RCI Pinch Seam Cover Install

[JohnGalt]

My RCI Pinch Seam Covers arrived about three months ago and my RCI 20 degree sliders are finally arriving tomorrow, so I put the covers on today.

The covers arrived in perfect condition, but the hardware pack was short one bolt and long one washer when I opened it up earlier this week. Fortunately, due to a Bronco Raptor quirk you’ll only need 12 instead of 16 bolts to mount these covers.

After learning about this quirk from a post by @ChiliPepper elsewhere on this forum, I was prepared to modify my covers.

Basically, the Raptor front fenders have an additional connection to the body using the 2 front-most bolts on the seam. As the fender now gets in the way of the cover, the cover has to be shortened.

I mounted the rear cover then identified where to cut the front cover after lining it up. You should cut the cover to tuck about an 1/8” under the fender bracket for a clean install. Unfortunately while this looks pretty clean the front 6” or so of your seam weld and bolts will remain exposed.

the RCI covers fit snuggly and matched the bolt holes perfectly……..with one exception……. This exception is Ford’s fault, the holes on the two pieces of body work on passenger side didn’t match up correctly when welded and I had to hit the hole out a little bit. Not hard, but one more thing to do and touch up paint.

i cut the front covers with a cut-off wheel, hand filed and touched up the very end that tucks under with some black pickup bed paint.

the rest was easy, 12 Allen head bolts and nuts were installed quickly and easily accessible.

Looks pretty good and I hope the sliders arrive earlier than expected tomorrow…

First pic, the offending Raptor fender mount

the misaligned weld

the cover neatly tucked

the finished product

finished product #2

 

[TurboS]

My RCI Pinch Seam Covers arrived about three months ago and my RCI 20 degree sliders are finally arriving tomorrow, so I put the covers on today.

The covers arrived in perfect condition, but the hardware pack was short one bolt and long one washer when I opened it up earlier this week. Fortunately, due to a Bronco Raptor quirk you’ll only need 12 instead of 16 bolts to mount these covers.

After learning about this quirk from a post by @ChiliPepper elsewhere on this forum, I was prepared to modify my covers.

Basically, the Raptor front fenders have an additional connection to the body using the 2 front-most bolts on the seam. As the fender now gets in the way of the cover, the cover has to be shortened.

I mounted the rear cover then identified where to cut the front cover after lining it up. You should cut the cover to tuck about an 1/8” under the fender bracket for a clean install. Unfortunately while this looks pretty clean the front 6” or so of your seam weld and bolts will remain exposed.

the RCI covers fit snuggly and matched the bolt holes perfectly……..with one exception……. This exception is Ford’s fault, the holes on the two pieces of body work on passenger side didn’t match up correctly when welded and I had to hit the hole out a little bit. Not hard, but one more thing to do and touch up paint.

i cut the front covers with a cut-off wheel, hand filed and touched up the very end that tucks under with some black pickup bed paint.

the rest was easy, 12 Allen head bolts and nuts were installed quickly and easily accessible.

Looks pretty good and I hope the sliders arrive earlier than expected tomorrow…

First pic, the offending Raptor fender mount

View attachment 10084
the misaligned weld
View attachment 10085
the cover neatly tucked
View attachment 10086
the finished product
View attachment 10087
finished product #2

View attachment 10088

Looks much better, nice line accross the bottom for a finished appearance. Does the bottom edge roll under to also cover the bottom of the pinch seam? Your blue painters tape may be a nice precautionary measure during mounting of the rock sliders.

 

[JohnGalt]

Looks much better, nice line accross the bottom for a finished appearance. Does the bottom edge roll under to also cover the bottom of the pinch seam? Your blue painters tape may be a nice precautionary measure during mounting of the rock sliders.

Yes, the cover is in an “L” shape with the bottom the same width as the side. It’s kind of interesting that the mounting holes are identical on both The top and the bottom, with RCI cut out on one and the mountain logo cut out on the other.

This way the only need one part that works on both sides. The ‘RCI’ faces out on the drivers and the ‘mountain” faces out on the passenger. I guess this keeps it simple for inventory and packing.

the blue painters tape is on “hot standby“ for the slider install!

 

[TurboS]

Yes, the cover is in an “L” shape with the bottom the same width as the side. It’s kind of interesting that the mounting holes are identical on both The top and the bottom, with RCI cut out on one and the mountain logo cut out on the other.

This way the only need one part that works on both sides. The ‘RCI’ faces out on the drivers and the ‘mountain” faces out on the passenger. I guess this keeps it simple for inventory and packing.

the blue painters tape is on “hot standby“ for the slider install!

Nice, the lower portion will help protect the pinch seam from the tire embedding debris into the pinch weld and offers a pad for the pinch weld in the unlikely event the rock slider mount deflects (friendly touch) more than desired.

 

[JohnGalt]

Here’s a video of the drivers side rocker panel. It looks pretty immaculate. The bright spots that look like paint chips are actually bubbles under my PPF due to the bubbled texture of the undercoat paint on the rocker. The dark spots are a little dirt along that same edge. So my ppf ends wrapped around where it starts to go almost horizontal on the panel. What’s left uncovered would be well protected by the factory rock rails. Bonus: you can see the lower edge of the seam cover you were curious about

 

[TurboS]

Here’s a video of the drivers side rocker panel. It looks pretty immaculate. The bright spots that look like paint chips are actually bubbles under my PPF due to the bubbled texture of the undercoat paint on the rocker. The dark spots are a little dirt along that same edge. So my ppf ends wrapped around where it starts to go almost horizontal on the panel. What’s left uncovered would be well protected by the factory rock rails. Bonus: you can see the lower edge of the seam cover you were curious about
View attachment 10120

Your PPF installer did a nice job. You would never know you have several thousand miles of off road, looks new. Your dirt track runs haven't caused any signs of wear, awesome!
I like that RCI pinch weld cover, when installing frame mounted rock sliders that appears to be a very good addition. The trail armor that I installed on my wife's badlands could also work with those RCI covers, however seeing your rockers now that may be overkill for stone chipping mitigation.

Hope your rock sliders arrive soon, it's always a Good day when you get new toy's for the toy!