Rocker Reinforcement M998

[Rob T.]

Hello everybody, my Name is Rob from germany.
I bought a 1987 HMMWV M998 with a 6.5l N.A. engine a few month ago. It runs really great and had no problems so far (Except a small leak on the transfer case when its really cold ). Really a great car. I got a lot of information from this comunity before i purchased my HMMWV. Thank you all for that.
While looking at other cars to get some ideas, i noticed that some cars do have reinforcement plates on the rockers (between front and backdoors) and others do not. Does anybody know why? Does it depent on the year the truck was built? Hope this doesn´t mean that my truck has had some accident, because it has those reinforcement plates. I could not find any information.

Hope you all had great christmasdays and wish you the best for 2023.
Greetings Rob

 

[Mogman]

Welcome to the forum Rob!!
As far as I know all the bodies are the same in that area.
I do not think I have ever seen a factory HMMWV with rocker plates, all I have seen are aftermarket.
BUT there are plenty of knowledgeable folks here with more experience than I have so if I am wrong they will speak up!

 

[BLK HMMWV]

Could be a couple of things.
are they steel and about 3/16 of an inch thick?
They made some first gen supplemental armor plates that went along the inside of the trucks from the front footwells down the sides of the trucks.

Newer trucks that had the supplemental aluminum armor plates on the outside had aluminum backing plates in about the same place.

Since you say your truck is a 1987 I would guess that you have the first stuff.
They also made pieces that went on inside of the wheel wells /fenders and a piece that was attached to inside of the tail gate.

 

[Rob T.]

To be onest - I do not know if "reinforcement" is the right word for those sheet metal parts.
Here are two pictures. One with, and one without the " reinforcement" (not my car).
Should be clearer with pictures.

 

[Mogman]

Sorry, I thought you were talking about something like this.

 

[royg]

To be onest - I do not know if "reinforcement" is the right word for those sheet metal parts.
Here are two pictures. One with, and one without the " reinforcement" (not my car).
Should be clearer with pictures.

Just looking at pics on google I see that piece present on many early bodies from 1985-1989. I haven't seen it on 1990 or newer trucks. I doubt it means anything relative to an accident. Probably just something that evolved along the way. Similar to how some early tailgates featured AM GENERAL embossed but latter tailgates are plain.

 

[86humv]

To be onest - I do not know if "reinforcement" is the right word for those sheet metal parts.
Here are two pictures. One with, and one without the " reinforcement" (not my car).
Should be clearer with pictures.

That is part of a seatbelt upgrade kit part for older trucks...there was kits out there that had that and other
parts....but most people that did the upgrade, left those out.

 

[Mogman]

Just looking at pics on google I see that piece present on many early bodies from 1985-1989. I haven't seen it on 1990 or newer trucks. I doubt it means anything relative to an accident. Probably just something that evolved along the way. Similar to how some early tailgates featured AM GENERAL embossed but latter tailgates are plain.

I think the tailgates lost the embossing when the HMMWV began to transition from a support vehicle to a front line vehicle, Uncle Sam does not like brand placement on combat vehicles..

 

[Thumper580]

Deleted

 

[Mogman]

Not sure if you are referring to Jack rails/rock sliders... These protect the beer can aluminum body if you are rock crawling...
View attachment 887180

To whom are you speaking to?
The OP posted a picture of what he was talking about.

 

[MarkM]

Just looking at pics on google I see that piece present on many early bodies from 1985-1989. I haven't seen it on 1990 or newer trucks. I doubt it means anything relative to an accident. Probably just something that evolved along the way. Similar to how some early tailgates featured AM GENERAL embossed but latter tailgates are plain.

Mine is a 91 M998 and I have those reinforcements. Didn't know it was anything special.

Mark

 

[BLK HMMWV]

To be onest - I do not know if "reinforcement" is the right word for those sheet metal parts.
Here are two pictures. One with, and one without the " reinforcement" (not my car).
Should be clearer with pictures.

Rob.
Now that I've seen the pictures you posted I'm going to agree with what 86 humv said.

 

[Rob T.]

The knowlege here is really huge. Thank you all for your feedback.

 

[LouWon]

Check out this thread below from a few years ago
I did some damage on the trail, after the repairs I did install some angle iron, no more issues
Try to find a local shop, they are not too complicated to do
They did save the day on the next trail run, you can see the paint rubbed off

HMMWV Rock Sliders/ Rocker protection

$950 a set. Mine are repros of there's at $ 400 The bare metal ones in pic.

www.steelsoldiers.com