I was lucky enough to take the truck for its first real off road adventure yesterday up in the manawahae hills, luckily one of the guys that has been doing it for awhile jumped in the passenger seat to help me pick lines. I was hugely impressed where the truck could actually go and it was my testicles that were not up to the job until they seemed confident the truck would make it (2 dents 1 flare removed bash plate bent a bit and alot of scratches.
I was advised to take the factory side bars off as they would cause me to hang up but after going for a run I now see that I still need something. I am wanting to design something for the front, side and rear of the truck, I want to protect my tail lights and sills, well the whole truck really.
What thickness materials should I use? Steel or alloy? Plate or tube?
How much clearance should i have between the sill and the barwork, I have a body lift so the standard bars are too low anyways, the tires are wider than the body work so should the bars extend outside the tires or stay inside the tires and sacrifice my garden edging flares? I can't weld otherwise I might have a crack at this myself but if I can go to someone with as much info and ideas as possible I won't get talked into things I don't need.