Custom Stainless Steel Rock Sliders

[Kenny]

Last year I saw Tomdietrying's cool sliders a la Swordy design (I'm pretty sure it's Swordy... if not, sorry, but I thank-you for the idea ). and thank-you Tom again!

I wanted a set for this year's Moab.


Based on some pics Tom sent me I did up a layout:



then followed up with a wood mock up out of 2x4:







and I had a local weld shop fabricate a pair based on my wood mock up. (Same shop I used for the aluminum skid plates).





I had the connection plates drilled so I could bolt them on if I couldn't find a welder in time before Moab (I got these sliders 20 HOURS BEFORE I WAS LEAVING FOR MOAB! - the shop waited too long to start them.. )

Since it was a bit of a rush, the weld plates were a tad off on alignment, so the welding got a bit ugly. The last arm at the back also had to be heated and bent to fit a bit better... oh well, no one but me spends time under there anyways...

Word of note, it's not easy to bolt through the frame on the passenger side due to the brake lines running behind the frame! I tapped a few holes into the frame to fit the sliders on before welding on that side - the drivers side I drilled through and through the frame.


I think the welds were still cooling a few hours before we left for Moab on Sat. morning.



I think the stainless goes well with the ebony and aluminum rims, skids and the future XPedition roof basket.

They are a bit beefier (and heavier) than I expected as the SS HSS wasn't available in 1.5" x 3.5" (dimensional lumber size of my mock up) so the shop up sized to 2"x4". In hindsight, it could have worked well with 1"x3" HSS. and it would have knocked off a few pesos too!

I chose stainless steel for aesthetics as well as to avoid repainting the "wounds". The price I got for powder coated carbon steel was $700, and stainless was $1,000. I dug deep for this one due to the long term benefits. Stainless is also a harder than carbon steel, and may just bite that rock back.

One of the cool side benefits of sliders is it make it much easier for someone to get leverage with their foot to push their way into the back seat.


Cheers.