Diamond Plate Alternatives

[billgin]

1055841

I'm looking for inexpensive alternatives to pre-made diamond plate corners/rocker panels for my 90 YJ. I can buy sheet aluminum for much less $$ which seems like it should do the trick.

Questions:

(1) What sort of prep work needs to be done before installing? I've got some rust perforation at the corners - figure I need to repair that and at least prime it.

(2) How do I attach alum. panels once I have them measured and cut? How are diamond plates attached? Same method should work, right? Unless they're welded on...

(3) Anyone have experience with alternatives to diamond plates?

Thanks all![addsig]

 

[Quik8slvr]

1055842

i did diamond plate on my rear corners, i attached them with rivets as far as prep i just cleaned the surface beneath (there were no rust spots) and then put a bead of silicon around the edge of the diamond plate to prevent water from getting between the 2 and causing any rust...it worked good, i placed my rivets about 6-8" apart.

Quik[addsig]

 

[Beefy85CJ7]

1055844

i also got a question on the topic...how do you bend diamond plate...i was looking to reinforce my corners and rocker panels with some sheet diamond plate of about 1/8" thick...but i have no clue how to bend the corners.
[addsig]

 

[Joopin]

1055851

Hey Beefy, I work at a sign shop and 99 percent of the signs are made out of aluminum...We use .063 (1/16") to .25 thickness but mostly .080... I don't know how thick the diamond plate is when you buy it but I assume there are all different thicknesses. Anyway what I am saying is if you are going to bend the diamond plate I would NOT suggest using 1/8"... believe it or not, that is too thick, it's very difficult to bend. If you can get .080 which is much easier to bend but still is rigid enough to give you support. Now to answer your question... The way we bend up our metal, you want to find a hollow pipe (about 2-3 ft. long) with the diameter of your bend, and bolt it down to a shop bench or table with half of the pipe hanging off the end of the bench. We have a series of pipes inside each other biggest on the outside, smallest in the middle of course, and when you need a smaller bend, just pull out the diameter pipe you need. We also found its easier to make a pair of U shaped brackets with little tabs on them to hold the pipe down to the bench, just screw the brackets down with some washers. Anyways, after you get that set up, measure where you want to make the bend, place the metal or diamond plate on the pipe and push down on the overlapping ends of the metal, starting close to the pipe to get a good curve... If I were you I would pick up some really thin cheap metal to practice with, you don't want to waste good diamond plate!!! If you end up doing this with .080, you will see why I said that 1/8" is too thick. It can probably be done but you have to push REALLY HARD and you won't get a quality bend like .080 will give you. I hope this helps and if you need a picture of the pipe thing we use I can take a pic later this week. Good luck![addsig]