Brilliant! And looks awesome!! Do you have any pics of the work underneath? Also, did you purchase the Lucky8 sills or did you reinstall the originals? I didn't quite understand which way you went. I think the former, but want to be sure. I'm thinking of going the same route in a couple months and you've inspired me to LineX them first AND to get the step inserts. Final Q, did you think about getting the step insert bolts LineX'd first or could they not guarantee to avoid the threads? Wondering why you decided to paint them afterwards.

Again, very good work and appreciate the photos & responses.

 

Whatever side steps I go with, I’m definitely going to hit it with Raptor spray. That install looks great!!

 

Thank you!

I will get some pictures of the work I did underneath and upload them.

I really like the fact that the Lucky 8 sliders stick out as far as they do, that is a big plus for my trail needs and usefulness as a step.

The sills are the Lucky 8 ones that came with the sliders, I didn't Line-X them because it would be not be a smooth surface and would not allow the door weather stripping to sit flush against it or against the body of the defender. I painted the bolts that hold on the stills, I also used stainless steel riv-nuts for the still, the Lucky 8 riv-nuts were not stainless.

The bolts were not Line-X'ed due to having to install them and that may have damaged the coating on the bolts during installation, I am planning on getting them touched up with Line-X or a DYI bedliner product when I get a chance, but the paint is holding up ok so far, but will definitely will wear off with use. The tread plates are a must have in my eyes, without them I don't think the usability as a step is there especially in wet/muddy conditions. I used all stainless hardware for the treadplates I sourced locally. I used a carriage bolt, it has a smooth rounded head with a square neck underneath that locked into the tread plate while it was being tightened.

I also added stainless washers, lock washers, and nylon lock nuts to the tread plate hardware, and plenty of anti-seize on every nut and bolt for the sliders, still, tread plates, mud flaps, and fiberboards hardware (my hands looked like the tin man after the install). I did not want the stainless hardware to gall when I was tightening everything down and ruin the threads.

 

Here are some underneath pictures of the fiber boards modifications I did, so far they have held up good with some light off-roading. They are basically mud flaps for the undercarriage at this point.

 

Well done! And thanks.

 

Nice work! Thanks for posting all this @GCSchmidt - That line-X is exactly what I was thinking and with the inserts matched they look a ton better - That is the way!. I also agree, those inserts are a must have. The Lucky 8 slider rails stick out enough where one could slip a foot through and get pretty hurt without them. LineX'ing them is a great solution. As for the felt cutting I'm curious how you reused some of the hanging components, I couldn't quite make out the reuse in the photos - Did you drill holes in the underside to re-mount them or just kind of jimmy and bend them into existing holes where you could?

 

I cut them to fit around the sliders, mostly using the factory mounting points. I did re-use a few mounting brackets after some bending/cutting/re-painting.

There are a lot of unused riv-nuts on the body that can be used. I did use some of the left over bolts and spring nuts from the heat shield hardware to make my own mounting points to the front skid to attach the fiber boards that lost mounting points because of the skids.

Basically, it was a lot of test fitting, cutting, test fitting, and beer breaks.

 

I'm really impressed by the work you did to retro-fit the felt boards to fit the spaces left by the sliders.

Have any of you considered the various aftermarket skid plates that are out there as options to replace the felt altogether? I have no idea what they cover vs. what the felt covers - no one really shows a good picture of where the plates fit on the underside.

But I've seen several people selling them:

https://www.devon4x4.com/new-defende...on-system.html

https://www.asfir.com/front-skid-plate-538055.html

https://newdefendermods.com/collecti...ear-diff-guard
https://newdefendermods.com/collecti...ine-bash-plate

safarigardllc on instagram

... and many more.

I'm just wondering if it's possible to replace the felt with a set of metal plates over vulnerable areas that won't interfere with the sliders - won't overlap, expect to use the same mounting holes, etc.

Thanks for any insights you all may have.

 

@Mike_F great find! I know about the ORD armour offered by newdefendermods but nothing else came up in my searches. Having installed the tuffant sliders, I've pondered on cutting the felt liners but every time I get under the vehicle I can't see how I can fit them securely for long term off road use, so your post gives me an option to consider for the exposed areas. It's not clear if they are compatible with the sliders though. @Poco mentioned tuffant are also working on underbody armour but I wrote to Tom and have not received a response on market timing. Also, the offroad-developments.com website is down for maintenance for weeks now so I am not sure if what NMD (distributor) are offering is just the sump plate or the plate that extends to the fuel tanks. Also, there is no indication on weight. I have installed the rear diff guard from ORD and am happy with quality and weight of that product so would like to get more info from ORD in Belgium on the other armour components but info is scant.

 

Matzker makes a complete set of underbody skids.

https://www.matzker.de/shop/land-rov...chutz-zubehoer