Installing RTE Rock Sliders On Your Discovery

Unpack the wooden crates containing your rock sliders and review these instructions completely before beginning to mount the rock sliders.

These instructions were prepared using a Discovery Series II as the project vehicle and the photographs depict a Discovery Series II. Except where noted, these instructions are equally applicable to installation of your rock sliders on a Discovery Series I.

To install your rock sliders properly, you will require:

The broom and eye protection are mandatory. During several stages of the installation, you will be required to lie on your back while under the vehicle. Use the broom to sweep away any fallen dirt and metal shavings (remember, you will be drilling numerous holes into the sills) before you lie down on your back. The eye protection is required to prevent debris getting into your eyes, especially when you are drilling and hammering while under the vehicle.

Before installing your rock sliders, do yourself a favor and thoroughly clean the underside of your vehicle with a garden hose. Remove as much caked-on mud and other debris that you can. To install your rock sliders, you will have to hammer numerous RivNuts into the vehicle's sills, even from the underside of the vehicle. Removing as much debris as possible from the underside of the vehicle will go a long way toward preventing dirt from getting into your eyes when working (and hammering) under your vehicle.

If your vehicle is a Discovery Series II, you must first remove the mud flaps to permit removal of the plastic sill guards and installation of the rock sliders. If you own a Discovery Series I, you may install your rock sliders with the mud flaps attached.

The front mud flaps on the Discovery Series II are affixed to the plastic sill guards by two Philips-head wood screws.

Unscrew the two wood screws and remove the steel clamping plate beneath the screws.

The mud flaps are held to the vehicle's underbody by three hex nuts. Remove the hex nuts and the mud flap should fall away. With the front mud flaps removed, you are ready to remove the plastic sill guards.

On the Discovery Series II, the plastic sill guards are held in place by: (1) a threaded hex nut in the forward area, (2) 10 expanding plastic grommets in the middle area, and (3) a threaded plastic cap at the rear area. Unthread the forward hex nut securing the forward portion of the plastic sill guards to the front fender.

For the Discovery Series I, the plastic sill guards are held in place with grommets only.

To remove the expanding plastic grommets on the Discovery Series II, use a screwdriver to pry away the expanding plug. Great force is not necessary and the center plugs remove easily.

The Discovery Series I employs one-piece plastic grommets can you can carefully pry away using a flat screwdriver.

On the Discovery Series II, use the same screwdriver to pry away the outer portion of the plastic grommets. As with the center plugs, the outer plugs remove easily.

For the threaded cap in the very rear of the plastic sill guards on the Discovery Series II, simply unscrew it. Retain the threaded plastic cap, as you will reinstall it after mounting your rock sliders.

After removal of the hex nut, the plastic grommets, and the plastic threaded cap, the plastic sill guards should fall away from the vehicle. Take this time to clean the sill areas of any caked-on debris.

From the lowest portion of the front fender of the Discovery Series II emanates a small threaded stud. This stud previously secured the forward portion of the plastic stills and must be removed to permit the rock sliders to situate properly.

Installation Of Your Rock Sliders

Situate your floor jack so that the rock sliders remain balanced on the jack without other support. You will use the floor jack to hold the rock sliders tightly against the vehicle's sills. Accordingly, you want the jack to support the rock sliders in the middle to ensure a good clamping action against the vehicle.

Raise the floor jack and the rock sliders until there is no perceptible slack between the vehicle's sills and the rock sliders. While raising the floor jack and rock sliders, take care to align the fore and aft adjustment of the rock sliders relative to the edges of the wheel wells. You will have to reposition the floor jack several times while jacking due to the rock sliders' moving outward as the arm of the floor jack rises axially. If your floor jack will not reach, place a thick object such as a pallet or some thick books under the floor jack.

With the floor jack raised fully, there should no vertical play between the rock sliders and the vehicle's sills. To eliminate any horizontal play between the rock sliders and the sills, you will have to clamp the lateral mounting plates of the rock sliders against the vehicle's sills.

You will require a pair of large clamps. Heavy-duty C clamps are best, but almost any large clamps you have on hand will suffice.

Tightly clamp the rock sliders to the vehicle's sills to eliminate any lateral play. If you perceive a gap between the rock sliders and the vehicle's sills but the rock sliders will not move, very slightly lower the floor jack to permit the proper movement. You will achieve the best results by switching back and forth between horizontal and vertical clamping movements while tapping lightly on the ends of the rock sliders for the correct fore and aft placement of the rock sliders.

Exact and correct positioning of the rock sliders against the vehicle's sills is required because you will use the 1/2" holes in the rock sliders as guides for drilling the mounting holes. Do not hesitate to begin the fitting process over again if you believe you can achieve a better fit by doing so.

Here is a view of the rock sliders properly clamped. Note that the holes in the rock sliders do not exactly correspond with the pre-existing holes in the vehicle's sills. This is of little importance as you will shortly drill your own 1/2" holes into the sills.

Using a 1/2" bit, drill into the three upper holes on the forward portion of the rock slider, and into the rearmost hole of the two holes in the rearward portion of the rock slider. Be aware of any fore and aft movement of the sliders during drilling, as the bit may want to crawl toward and into the pre-existing holes. If the rock sliders do move, stop drilling and reclamp the rock sliders to the vehicle in the correct position.

When you have drilled the four required 1/2" holes, remove the rock sliders from the vehicle.

With the rock sliders removed, you are ready to insert the RivNuts into the four 1/2" holes you just drilled.

A RivNut tool is included with your rock sliders. You will use this tool numerous times during installation of the rock sliders, so be sure to lubricate the tool lightly to prevent galling of the tool's bearing surfaces. Furthermore, clean the tool between the installation of each RivNut, as RivNuts are easily overtightened and a smoothly operating tool will enable you to feel when each RivNut "bottoms out" and is fully secured.

Hammer the RivNut tool into one of the 1/2" holes you just drilled. The fit of the RivNuts into the 1/2" holes is tight, which will help to prevent the RivNuts from turning once they are tightened. When hammering, try to get the flange of the RivNut as flush as possible to the body panel, but do not hammer so hard that the body panels greatly deform. A slight amount of deformation of the sill panels is inevitable and normal.

While using a spanner to hold the large nut on the RivNut tool stationary, tighten the head of the bolt of the RivNut tool. The tightening action of the bolt will pull the tip of the RivNut toward the flange, and the RivNut will collapse and expand into the 1/2" hole. RivNuts are very flexible and it is very easy to overtighten them. If you are careful while turning the ratchet tool and you have a clean and lubricated RivNut tool, you will feel the RivNut bottoming out after full expansion. Do not tighten the RivNut beyond this point.

Before installing a RivNut for real into your vehicle, you may want to perform a dry run and try expanding a RivNut without inserting it into your vehicle (several extra Rivnuts are included with your rock sliders for practice runs. During the dry run, observe how the RivNut collapses and expands, and try to obtain a feel both for how much torque is required to expand the RivNut and when the RivNut bottoms out.

You must also install the RivNut into the rearward portion of the rock slider. Note that the areas of the body panels immediately surrounding the RivNuts are deformed inward from hammering in the tight RivNuts. This is normal and not a cause for concern, as tightening the rock sliders fully will pull the RivNuts outward.

Refit the rock sliders to the vehicle using all four of the RivNuts you just installed. As you will be fitting and removing the rock sliders several times during installation, dispense with the lock washers at this stage and use only the 5/16" bolts and flat washers. Use of the flat washers at all times is necessary to protect the finish on the rock sliders. Before tightening the bolts fully, be sure to remove as much vertical slack between the rock sliders and the vehicle's sills. There will also be enough play between the holes in the rock sliders and the bolts to permit a slight amount of fore and aft adjustment. Fit the sliders exactly as you wish them be mounted, for you will soon drill more holes using other holes on the rock sliders as guides. With the rock sliders secured and properly adjusted, you are ready to begin drilling of the holes for the RivNuts that will secure the underside of the rock sliders.

Using a 3/8" bit, drill through the six holes in the underside of the rock sliders.

Undo the four bolts securing the rock sliders and remove the rock sliders from the vehicle.

Using a 1/2" bit, enlarge the six 3/8" holes you just drilled into the underside of the vehicle's sills.

Using the same techniques as with the four RivNuts into the side of the sills, install six RivNuts into the underside of the vehicle's sills.

Refit the rock sliders to the vehicle using the four bolts on the side RivNuts and the six bolts for the underside RivNuts. The rock sliders are now securely fastened to the vehicle. In fact, many other rock slider designs incorporate the same amount of bolts that you have just installed.

Your rock sliders, however, incorporate an L-shaped underbelly slider that is secured to the rock sliders with six large bolts. When the six large bolts are tightened, the rock sliders and underbelly sliders form a sandwich and tightly clamp the vehicle's sill areas. To mount the underbelly sliders, you will have to drill more holes.

With the rock sliders securely fastened to the vehicle, use a 1/2" drill bit and drill through the remaining holes in the side mounting plates of the rock sliders.

Here is a view of the forward mounting plate with all holes drilled out.

The six holes you just drilled will accommodate the six large bolts that will eventually protrude through the inner wall of the vehicle's sills and to which the underbelly sliders will affix.

To drill completely through the vehicle's sills, use the furnished drill bit guide. The outer diameter of the shank portion of the guide is 1/2" to fit tightly against the 1/2" holes you just drilled. The guide also has a wide flange to ensure that the holes you drill with the guide are perpendicular to the surface of the rock sliders' side mounting plates.

The inner diameter of the guide is 1/4" in diameter to accommodate a long 1/4" drill bit, which you will need to drill a guide hole through the inner wall of the vehicle's sills.

Insert the guide into the 1/2" holes you just drilled and press home so that the flange of the guide sits flush against the rock sliders' mounting plates. Using a long 1/4" bit, drill through the inner wall of the vehicle's sills. Repeat this step with the remaining five 1/4" holes in the vehicle's sills.

Using a 1/2" drill bit, enlarge the 1/4" holes in the inner walls of the vehicle's sills. If you do not possess a long 1/4" drill bit, remove the rock sliders again to get the clearance required to reach the inner wall.

Before reinstalling the rock sliders, test the fit of the underbelly sliders by inserting the six bolts into the holes you just enlarged.

Here is a view of the tips of the six bolts as they protrude through the inner wall of the vehicle's sills. To these bolts the underbelly sliders will attach.

Test fit the underbelly sliders to the six bolts. If the underbelly slider will not accommodate all six bolts, you drilled one or more of the six holes at an angle rather than perpendicular to the rock sliders' side mounting plates. If one or more of the holes in your inner wall are misaligned, use a coarse round file to ovalize the holes to the proper orientation.

When you are able to fit the underbelly slider to all six bolts, you are ready for final assembly of the rock sliders.

Refit the rock sliders to the vehicle. This will be your final fitting of the rock sliders to the vehicle, so be sure to fit the lock washers as well the flat washers to the six underside bolts at this time.

For the four topmost bolts on the rock slider mounting plates, check for proper clearance before fitting both the flat washers and the lock washers. Fitting both washers will help prevent loosening of the securing bolts, but some doors may contact the heads of the bolts if both washers are fitted. If your doors contact the heads of the bolts when both washers are fitted, fit only the flat washers and you should not have any contact between the bolt heads and the doors.

With the four small bolts fully secured, insert the six large bolts with flat washers beneath the bolt heads.

Fit the underbelly slider to the tips of the six bolts using both the flat washers provided. Do not overtighten, but be sure to check and double-check all six bolts for sufficient tightness as what was once a tight bolt will no longer be tight when the bolts flanking it are tightened fully.

On the Discovery Series II, refit the plastic threaded cap to the stud protruding from the side of the vehicle's sills. The threaded stud protrudes enough that a barefooted passenger could get injured or tear his trouser leg on the stud.

For the Discovery Series II and if you are so inclined, refit the front mud flap to the vehicle's underbody using the three hex nuts. Obviously, you cannot refit the two wood screws that previously secured the mud flaps to the plastic sills.

The fit of the mud flaps to the rock sliders is decent and fairly integrated.

Repeat the above steps for the other side of the vehicle and your installation will be complete.

Upon completion, attach the return shipping decals to the wooden crates and return the wooden shipping crates to RoverTym. In the crates you will find prepaid shipping tags for placement on the crates.

We recommend that you remove your rock sliders at least twice a year to permit removal of any debris that may have accumulated between the rock sliders and your vehicle's sill areas. Cleaning and application of corrosion inhibitors like waxoyl or other undercoating will inhibit corrosion in the critical sill areas under your vehicle.

If you have any questions regarding the proper installation of your rock sliders, please contact us at:

(866) ROVERTM or mailto:steve@rovertym.com

Enjoy your rock sliders!