I’ve been looking for sliders but had no idea what direction I wanted to go. The one thing I did know though is that I am not going to be doing any crazy rock crawling with my LC. Eventually I spotted this post from @pjess50 and knew those were the sliders I wanted.
I contacted @LandCruiserPhil and he hooked me up with a set, he was even nice enough to get them out the door right before leaving on a big trip.
It took me a while to get them on, but the project itself was fairly simple. I like to take my time, but I also don’t really care for perfection so I tend to slap things together.
Here are the steps I took (With LOTS of pictures) to install them:
Step 1 - Tape bolts up. Clean rails with something (I used mineral spirits). They come already primered so you just need to paint/powdercoat to your liking.
Step 2 - PAINT! I bought some black spray paint & put on a few coats. I did a little too much and it seems to easily drip due to the cylindrical shape so there are some drip marks along the rails but whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Step 3 - After dry, line rails up against the body. It’s pretty clear where they go. One thing of note is that at least on my LC (93 FZJ80) there was a curve in the pinch weld near the front tire. It’s VERY important that you line the rails up so that the flat part starts AFTER the curve. Otherwise it will not sit flush against the body & will not bolt up properly. If you line the back of the rail up with the pinch weld the front should line up perfect.
Step 4 - Once lined up properly, place pieces of tape on the body. Mark exactly where the bolts are touching the frame. One thing I noticed is not all the bolts are 100% parallel. Once I drilled holes and stuck it in, one bolt might be a tag angled upward or to the side. So several times I had to expand the drilled holes in order to get it to go through and sit flush. (This actually might not be due to the bolts but the problem described in step 5)
Step 5 - Drill holes. I started smaller holes with a ¼” bit and then expanded them to a 5/16” bit. Another important note…. Sometimes the pinch weld would have areas where there would be two sheets of metal rather than one. So for example some holes it would drill through fine. But there were a few where the top half of where I was drilling was two sheets so the bit would slide down and create the hole much further down than I planned. If I were to do it again, I would just look at the backside of the hole I will be drilling and note if there are any overlapping pieces that will cause the bit to slide. Drill slow otherwise you will just drill right down & blast a hole in your pinch weld.
Step 6 - I don’t drink so for step 6 I just go on a motorcycle ride
Step 7- I recommend spraying a bit of paint into the holes you just drilled. Otherwise they’ll rust and your sliders will fall off.
Step 8 - Put a drop of loctite on the threads and tighten the bolts. Torque bolts at 22ft lbs (hand tight).
A few more notes:
By moving the slider back to avoid the curve in the pinch weld, it ends up being right next to the rear wheel well but several inches away from the front wheel well. I don’t mind, but it might drive some people crazy.
On mine I had an exhaust guard I had to remove before installing the rails. Two bolts, really easy. Gunna be replacing the exhaust anyway.
End result:
Here is a post from Phil himself on installing the sliders.
Feeler – 100 series lightweight, high clearance, low cost Rock Rail/Sliders
They are $350 shipped in the lower 48. Message @LandCruiserPhil as they are not available on his website.
Will post an update if/when they help protect me from something. But I am not planning on it, these are more for emergencies rather than a weekend thing. Although I did get pretty close to needing them this past weekend… both tacomas with me had their sliders on the ground but I am up high enough it wasn’t a big deal.
Enjoy! Post your pics here if you have/get them.
I contacted @LandCruiserPhil and he hooked me up with a set, he was even nice enough to get them out the door right before leaving on a big trip.
It took me a while to get them on, but the project itself was fairly simple. I like to take my time, but I also don’t really care for perfection so I tend to slap things together.
Here are the steps I took (With LOTS of pictures) to install them:
Step 1 - Tape bolts up. Clean rails with something (I used mineral spirits). They come already primered so you just need to paint/powdercoat to your liking.
Step 2 - PAINT! I bought some black spray paint & put on a few coats. I did a little too much and it seems to easily drip due to the cylindrical shape so there are some drip marks along the rails but whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Step 3 - After dry, line rails up against the body. It’s pretty clear where they go. One thing of note is that at least on my LC (93 FZJ80) there was a curve in the pinch weld near the front tire. It’s VERY important that you line the rails up so that the flat part starts AFTER the curve. Otherwise it will not sit flush against the body & will not bolt up properly. If you line the back of the rail up with the pinch weld the front should line up perfect.
Step 4 - Once lined up properly, place pieces of tape on the body. Mark exactly where the bolts are touching the frame. One thing I noticed is not all the bolts are 100% parallel. Once I drilled holes and stuck it in, one bolt might be a tag angled upward or to the side. So several times I had to expand the drilled holes in order to get it to go through and sit flush. (This actually might not be due to the bolts but the problem described in step 5)
Step 5 - Drill holes. I started smaller holes with a ¼” bit and then expanded them to a 5/16” bit. Another important note…. Sometimes the pinch weld would have areas where there would be two sheets of metal rather than one. So for example some holes it would drill through fine. But there were a few where the top half of where I was drilling was two sheets so the bit would slide down and create the hole much further down than I planned. If I were to do it again, I would just look at the backside of the hole I will be drilling and note if there are any overlapping pieces that will cause the bit to slide. Drill slow otherwise you will just drill right down & blast a hole in your pinch weld.
Step 6 - I don’t drink so for step 6 I just go on a motorcycle ride
Step 7- I recommend spraying a bit of paint into the holes you just drilled. Otherwise they’ll rust and your sliders will fall off.
Step 8 - Put a drop of loctite on the threads and tighten the bolts. Torque bolts at 22ft lbs (hand tight).
A few more notes:
By moving the slider back to avoid the curve in the pinch weld, it ends up being right next to the rear wheel well but several inches away from the front wheel well. I don’t mind, but it might drive some people crazy.
On mine I had an exhaust guard I had to remove before installing the rails. Two bolts, really easy. Gunna be replacing the exhaust anyway.
End result:
Here is a post from Phil himself on installing the sliders.
Feeler – 100 series lightweight, high clearance, low cost Rock Rail/Sliders
They are $350 shipped in the lower 48. Message @LandCruiserPhil as they are not available on his website.
Will post an update if/when they help protect me from something. But I am not planning on it, these are more for emergencies rather than a weekend thing. Although I did get pretty close to needing them this past weekend… both tacomas with me had their sliders on the ground but I am up high enough it wasn’t a big deal.
Enjoy! Post your pics here if you have/get them.
