Mk III Range Rover sill protectors and side steps

Mk III Range Rover Rock Sliders and Side Steps

Range Rover 3 in action with rock sliders

Factory Rock Sliders / Side Protection Bars
Roger Davis's Custom Rock Sliders
Factory Running Boards
Ray Lindner's Side Step Design

Photo: Roger's RR III in action with his custom rock sliders (see details below).

Factory Side Protection Bars / Rock Sliders

Another official accessory for the Mk III Range Rover is a fairly functional set of side protection bars (photo at right). These are about the nearest thing to "genuine" rock sliders I have seen available on any Land Rover model. They should offer good protection off road without reducing ground clearance too much like conventional running boards tend to do.

Factory side protection bars on a Mk III Range Rover. These are manufactured by Bearmach in the UK and are available in chrome or black finishes.

Photo at right, courtesy of Bearmach, shows how the bars are attached to the vehicle.

They are available in black (part # VUB002510) for about US$750 or chrome, (part # VUB001230) for about $1180. Note the illustration also shows the available protective side moldings for the lower body.

Roger's slider design

Roger Davis's Custom Rock Sliders

A much stronger heavy duty option is the custom designed slider fabricated in 2007 by Roger Davis, a Rangerovers.net member. He tackled the project as his first experience at welding, which makes the professional appearance of these sliders all the more impressive. Roger has kindly agreed to make these available to other owners if there is enough interest.

Photo at right: Roger's new rock sliders on his RR III

Roger reports the following observations on the design of the new sliders: "They are made with 1x4x.25" steel (L shape) with a nerf bar on the outside. They are mounted with 6 nut inserts welded into the body under the door. I used grade 8 bolts, and vertically there is a little space, horizontally its mounted solid.

I designed the sliders to use the door seal along the bottom edge. I am going to use our vacumn forming equipment to from a plastic sill guard to finish it off. The finish will be gloss black to match the rims. I thought about the Rhino coating, but I want the truck to look as stock as possible."


Closeup of the top of the sliders with the door open, showing the factory-looking fit to the body.	Underside of slider showing the sturdy construction and smooth underside that will not catch on rocks.

"This weekend they actually got tested on Pleasant Canyon at the RR7, no movement on the truck and barely got scratched. The LR3 that was with us lost 3 tires and squished the right side OEM slider."

For information on ordering your own set of these sliders, email Roger.

Factory Running Boards

Available official accessory options for the Mk III Range Rover include a set of conventional side steps/running boards (Part # VTK000010) listing at about $960 in the US. Ray Lindner reports they cost about A$1900 in Australia. In the US they are available at a discount (about $839) from Atlantic British.

Ray Lindner's Running Board Design

Ray Lindner of Australia became frustrated with the relative dearth of accessories available for his 2003 Range Rover, and the high cost of the official accessories, so he and a friend who has a welding business got together and fabricated some side step/protectors that look at least as good as the official ones but are much less expensive.

Their design (photos above) uses stock aluminium extruded boards and end fittings, mounted to the vehicle with their own brackets. They modeled the bracket design after the ones for the official accessory, with modifications to suit the type of side step material used. The two lengths of side step material with end caps cost $350.00 Australian Dollars. Ray reports "With the genuine side steps costing around $1900.00 Australian that left us a good amount of bucks to make our own brackets.Look great and cheap!! Makes entry/exit so much easier. A Fraction of cost of Land Rover price and look better (we think so!)

"The added advantage being that if we damage or wipe out one side step, we can buy another length at around $160.00 Aussie bucks and we are back in business. With the genuine steps, we would have to buy another complete set as I could not see Land Rover selling me a half set!!"

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