Installing Olympic 4x4 products Rockslide bumpers on the 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ

I was talking to Eric from Olympic 4x4 products about my concerns on Kelsey’ Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ rocker panels. After a few rides they were already getting beat on pretty good. Eric tells me that what I need is to install a set of their Rockslide bumpers and that would take care of the Jeep from trail damage.

Well – a short time later I get these two boxes and let me tell you these boxes not only arrived in great condition but my goodness if the weight of the boxes said anything it was Heavy-duty. Yes those bad boys are made from .120” inch heavy –duty wall 2 ½” round diameter steel tubing.

The only tools needed were:
• 3/8” and ½” drive ratchets
• Socket wrenches sizes 7/16” and 9/16”
• Socket wrenches sizes 7/16” and 9/16”
• Open end combination wrenches sizes 7/16” and 9/16”
• Drill
• 5/16” drill bit
• Punch or marker
• Cutting oil

First think is to hold the nerfs up against the unibody which we did free hand first but then found the best thing is a floor jack and some jack stands. Now the really cool thing that I found that the Olympic 4x4 products crew does is weld on the nerfs which side they fit such as Passenger side shown. Now this may sound simple but they are so close in fit it could really be a pain to figure out which side fit correctly.

So we get the bar up mark the holes with a punch and remove the nerfs to drill the holes. We then repositioned the nerfs and used the 3/8” self-tapping bolts to attach the bars to the Jeep. The other neat part of the Olympic 4x4 products nerfs is the outside bracket that attaches to the body pinch rail.

After we got both sides installed we just had to take the floor jack and try the nerfs – They held the Jeep with no problems and look really great also.

Next item on the list is trying them in the woods so – off to the Southern Four Wheel Drive Association’s “Dixie Run 2010”. As you can see by the video they got tried on the trail and are now officially “Tennessee Tested”. Eric can brag all he wants about testing product on the Rubicon but that means nothing till it get beat up in the Southeastern USA! The really good part we slammed a rock so hard guessing without these Heavy-duty nerfs you would not be able to open the doors on that Jeep Grand Cherokee now without them being installed.