I am finally able to carve out some time to install the Lucky8 sliders.

I am to the point that I have accomplished the removal of the trim parts, the aero panels (what JLR calls the black underpanels which are felt on both sides with some type of stiffener (fiberglass or metal) between, as well as the installation of the two sliders on each side. I did these in accordance with the attached instructions and found the work to be straight forward.

The one added thing I did in installing the sliders was to tape thin, waterproof, rubber (the type used to weatherproof window installations) or non-metallic anti-seize on the on all the points where the slider contacts the Defender. This is intended to eliminate any possible squeaks / creaks and to eliminate entirely the possibility of galvanic corrosion in the coming 30 years I plan to keep the vehicle.

I thought I would send some photos now, before I finish the install. Once I do, I will update the thread.

The work was performed with the vehicle in off-road height and on four home-made 5 inch ramps. That provided plenty of room to work.

The instructions are adequate to this point. That's great ! My biggest learning so far is that the vehicle has two layers of armor protecting the transfer case. This surprised me. Here are a view photos:


This is what is visible from underneath the vehicle. You see around the F in Defender the result of a rock strike which I will pound out before reinstalling the armor.

This is what is underneath the Defender inscribed cover. another guard which bolts into a round bar frame around the transfer case.

The block round pipe protects the transfer case. The big black round vibration weight and the wire to the electronic control module (seen above the vibration weight) are shown

Everything is so clean under the aero guards that I am attempting to save them and reuse them. This is not in the instructions and I am not sure if it will work.
The RH side effort is finished, with the larger LH side effort still to come. Here are pictures of the RH cover evolution and final use:


This is the portion which I removed from the RH aero cover. I decided NOT to bolt it into the rock slider, as I think it would reduce the sliders effectiveness and I think the final install is sufficiently stiff -- we shall see. Plus, I will likely remove this when / if I add tank armor.

This is the RH aero cover, as installed after the installation of the Rock sliders.

The gap in the foreground is between the tank, the aero cover and the rock slider. I do not think it will sing from vibration and will hold together. We shall see. I really like that it closes off the heat shield, as I was concerned with the heat shield edge hooking on grass, sticks, debris and being damaged.

This last picture is of the rear connection of the aero cover. I modifed one the metal mounting frames I was instructed to remove, cutting off the front half of it, to be able to salvage three mounting points for aero cover. Should really help the rigidity of the install.

You can see the LH rock slider in the background -- I will install the LH aero cover next. Enjoy !

 

Just finished all the underbody work .... photos follow with notes with each:




This is one of the modified (shortened) rear brackets -- used one each side.

This and the next photo show how the written instructions leave the LH side underbody. Too much stuff to capture twigs, grass, sticks etc.


This is the modified LH aero cover as installed

This is the modified undertray aero cover. It goes in-between the double armor over the transfer case.

 

Here are the final underbody photos ... enjoy !!:

This and the next photo show the armor and aero covers from each side


This shows the modified rear bracket to hold up the RH aero cover

bolting up the aero covers to the heat shield reduces the chance of the incursion of sticks, grass, etc into the working parts of the vehicle (drive shafts, etc.)




This is the Lucky8 version of the install with all aero covers removed. Adding it to the thread for completeness -- two different approaches. I remain extremely pleased with the design of the Lucky8 sliders -- will save the vehicle from suffering significant sill damage!

 

Nice work. I didn’t put any of the side aero panels back on mine because of the amount of faffing around required, but I do think something is necessary. In the spirit of armor plating the bottom the way it should be, I’m waiting on lucky8 to come out with some additional panels. If they don’t, I may resort to the same things you did. I don’t like the way some much of the underbody is exposed to road grime now. I did modify the front fiber panel that’s sandwiched in between the metal shields.

I’m very curious to see how the new Voyager sliders mount. They claim there’s no need to remove anything underneath. That would be so much better, and not impact mileage as much as these, but it’s not clear what underbody protection looks like. Also not clear on weight. One bummer about the Licky8’s is how much they weight. Slightly noticeable in how the car handles.

 

You guys have both been under the car. What is there for the sliders to protect? The air tank for sure. Anything else of critical importance? The EAS compressor has wisely been moved under the cargo floor - so it's protected and runs quiet - compared to my LR4, and it's no longer a good excuse for getting sliders with extended underbody protection.

I had the Tactical 4x4 sliders on my LR4, and they were every bit as heavy as the Lucky 8's for the new Defender, I am sure. It was like driving around with a fat guy in the car 24/7 (I also had the fuel tank skid plate, another 80 lbs hunk of steel hung under that car.) The Defender is so nimble on-road and off, I'd hate to once again hang 300+ lbs of stuff down there. That's what has kept me from ordering the sliders from Lucky 8 thus far. The Vikings appear similar to the ones they make for the LR4, they are sturdy but don't extend under the car nearly as much. I am sure they are way lighter than the Lucky 8 version.

 

Yeah, the weight is noticeable, but not overly so. Pretty subtle difference, but there. The lucky8 skid plates basically protect a bunch of stuff that was already protected with smaller plates, but of course the lucky8’s offer much stronger and smoother protection that will do much better on real rocks. Air tank, a bunch of hoses and lines, some other unidentifiable thingamajigs. Apart from that, by removing the feltboards, a lot of stuff like the gas tanks are left exposed to road junk and debris, and it’s also less aerodynamic. I checked out the bottom of a well armored Jeep in Moab recently, and that sucker was completely smooth steel underneath. I would prefer a set of lighter aluminum plates to protect the gas tanks at this point to smooth out the bottom.

 

Matzker in Germany has photos of some nifty looking, extensive underbody protection made of aluminum (including fuel tanks, diffs, even the cat converter), and their rock sliders are allegedly made of some steel / chromium molybdenum alloy that sounds like it would be lighter than just steel to a non-expert on metals like me (also, their sliders' side steps don't stick out as much as the others, which I would actually prefer to keep my footprint as skinny as possible over those pesky, rocky v-notches where you often tend to get stuck.)

Trouble is, they are just pictures. They have no ETA, and I've been checking regularly with them for the past 6 months. They were shut down for months during the raging pandemic in Germany. And Matzker costs a fortune - in Germany! Imagine transporting them here to the US. But their engineering is always top notch, you get what you pay for. Local manufacturers should use those photos as blueprints.

 

Yeah, I’ve written them off as their stuff seems to be made of unobtanium.

 

I have used and enjoyed my LR4 off-road (but not as much as my Defender -- because of the much better 4WD capability). One of the reasons the LR4 is comfortable there and when towing is its ladder frame beneath a moncoque body. Very heavy, but more rugged to a rock strike on the frame.

I insisted on getting the Lucky8 heavy, stainless-steel, rock sliders because the moncoque/integral/unibody construction, while extremely stiff in torsion is exposed at its lower corners to impact damage. My time under the vehicle supports this concern, as the design has the dual layer aluminum shell at the bottom containing between the layers what appears to be a longitudinal U channel of steel, which is threaded into the shell. In turn, as purchased, the plastic trim is threaded into that channel.

That channel and the outer edges are not rated to lift the vehicle, anywhere but at the specially supported jacking points. This limitation is called out in the lifting instructions of the vehicle that the outer channel is NOT to be used to lift the vehicle. Certainly, that channel would not survive an impact on a rock while crawling without damage -- Very expensive damage to repair at an aluminum specialist repair shop. The same body shops fixing modern MBs and Audis.

I am extremely pleased with the connection points of the Lucky8 Rock sliders. Each connects with 2.5 inch long high strength bolts into 5 points of the u channel, and with the same bolts into two points in the middle of the inner, longitudinal strength carry channels (not correct to call them beams, I think) which are inboard from the channel about 16 inches or so. Then the ends of the slider are anchored in board into the front and rear suspension rigidity connection points, which in the front also is integrated into the engine mounts and the winch tray, and the crash bumpers in front and rear. (9 2.5 inch long high strength OEM bolts, on each side).

In summary, the thing being protected with the New Defender sliders are not only components, the most notable being the air compressor tank, it is instead the structural integrity of the very stiff body of the vehicle, itself.

Well worth the 250 pounds and the $2 K USD if one is spending any time off-road, where the potential to hit a rock or a log with force exists, I think.

 

That’s a great write up. Feel much better about the investment after reading that. They are super beefy, and I believe you are correct that a good solid hit on the lower sill would be a very expensive repair. I started out looking at them because my wife wanted steps and I just couldn’t bring myself to put something on that looked so suburban for one, and would get destroyed on the first real outing, so I went to the sliders. I just know that at some point I’m going to hit something, and having these on removes a good deal of stress and worry when out on a trail now. Hoping I can add some rear plate protection one of these days.