| The
factory running boards on my Cruiser served well in the scheme of
things. They made it easy to climb into the captain's chair of the
old beast. And prettiest of all, they kept the road tar and trail sludge
from finding its way onto the paint job. But as the good word goes: "Running boards don't
work well when you go up against the rocks of the Rubicon." And with my
Cruiser's first trip to the 'Con on the calendar, I decided the running
boards were coming off. Therefor, rocker panels were in order. The first set of rocker panels I
designed bolted onto the tub, making use of the running board's factory.
The reason being, I wanted both of them to be interchangeable with one
another. I drilled five mounting holes in 3" x 2"
x 1/4" angle iron, and cut them to match the angle of the font fender.
With a quick shot of black spray paint, and bolted them to the Cruiser,
using 3/8" bolts. I mounted the 3" section angle iron against the body
and the 2" section beneath the tub. This worked well for the Cruiser's first two trips
to Rubicon. But after some severe boulder-bashing on the trail, the
rocker panels bent inward towards the tub. This was unacceptable, hence,
the painful decision to take the jig saw to the tub. Now, this may have been an excruciating thought to
fathom, but it afforded the Cruiser an additional three inches of ground
clearance. No rock
crawler in his right mind could turn down an additional three inches of
ground clearance. So, onward I went, my objective to cut
clear up to the body mounts. I flipped the rocker panels around
180 degrees and clamped them to the tub using C-clamps. With the 3"
side lined up to the bottom of the rocker panel, I marked a line with a
felt tip pen. With the line drawn, I removed the
rocker panel. Then I sat there to regain my senses. I found it difficult
to hack away what Toyota once considered a good idea, three inches of
clearance-robbing sheet metal. I took a last gasp of air, fired-up the
jig saw and did what every rock crawler in my shoes would have done, rid
my rig of the waste. After doing justice to the rocker panel,
I focused my efforts toward trimming the fenders. This way, the fenders
would also be further from a rock's wrath. I taped a 30-60-90
triangle to the front fender and drew a line using the 60 degree from
vertical edge. I removed all components and wires
attached to the fender, then the fender (it is much easier to trim when
it is removed). I used a 3" pneumatic tool to cut the fenders and
round-out the edges. I then reinstalled the fenders. For fender protection, I commandeered
two long pieces of 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 1/4" angle iron. I cut the
front of each piece at an angle to match the contour of the front
fenders. I clamped them to the rocker panels for a test fit and
did some minor body trimming for that perfect fit. I marked and
drilled six (of seven total) 3/8" holes. I did not
drill the seventh hole yet because Cruiser bodies bend a few degrees
after the door seam. I wanted a clean look, so I cut a notch
out of the bottom of the angle iron and bent it to the contour of the
body. I then welded the notch back together and drilled the last
mounting hole. Making your own set of rocker panels
comes with its rewards. You can make them the way you want them. I've
seen other rocker panels that only extended to the rear a bit past the
body seam. These off-the-shelfers did not bend to the contour of the
Cruiser. The benefits of my second set of rocker
panels were many. Here are a few highlights:
• Three-inch gain in ground clearance.
• Sleeker look.
• Beefier, rock ready rocker panels.
• Body supports are a better mounting surface. | 
