Rock sliders come in all sorts of styles but I have always been a fan of a true slider. Often, sliders or rock rails will have low hanging mounting brackets that just end up getting snagged on an obstacle instead of truly allowing you to slide off it. Plus, there always seems to be that perfectly placed crazy shaped rock that can sneak up and bite your body anyways. This is NOT the case with the JCR Crusader JK Rock Sliders. These things do more than just fit the bill; they are full of valuable innovations. Considering the amount of capability and features you get for the price you pay, this may be JCR’s best buy.
A slew of features
As with most of their products, they start with 3/16-inch-thick steel and CNC cut it to deliver a clean, finished, and a solid set of sliders. Here are some major capabilities you get with these:
- Excepting the weight, these things look like they belong on a stealth bomber considering all the angles and perfectly contoured seams. There is nothing for rocks to bite onto underneath since the rock slider wraps around the body, continues underneath, and goes all the way to the frame.
- The area lighting is a great feature. When wheeling at night, it really helps to see what your rear wheels are up to. Plus, the harness that JCR provides comes with a switch, relay, and great directions that illustrate a few ways to wire up your lights.
- Each side gives you two more anchors for your Hi Lift Jack. If you have JCR’s bumpers as well, there is no shortage of safe lifting points all around your JK.
- The contours and angles tie into any of JCR’s fender flares extremely well. Basically, if you are sliding off a big obstacle, there is next to no chance to snag the fenders; the obstacle will just transition to the steel flare without getting hung up.
- Durability and quality are the main ingredients for these sliders. When you are installing them and running the wires for your lights, take a moment to appreciate all the inner bracing that no one ever gets to see after install. It almost looks like ship hull framing.
Installation
As long as you are comfortable with installing nutserts, the install is a snap. As usual, the step by step directions are right on point and there is a video online to clear up any questions you may have. Everything lines up perfectly too. Once you have the inner panel installed on your body, grab an outer slider and hang it on the outrigger tabs; you will notice the holes for the body bolt line up perfectly. Keep in mind, the inner and outer panels are side specific. If it doesn’t fit right, chances are you grabbed the wrong side by mistake. The inner panels are easy to determine which side is which. The outers are figured out based on the mount points as seen below (raised mount goes up front):
Keep in mind, the above picture will look just a little bit different from what JCR sends you because I had to modify the parts for my lift. Since I run a Clayton Long Arm, extra cutouts had to be made in the rear mounting area of the slider for my control arm brackets. I knew I was going to have to do that before I ordered the sliders from JCR. But with just a little work, the sliders even fit the Clayton lift perfectly:
Trail & Street
Since I installed these, I have been on several rides and they more than deliver. A few hits were especially nasty but mainly just messed up the powder coat. After I painted over the marks, you can barely even tell they have been used on the trail. If you want to see a great test, check out the demonstration video that JCR put on their site for these!
As expected, on the road they have been great. I especially enjoy when people let their doors fly open in a tight parking lot. On a final note, I spent a great deal of time brainstorming cons for these sliders or recommended improvements. The only thing I could seriously come up with: it would be nice to have a fold out rocket launcher.
