dmanbluesfreak
Observer
I've been doing some serious offroading for a while now, and when me and some buddies decided to go on an offroading trip this past spring break, I decided it was time for some rock sliders. 3" Bodylift was done a few months ago to give me some more clearance after the sliders were on.
I took measurements and such and decided that I'd like to bolt on my rock sliders. I did this for two reasons. 1) I'm not comfortable welding to my frame (though in hindsight this was stupid), and 2) I need to fix some rocker damage I have gotten from previous offroading trips, but will need to take the sliders off to do so.
Thanks to the tremendous help from Ian @ Backyard Fabrication, and many tedious hours getting these sliders mocked up, I finally got them completely welded a week before the trip. Drilling the holes in the frame pretty much took the rest of the week.
Total materials cost was about $110 for steel (STEEL PRICES ARE INSANELY HIGH HERE), $30 for gr8 nuts/bolts/washers, $10 for spray paint/chop saw blades, and a fair amount of welding wire. The material is 2"x3"x0.125" HREW rectangular tubing and the mounting plates are 1/4" steel. Eventually when I do the round step/rub bars that protrude from the side, they will be done with 1.625" 1/8" wall round tubing (got it super-cheap from a friend - < $20/stick).
Anyway - here's the pix!
Mocked Up:
Finally done!!
Proof that they hold the weight of the truck. I can attest to the fact that they will support the truck when coming down on them hard - happened a couple times during their maiden trip.
Broke a CV the first hour offroading the night before, right after setting up camp. Ended up in a pair of ruts with the IFS at full droop and steering wheel turned. My ************** mistake. Fixing the truck on buddy's trailer made the ordeal a LOT less muddy.
As I mentioned, I plan on adding some 1.625" round tube that extends from the sliders, but there wasn't really time before the offroading trip so these held up fine.
Thoughts?
I took measurements and such and decided that I'd like to bolt on my rock sliders. I did this for two reasons. 1) I'm not comfortable welding to my frame (though in hindsight this was stupid), and 2) I need to fix some rocker damage I have gotten from previous offroading trips, but will need to take the sliders off to do so.
Thanks to the tremendous help from Ian @ Backyard Fabrication, and many tedious hours getting these sliders mocked up, I finally got them completely welded a week before the trip. Drilling the holes in the frame pretty much took the rest of the week.
Total materials cost was about $110 for steel (STEEL PRICES ARE INSANELY HIGH HERE), $30 for gr8 nuts/bolts/washers, $10 for spray paint/chop saw blades, and a fair amount of welding wire. The material is 2"x3"x0.125" HREW rectangular tubing and the mounting plates are 1/4" steel. Eventually when I do the round step/rub bars that protrude from the side, they will be done with 1.625" 1/8" wall round tubing (got it super-cheap from a friend - < $20/stick).
Anyway - here's the pix!
Mocked Up:
Finally done!!
Proof that they hold the weight of the truck. I can attest to the fact that they will support the truck when coming down on them hard - happened a couple times during their maiden trip.
Broke a CV the first hour offroading the night before, right after setting up camp. Ended up in a pair of ruts with the IFS at full droop and steering wheel turned. My ************** mistake. Fixing the truck on buddy's trailer made the ordeal a LOT less muddy.
As I mentioned, I plan on adding some 1.625" round tube that extends from the sliders, but there wasn't really time before the offroading trip so these held up fine.
Thoughts?
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