Project: RIVER RAIDER 'Crusher Corners' - but with OEM taillights...(pics)
12-01-2010, 05:17 PM
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Project COMPLETED!: RIVER RAIDER 'Crusher Corners' - but with OEM taillights...(pics)
I'll start by saying this is my first time posting any 'build' of mine online, but I wanted to take some time to share my current project.
Well, for an explanation where to start here? lol. A little background to explain WHY I am going with expensive armor - the RIVER RAIDER Crusher Corners and STILL opting to use factory OEM taillights:
I have loved the way the factory taillights look...always have. Better than the TJs, etc...I just like 'em. That's the best way I can explain it, haha. At the same time I had always NOT wanted to put corners on my JK because I bought it new, and felt that it was a little 'overkill' for what I was going for. Well, as time went on since I got my PitBull Rockers in July, I finally started doing some work to the JK. Back in July RIGHT BEFORE I got my tires, I backed into a pole of a gate where I used to work - and it was on my 3rd to last day working there! Just backed out of a spot a different way than usual, and WHACK! Oh well!
Funny thing, I had been there almost 8 years! DOH!
ANYWAY: I hit the pole with my right rear corner, shattered my RH taillight lens and bent in the tub pretty good, about 2" in. In turn that bowed out the right rear quater panel pretty bad as well. I let it go because I had been worrying about work (officially starting my own little company) and started working with insurance about a month ago or so to fix the damage. BUT, over the last few months the idea of crusher corners started to grow on me - I've got the Rockers, the high-lift on the hood, snorkel, trimmed fenders...it's starting to look more and MORE like a legit. TRAIL RIG, so why not get the corners on there? And hell, while I'm at it, I'll do them in black so they stand out - just one more thing to make the JK a little more badass!
But as you know, the RIVER RAIDER corners come with pockets for the ORO LED LiteDots, which I personally don't like on JKs. They look good on truggies and crawlers, IMHO, but I don't want them on my JK. Not to mention I put so many miles on my JK I'd have a ton of diodes out within a year. The idea of replacing those things scared me, and I'd hate to have even one diode go out. Not to mention money as well, so I decided to make the factory taillights work in the RIVER RAIDER Crusher Corners.
So I called Kenny and Bear up, and sure enough, I could get the corners in "FLAT" - no pockets, PERFECT! But I'd have to wait a few weeks until they built them since they didn't have any available. BUT, those guys were good enough that they FILLED IN the pockets for me on an in-stock pair at NO CHARGE, tweaked them a little after, and shipped them out to me (THANKS GUYS!!). So guess what came on Monday afternoon?
Now time for some PICS!!
Right out of the box, filled in nice!
Driver's side corner.
This is my right rear corner - you can see how the tub is 'punched' in pretty good, and how upon impact, although not THAT hard, was plenty to mess up the right rear quater panel pretty good...
I got a set of LIKE NEW never off-roaded taillights from a user on here that did me a solid, I actually sold the driver's side to ANOTHER member, lol. So I have new plastic, pictured here.
After some intense measuring this is what I came up with...the shaded areas marked off would be cut out to allow the factory taillights to slip through!
A shot of the corners, ready to be cut into.
BUT, that's it for now...I have a few more pics, but I'll post them up here in a lil bit! For now, it's off to the garage to make some more progess. I will let you know though...the first one is cut and just needs the edges smooted out some! Will get back on here later tonight with an update!
See ya then!!
Well, for an explanation where to start here? lol. A little background to explain WHY I am going with expensive armor - the RIVER RAIDER Crusher Corners and STILL opting to use factory OEM taillights:
I have loved the way the factory taillights look...always have. Better than the TJs, etc...I just like 'em. That's the best way I can explain it, haha. At the same time I had always NOT wanted to put corners on my JK because I bought it new, and felt that it was a little 'overkill' for what I was going for. Well, as time went on since I got my PitBull Rockers in July, I finally started doing some work to the JK. Back in July RIGHT BEFORE I got my tires, I backed into a pole of a gate where I used to work - and it was on my 3rd to last day working there! Just backed out of a spot a different way than usual, and WHACK! Oh well!
Funny thing, I had been there almost 8 years! DOH!ANYWAY: I hit the pole with my right rear corner, shattered my RH taillight lens and bent in the tub pretty good, about 2" in. In turn that bowed out the right rear quater panel pretty bad as well. I let it go because I had been worrying about work (officially starting my own little company) and started working with insurance about a month ago or so to fix the damage. BUT, over the last few months the idea of crusher corners started to grow on me - I've got the Rockers, the high-lift on the hood, snorkel, trimmed fenders...it's starting to look more and MORE like a legit. TRAIL RIG, so why not get the corners on there? And hell, while I'm at it, I'll do them in black so they stand out - just one more thing to make the JK a little more badass!
But as you know, the RIVER RAIDER corners come with pockets for the ORO LED LiteDots, which I personally don't like on JKs. They look good on truggies and crawlers, IMHO, but I don't want them on my JK. Not to mention I put so many miles on my JK I'd have a ton of diodes out within a year. The idea of replacing those things scared me, and I'd hate to have even one diode go out. Not to mention money as well, so I decided to make the factory taillights work in the RIVER RAIDER Crusher Corners.
So I called Kenny and Bear up, and sure enough, I could get the corners in "FLAT" - no pockets, PERFECT! But I'd have to wait a few weeks until they built them since they didn't have any available. BUT, those guys were good enough that they FILLED IN the pockets for me on an in-stock pair at NO CHARGE, tweaked them a little after, and shipped them out to me (THANKS GUYS!!). So guess what came on Monday afternoon?
Now time for some PICS!!
Right out of the box, filled in nice!
Driver's side corner.
This is my right rear corner - you can see how the tub is 'punched' in pretty good, and how upon impact, although not THAT hard, was plenty to mess up the right rear quater panel pretty good...
I got a set of LIKE NEW never off-roaded taillights from a user on here that did me a solid, I actually sold the driver's side to ANOTHER member, lol. So I have new plastic, pictured here.
After some intense measuring this is what I came up with...the shaded areas marked off would be cut out to allow the factory taillights to slip through!
A shot of the corners, ready to be cut into.
BUT, that's it for now...I have a few more pics, but I'll post them up here in a lil bit! For now, it's off to the garage to make some more progess. I will let you know though...the first one is cut and just needs the edges smooted out some! Will get back on here later tonight with an update!
See ya then!!
Last edited by JKStell; 12-21-2010 at 01:39 PM.
12-01-2010, 06:20 PM
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I'm sorry to hear that man. I have to disagree though…no disrespect of course. I mean, I’m putting on 3/16” steel armor so that I don’t have a repeat of fixing a tub AND a quarter panel in the future, under insurance (deductible of course) or not. If I do back into something and bust a taillight, so what? I pick one up for $40, maybe $60 tops. I paid $40 in the end for the RH pictured. The armor is there to prevent any repeat body damage, which sure as hell beats a 4-digit insurance claim. So to me, that IS the purpose of the crusher corners…not to protect taillights, and the purpose is not defeated.
The other thing, too, is that I have some damage BELOW the LH taillight from ANOTHER pole (again, non off-roading, lol) from WAY before the right side got its damage. The left is not nearly as bad though, and not enough to warrant an insurance claim, but the corners will help get rid of that damage, and again, protect these body parts from incurring such damage again.
It’s a “blend” we’ll say!
The other thing, too, is that I have some damage BELOW the LH taillight from ANOTHER pole (again, non off-roading, lol) from WAY before the right side got its damage. The left is not nearly as bad though, and not enough to warrant an insurance claim, but the corners will help get rid of that damage, and again, protect these body parts from incurring such damage again.
It’s a “blend” we’ll say!
12-01-2010, 06:32 PM
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Hey let me clear my wording up here:
I'm not implying that the ORO diodes die out, although looking at my wording it seems I may have lead onto that. I have never had them, don't know anyone who has them, so I have NO experience with them.
However, anytime a friend of mine has had, or even a random person has one of those LED taillight strips under their pick-up truck tailgate and ABOVE the rear bumper, it's only a matter of time before a few diodes kick the bucket. Then there's no fixing it but to replace the entire thing. I just don't want to go there! lol
But for all I know there may NEVER have been an ORO LiteDot diode that burned out. It's just one of those things that 'leaves a bad taste in your mouth' (the LED taillight strip reference), so in my case, in my mind I'm better off staying away from them for now.
Hope that clears it up - sorry for the confusion! If I had a dedicated truggy/crawler, etc. the LiteDots would be on it! LOL
I'm not implying that the ORO diodes die out, although looking at my wording it seems I may have lead onto that. I have never had them, don't know anyone who has them, so I have NO experience with them.
However, anytime a friend of mine has had, or even a random person has one of those LED taillight strips under their pick-up truck tailgate and ABOVE the rear bumper, it's only a matter of time before a few diodes kick the bucket. Then there's no fixing it but to replace the entire thing. I just don't want to go there! lol
But for all I know there may NEVER have been an ORO LiteDot diode that burned out. It's just one of those things that 'leaves a bad taste in your mouth' (the LED taillight strip reference), so in my case, in my mind I'm better off staying away from them for now.
Hope that clears it up - sorry for the confusion! If I had a dedicated truggy/crawler, etc. the LiteDots would be on it! LOL
12-01-2010, 06:45 PM
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I think it's a freakin great idea! I also am a fan of the OEM taillights, so I see where you're going with it. I have been entertaining the idea of rear corners too for body protection, and I'll get taillight guards to protect those. (I agree with you that the purpose of corners IS body protection).
Curious as to why you didn't just simply go with the AEV corners or something else comparable? There are more optioins that are also 3/16 steel and would offer similar strength of protection and still let you use the OEM taillights without modification, no?
Interested to see the final product.. keep us posted.
Curious as to why you didn't just simply go with the AEV corners or something else comparable? There are more optioins that are also 3/16 steel and would offer similar strength of protection and still let you use the OEM taillights without modification, no?
Interested to see the final product.. keep us posted.
12-01-2010, 09:48 PM
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Hey Jebus thanks for the comments.
AEV's corners didn't do it for me because of a a couple of reasons. First they're 1/8" which isn't bad at all, but I rather get as thick as I can. Second reason I didn't pick AEV was because WHERE they go around the taillight, I'd still have to get the tub and quarter panel fixed for the taillight to still be able to be mounted cleanly to the factory sheet metal. Lastly, the AEV crusher corners left some exposed body metal around the taillights, which for me is a water / corrosion concern. With River Raider's design I'll silicone all the edges, no problem.
There are some other manufacturers out there that I considered. I looked at Overkill Engineering, and I liked their stuff. For some reason I just didn't hit it off with their corners even though the corners encase the factory taillights. I think it was for the same reason as the AEV corners going around the factory taillights and leaving some body open.
I'd have to say Poison Spyder was a close 2nd, honestly. But they also were 1/8", but I think they have better coverage than River Raider actually (Poison Spyder's corners countour the body up to underneath the tracks for the top). But, I never called them up to see if they could fill in the hole, so maybe I'll never no, lol.
Anyway thanks again, I will update this tomorrow morning because I didn't really get anything done today, lol.
AEV's corners didn't do it for me because of a a couple of reasons. First they're 1/8" which isn't bad at all, but I rather get as thick as I can. Second reason I didn't pick AEV was because WHERE they go around the taillight, I'd still have to get the tub and quarter panel fixed for the taillight to still be able to be mounted cleanly to the factory sheet metal. Lastly, the AEV crusher corners left some exposed body metal around the taillights, which for me is a water / corrosion concern. With River Raider's design I'll silicone all the edges, no problem.
There are some other manufacturers out there that I considered. I looked at Overkill Engineering, and I liked their stuff. For some reason I just didn't hit it off with their corners even though the corners encase the factory taillights. I think it was for the same reason as the AEV corners going around the factory taillights and leaving some body open.
I'd have to say Poison Spyder was a close 2nd, honestly. But they also were 1/8", but I think they have better coverage than River Raider actually (Poison Spyder's corners countour the body up to underneath the tracks for the top). But, I never called them up to see if they could fill in the hole, so maybe I'll never no, lol.
Anyway thanks again, I will update this tomorrow morning because I didn't really get anything done today, lol.
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12-02-2010, 08:08 AM
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UPDATE: Thurs. 12/2 @ ~noon:
Everything is moving along! The hard part (cutting the holes and grinding them to be make the RIGHT fit for the taillights) is all done! I took some more measurements for installing the taillights when I get them back from my body guy with primer.
So here's some progress shots leading us up to where we are now, all done by me 'in house' thus far :
After drilling pilot holes in the each corner of the shaded areas, I used them to make a starting cut with a small, narrow blade (above) in the "SawzAll".
Here's what one crusher corner looked like with the pilot holes and the 'pilot lines' done, ready for a larger SawzAll blade...
The larger blade gave me less play in following the line I needed to hold.
Here's the driver's side crusher corner with the material removed - at this point it needed some grinding and refining to make the taillight fit in place nicely.
Now onto the taillights - to start the two 'locator tabs' had to be ground down because they wouldn't work with such thick metal. This picture shows them removed and ground down already.
On the other side of the taillights there is a another, lone locator tab that I trimmed a little. Looking back, I probably didn't have to trim it, but oh well!
Here's one of my crusher corners with a hole drilled into it to allow the single locator tab access without having to be hacked out like the other two.
THIS is what it all leads up to. Here are the taillights, resting in place, for fit. This is where they will wind up being screwed into place once the corners are done being primed.
Another shot, looking 'down' on them from what will become the TOP.
So a little later today I will be dropping the corners off at the body shop for primer, and then probably after the weekend passes I will have the corners installed! From there it's going to be:
-install corners on JK
-drill some holes to actually mount the taillights
-silicone all edges to seal
-lastly, apply the bed-liner to the corners!
Keep you posted!!
Everything is moving along! The hard part (cutting the holes and grinding them to be make the RIGHT fit for the taillights) is all done! I took some more measurements for installing the taillights when I get them back from my body guy with primer.
So here's some progress shots leading us up to where we are now, all done by me 'in house' thus far
:After drilling pilot holes in the each corner of the shaded areas, I used them to make a starting cut with a small, narrow blade (above) in the "SawzAll".
Here's what one crusher corner looked like with the pilot holes and the 'pilot lines' done, ready for a larger SawzAll blade...
The larger blade gave me less play in following the line I needed to hold.
Here's the driver's side crusher corner with the material removed - at this point it needed some grinding and refining to make the taillight fit in place nicely.
Now onto the taillights - to start the two 'locator tabs' had to be ground down because they wouldn't work with such thick metal. This picture shows them removed and ground down already.
On the other side of the taillights there is a another, lone locator tab that I trimmed a little. Looking back, I probably didn't have to trim it, but oh well!
Here's one of my crusher corners with a hole drilled into it to allow the single locator tab access without having to be hacked out like the other two.
THIS is what it all leads up to. Here are the taillights, resting in place, for fit. This is where they will wind up being screwed into place once the corners are done being primed.
Another shot, looking 'down' on them from what will become the TOP.
So a little later today I will be dropping the corners off at the body shop for primer, and then probably after the weekend passes I will have the corners installed! From there it's going to be:
-install corners on JK
-drill some holes to actually mount the taillights
-silicone all edges to seal
-lastly, apply the bed-liner to the corners!
Keep you posted!!
Last edited by JKStell; 12-02-2010 at 08:12 AM.
12-02-2010, 09:26 AM
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looking good brother!!! i was wanting to run these corners, but i was a new jeep owner and wasn't too thrilled about drilling or cutting into my quarter panels. plus my wife wouldn't let me.. haaha
can't wait to see what it loooks like finished! 
can't wait to see what it loooks like finished!
12-03-2010, 02:58 PM
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But once they are, I have to drop the Jeep off to him so HE can cut the right rear tub open and get the insurance adjustor down to his shop so I can get more money from the original estimate insurnace wrote (which was an absolutely rediculous estimate, soooo underpriced). But anyway, after the adjustor comes I can finish this stuff up!
Keep you posted...thanks for the comments so far!