CALMINI ROCK SLIDERS
New Formed Steel Rocker Panel Guards For The Samurai.
Editor: Eric Bewley
SALEM, OR – Calmini has recently introduced their new rock sliders for Samurai. They are a formed piece designed to protect both the side and the underneath of your Samurai. The first thing noticed when these new rocker panel skids arrived was the excellent fit and finish. Also that these rocker skids are the only ones that we know of that mount exclusively to the body. This is a definite plus for it reduces vibration tranfer and doesn’t add to body squeaks, pops, and bangs when your twisting the frame and suspension on the trail.
Installation is straight forward and the only special tools you may need is body working tools in case you want to or have to repair damage to the rocker panel before you install. Other than that, all that is needed is basic shop tools to install.
1. Remove plastic guarding. Pry plastic away from body.
2. Continue by prying or pushing out the plastic rivets along the bottom and on the front and rear rocker plastic caps. 
3. Locate and center punch the spot welds holding the metal bracket on. 
4. Drill out the spot welds. NOTE: This is a gentle process take your time and pay attention to your drilling. One just wants to break the weld between the bracket metal and the body metal. Do not go any deaper.This will save you a lot of time fixing your mistakes. 
5. Use a punch to break the welds apart. 
6. Remove stock bracket. 
7. TaDa! 
8. Clean up the rocker area for paint. 
9. Mask off the area. 
10. Paint the area with a sealer/primer of your choice. We chose black because the rocker panel is a little shorter than the flares and leaves a little gap at each end. With the black matching paint this is not noticeable. 
11. Ready for rocker panel skid install. 
12. Situate the rocker skid in place and hold it there with a floor jack. Mark the holes with a center punch. 
13. Lower the rocker skid out of the way and drill a pilot hole all the way through to the inside of the cabin. 
14. Pilot hole demonstrated. 
15. One of our holes ended up being behind a body bracket. We had to use the cut-off tool to make an access hole for the washer and nut. 
16. Access hole. 
17. Drill the appropriate size hole for the sleeve. Drill only the inside metal DO NOT punch through to the outside. 
18. Drill the appropriate size hole foe the bolt. 
19. Reposition the rocker skid, Install bolt from the outside, install the sleeve on the inside taking care not to let it fall inside no-man’s land, install washer and nut. 
20. Continue. 
21. On this Samurai, there was a secondary identification plate that got in the way. We drilled through it and continued. 
21. Once the five (5) bolts are attached along the upper. Drill the verticle holes starting from underneath the vehicle while leaving the rocker in place. 
22. Install the bolts from underneath, washers and nuts from above as shown. 
23. Care must be taken to make sure your drilling is square, otherwise you end up drilling two holes. 
24. Tighten down all hardware to appropriate torque and recheck after a few hundred miles to verify it is remaining tight. 
These Samurai rocker panel skids look and work exceedingly well. Since the install, they have been ‘used’ on several trails here in PNW and have done their part to keep the Samurai looking good and functioning right.
