If I were to say be T-boned by a car, the rail is definitely strong enough to spread the force out along the entire rail, with maybe a little deflection in the middle. Without it, the body would much more easily crumple inward at point of impact. For a low speed impact it might be enough to prevent any major damage due to the spread of the force, but in a major impact it would take out the entire side rather than maybe just the front or back portion. Either way as the occupant of the vehicle I think I would be much better protected, except for maybe the shock of the impact being greater due to the body not crumpling as much to absorb the energy involved.

If it were to somehow get hooked/caught from either the front or rear edge and pulled downwards (very unlikely I think) then the bodywork would rip out at the bolt holes. Same if it were caught from underneath on the inside edge of the rail.

Basically, the last thing to break is going to be the jack rail and the bolts holding it. They are both made of steel, while everything they attach to is made of aluminum. Not to mention the aluminum is pretty thin compared to the rails.

I imagine I would still be fine to attach steps or storage cans of some type to the rails and it wouldn't cause any issues. That's how some of the GMVs are set up.
 

Coug

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Next step of the project, if I ever get around to it, is I have 2x8' sheets of 1/4" steel I plan to attach from the jack rails in to the frame of the truck, with bends at both the front and read similar to the jack rails. I haven't decided yet if I will bolt them together, or have them welded overlapping each other by an inch or so, with the plate on the bottom of the rails to give some space for drainage and whatnot from the cab of the truck. Welding would be stronger, but having the rails and skid pan together makes them heavy enough to be really awkward to deal with.

The jack rails I made are around 80 lbs each. Not a bad thing as it's below the center of gravity of the truck.

The steel for the skid plates is about 160 lbs for each side, so welding them together would make each assembly 240 lbs. Total of almost 500 lbs added to my truck, but all down low below the center of gravity.

It would help with side impact strength if bolted/welded together and then attached at the truck frame is one other benefit.

Note to add: my truck is an M1123 and still has the MAK heavy springs under it, so a little weight isn't an issue for me. Someone with an A0/A1 truck and wants to build out a GMV would definitely notice the weight.
 

Maxjeep1

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only issue with doing aluminum is it's too soft for going on rocks. Edges of rocks will dig into the aluminum, preventing it from sliding. Would work okay as just a jacking rail, but not rock sliding.

I though about scoring it with a cutting wheel, but since the first one came out almost straight and nothing a couple smacks with the hammer couldn't fix, I decided to not go to the extra effort.
I think the H-1 rails are aluminum. I figured they would gouge from rocks.
 

TOBASH

Father, Surgeon, Cantankerous Grouch
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You can weld triangle tube or square tube to the sides and flat plate to the inner workings to make Hummer Dans.

Really nice write up and work
 

Coug

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Other side is a slightly better fit. This side the intermediate angle is slightly less than it should have been, and the overall length at the top is short by maybe 1/8", making it a very tight fit to get on there.
But it looks decent, and should do the job of protection from bashing and a place to jack from if needed, so I'm happy with it.
 

Action

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View attachment 867256
Other side is a slightly better fit. This side the intermediate angle is slightly less than it should have been, and the overall length at the top is short by maybe 1/8", making it a very tight fit to get on there.
But it looks decent, and should do the job of protection from bashing and a place to jack from if needed, so I'm happy with it.
I like the camo net stowage rack.
 
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