couple of questions about george's sliders

[concretejungle]

first question: i remember a bit of talk about something being backwards? I just downloaded the cad files and info off his site, has he fixed the problem?

Second: after looking at the sliders in the pictures it appears that if you were to lay the majority of the weight of the 80 on a slider, would the slider rails not dent the rocker panel? Seems like the bolts wouldn't support all the weight and the slider rails would flex upward and dent the rocker panel.

Anything else i should know before i start getting things together? I plan on making these in a month.

 

[snowcruiser]

I just completed George's sliders. I'm pretty happy with the outcome but please do not underestinate the time involved here and do expect to spend a ton of time fitting to make everything right. I am relatively new to welding but it did take a long time. The drawings on Geogrge's site are correct but I would recomend downloading the CAD drawings to help with other measurements that are not included on the PDFs. The PDFs are not to scale but the angles are accurate. I actually beefed up the design by using 3/16" stock all around including the main sliders and then I added a tube step similar to Christo's design but with four mid supports. I used custom 9/16" Grade 8 U-bolts that I had made up for $8.00 a piece at a trailer shop. However I could not manage to get the rear most bolt on the driver's side between the frame and the gas tank so I ended up using a 3/16" backing plate with two Grade 8, 1/2" bolts. The other mod was strangthening the front bracket on the passenger side by using 1/4" plate for the bracket that captures the cross member bolt. The final recomendation I have is to make sure to mount the plates and outriggers to fine tune with a grinder and somehow angle the main slider to make sure it matches on both sides. After painting and final mounting the driver's side slider angles down evenly away from the truck about an inch lower than the passenger side. Hard to notice but a slight flaw...probably from the metal changing in the final welding steps to finish the tack welds. I used my plasma cutter, band saw and reciprocating saw a ton. Get some of the Milwaukee sawzall blades called 'The Torch' as they make clean quick cuts and last a long time. Good luck

Snow

 

[Beowulf]

Snow,

Pics?

-B-

 

[Rich]

If I were to design or build my own sliders I would use backing plates for all of the mounts and eliminate the straight line contact between the frame and the u bolts. I think spreading the stress across the cross section of the backing plate can only be a good thing.

 

[snowcruiser]

Here...

 

[snowcruiser]

and here...

 

[snowcruiser]

Still debating on how to handle the Cat protection. I'll probably end up rotating the cats and building a skid plate.

 

[concretejungle]

Still debating on how to handle the Cat protection. I'll probably end up rotating the cats and building a skid plate.

that's along the same thought as myself. Seems the best way to get it tucked up a bit and then shield it.

 

[alia176]

Still debating on how to handle the Cat protection. I'll probably end up rotating the cats and building a skid plate.

Snow,
That's what I ended up dong and it works out well. It doesn't completely encase the cats but does provide a sliding surface to save the cats. So far I haven't had any issues yet. A trip to Moab will be the final test.

I'm planning on installing the nerf (for lack of a better word) bars to the sliders (George's design). Curious, what is the dist between the centerline of the round tubes and the edge of the slider? What tube size did you use? I presume 1.5" OD D.O.M. tubing? If you were to drop a plumb line down the door, will it hit the nerf bars on the outside or inside?

Rich,
I used 3/16" backing plate for everything. In most cases, I used a 1/8" gusset to stiffen these up. However, I feel that using Grade 8 Ubolts is the way to go. The backing plate have a tendency to deflect on the ends and bow in the middle. This implies no chassis contact in the middle of the backing plate, only on the ends. The U bolts does a better job of "hugging" the chassis IMO. Since I'll be taking the sliders off to add the nerf bars, I'll try to find some U bolts.

Concrete,
I used Autocad to open up George's drawings then plotted them using 1:1 scale. Then I turned these into templates for the plasma. His drawings are spot on. My pics are at http://community.webshots.com/album/152568934AshbDv/1. Some of the pics can be a little hard to interpret from George's site but will make sense at the end. My cat protection is different that his. I'd leave about a 1/2" gap between the rocker panel and your sliders. My gap was only 1/4"! There WILL be deflection when you come down hard on the sliders, that's just pure physics (think Moment arm) . You can control the deflection by making your outrigger arms shorter. Also, you can add a small bumper (65 duromater for ex) between the outrigger and the rocker to help with this deflection if you so choose.

Later,
Ali

 

[concretejungle]

thanks for the info Ali. I will download the files into CAD here at the office (especially since our CAD guy is always asking for my help on his Heep, now he owes me).

I think i will try to apply some sort of elastimer bumper type material between the slider and the rocker to help with this deflection. I also like your air fittings. I was thinking the same thing. Now i just need to find some cheap steel!

 

[alia176]

Concrete,

You're welcome. Just as a basis of comparison for you, I bought some steel last week thorugh my local fab shop.

Price:
(20') 1.5"x.120" DOM round tubing - $70
(24') 3"x2" rec tubing - $84

I don't buy steel in this qty very often so I dunno if this is a good price or not!

Ali

 

[snowcruiser]

Ali

The tubing I used was 1.5"x.140" round tubing. I don't think it is DOM...I only paid about $8.00 for a 20' piece. A plumb line would definitely fall on the inside of the round bar...I lined up the outside of the round bar to extend just outside of the front fender flares. This adds a bit of door protection in those tight parking spots...hopefully the deserving careless idiots will dent their doors on the round bar instead of denting my doors. Hope this helps...Snow

 

[alia176]

Ali

..hopefully the deserving careless idiots will dent their doors on the round bar instead of denting my doors. Hope this helps...Snow

Hee hee hee

 

[karryss]

tires

Snowcruiser
What size is your tires?

 

[Rich]

Ali, what I was suggesting is a backing plate inbetween the u bolt and the frame, in order to distribute the stress from the u bolt over a larger surface area. Don't know if it is necessary, but seems like a good idea to me.

 

[alia176]

Rich,

Let's make sure we're on the same page. I'm attached a pic from George's slider for reference.

If you're talking about placing the backing plate between the U bolt and the chassis, you're not gaining much, IMHO. The U bolts won't be wrapping themselves around the chassis as well. Also, the backing plate will bend as you tighten the bolts and suck the "spine" (vertical portion) U bolts closer toward the chassis.

Hope this all makes sense!

Ali

 

[sleeoffroad]

I think i will try to apply some sort of elastimer bumper type material between the slider and the rocker to help with this deflection. I also like your air fittings. I was thinking the same thing. Now i just need to find some cheap steel!

Any slider arm will deflect up. Also the body moved on the frame a lot. Even on the trucks that I wheeled the hardest, the worst thing that happened was about a 1/4" dent in the pinch weld. We also recommend for people the really wheel hard to put a couple of tack welds on the brackets against the frame. This will stop any movement of the slider on the frame. Put the tacks in easy spots where they can be removed easily.

The outrigger arms should be about 1/2" under the pinch weld tp prevent body contact.

 

[crash]

I agree with Christo. Definitely leave a 1/2 inch gap between the slider and bottom of body. The other issue I had was the sliders moving around on the frame, just a bit. A little adjusting with steel shims on the bottom of the u-bolts has helped, but maybe angling the u-bolts to take up the slack would solve this issue. (Lean the top to the rear, the bottom to the front to make the gap on the frame smaller.)

I built George's design sliders, using 1/8th thickness and a 2x6 rail. I wish I would have gone with the 3/16ths - maybe 1/4 inch on the outriggers. The sliders do flex into the body, just a bit. They have left 1/8 inch divots in the pinch welds - nothing to worry about yet.

 

[sea2skydad]

This is great info for anyone planning on fabbing up their own sliders, a project I'm planning on doing this winter. Perhaps we have a candidate for the FAQ's?

 

[alia176]

I'd think you'd want a little flex of the outriggers vs putting too much stress on the chassis rails (using thicker material). Making the outriggers shorter will help reduce this flex. However, one can can use thicker wall material all over but remember the old saying "1 hp loss in power for every 10 lbs!

Ali

I
I built George's design sliders, using 1/8th thickness and a 2x6 rail. I wish I would have gone with the 3/16ths - maybe 1/4 inch on the outriggers. The sliders do flex into the body, just a bit. They have left 1/8 inch divots in the pinch welds - nothing to worry about yet.