Corner Guard Install

[LPM606]

OK, I know I was just recently promoted from chief intruction reader, but these have me considering a vulontary demotion.  WTF?  Can anybody follow this?  I think these may  be the worst instructions ever.  I don't want to order these things if we can't get them on... Can anybody ascertain if this is something we could do?  What about that funky Heavy duty rivet nut tool?  Anybody have one of those?

[TechJeeper]

Agreed, that is horrible directions.

[Paul Hittie]

For those that don't know, before I was an accountant I earned a degree in History after I flunked out of a high-faluten engineering school.  One of the courses I was required to take was called "Technical English", which we all referred to as "English as a Second Language" since first and formost most engineers speak Geek as a primary language and often need to translate technical writings for consumption by the non-Geeks of the world.  Let me Translate:

Step 1 - OK as is

Step 2 - Carefully clamp the corner guards in place and drill all holes thru guards and body panels with 5/16 bit carefully centered.  Pull guards off and redrill top/forward hole to 13/32 if you are using the supplied aluminum rivet nuts.  (If you choose to use heavier steel rivet nuts you will need to rent a tool and purchase additional supplies, hole size may vary).  Assemble the rivet nut as shown in the drawing, insert thru the 13/32" hole.  Stick an allen wrench in the cap screw to hold it steady, put a wrench on the nut and tighten the shit out of it.  As it tightens down it will distort the inner side of the rivet nut, securing the nut to the body.  If you have never used rivet nuts or other captured fasteners before, please keep in mind that when the bolt rusts to the rivet nut you will never be able to get it back out, so use lots of anti-seize in later steps when assembling.

Step 3 - replace the corner guards and secure the top/forward hole using the supplied hardware (or optional hardware if you went that route) first, then the other holes.  The lowest corner bolt also uses a special piece of hardware called a nut tab, which is basically a nut on a stick.  Use the stick as a handle to push the nut up into position behind the body panel and insert bolt thru the holes and tighten.  Please see note in step 2, if this thing ever gets rusty you will never get it out again, please use liberal amounts of anti-seize.

Step 4 - To get the fasteners behind the sheet metal on the passenger side you will need to sneak your hand up into a small opening in the wheel well, see picture 8.  Please note this task is best performed by a 7 year-old, anyone with larger arms and hands will pull back a bloody, scratched, gouged appendage after completing this step.

[LPM606]

So... That's a "NO" on the corner guards?

[Paul Hittie]

Nah, it's do-able

[LPM606]

Would I paint them, powder coat them, or what?  I take it you don't want to just attach the bare steel...

[TechJeeper]

I would powdercoat them, just to ensure the backside didn't rust.

[4x4x4JK]

From folks that I know have installed these, LineX is the best.  You could also use Herculiner to save some money.

[Paul Hittie]

Line-X is expensive, but you get what you pay for.  For corner guards that might get scratched/gouged, powder coating would be hard to touch up, but Line-X bonds to itself.

I need to get my rock rails done - they quoted me $75/each, sounds like a lot, but I probably spend 2 hours of time and $20 in Dupli-Color truck bed liner every year touching up my cheap rattlecan coating.