MetalTech Sliders Quality Issue

[btslaser]

After reading all the reviews on mud, my buddy and I finally made the plunge and purchased a couple of sets of OPUR sliders from MetalTech. After prepping, priming, and painting we mounted the first set on my 95 LC. What we noticed was that the left slider was 1.25" higher than the right. What made it completely obvious was that I still had the rubber trim mounted on the bottom of the rear doors. The right door trim just touched the slider when closing, the left door trim hit the slider tube 1.25" down from the top and wouldn't close. We thought a little adjustment would take care of the issue... nope. Once you have the 3 U-bolts in place there is very little vertical adjustment possible. After looking into a little further we realized that the left slider was welded at a different angle at the rectangular tube joint as compared to the right side. We then went to look at my buddies set hanging in my shop. We compared the angles left/right... and they were way off as well.

I called MetalTech and sent them some pictures. The response was "These sliders are made by hand in runs; the angles can vary slightly. at time."

I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous. A third-grader with a hacksaw could do better. The error required to achieve a 1.25" height difference between the right and left slider can't be accounted for by any reasonable "hand-made" tolerance. Either the person cutting the tube angles was wildly off, and/or the assembly jigs are off. You can't possibly be that far off in the welding process, it would be like a 1/2" open on one side of the joint.

I left them mounted to see if I could get used to them and forget about it. Hasn't happened yet. Right now I'm planning on cutting the left slider off at the rectangular tube, fixing the angle, re-welding, re-painting. Another weekend down the drain. Wishing I had gone with White Knuckle.

Has anyone else had a similar issue?

 

[Cruzilla]

That is a poor answer to a customer.. guess where I WONT be spending my hard earned cash!

 

[Rusty Marlin]

BINGO!

 

[BILT4ME]

Is your truck actually sitting level? Or did I misunderstand your point about the door rubber?

 

[btslaser]

Using the distance between the rear door trim and slider doesn't require the truck to be level. The only issue would be if one door was bent or mounted higher than the other and that's not the case. I did also measure the distance of each slider from the ground when I had the truck level side-to-side and it showed the same 1.25" difference right/left. I verified that the truck was level by measuring various reference points on each side to the ground.

 

[bicycleagent003]

I think the OP is saying the sliders sit at different heights (distances) from the body, which is the same issue I had when I bought my OPOR sliders a few years ago. One of the support arms was actually contacting the pinch weld at the bottom of the rocker on mine, and MT had me send it back to them and sent me a new one. I didn't have to pay return shipping and they were receptive to my problem, and fixed it right away. I'm sorry their customer service has declined, and yes that is absurd the way they are treating you.

Can you post some pics so we can see what you're describing.

On a related note, I wish I had gone with White Knuckle, too. My buddy has WK on his 1994 and they are not as wide (no kickout) and the rectangular tube is not as large. It looks like a substantial weight savings, and I think the kickout makes them too wide on really tight, rocky trails. I realize the kickout can be a good pivot point, and can save some body damage, so to each their own. I think if I had it to do over, though, I'd go with WK.

 

[1911garand]

Lets see some pics!

 

[jkeithw]

Pictures?

Is it possible that the vendor offers a variation for 1" body lift and they sent you one of those by mistake?

 

[baldilocks]

I went round and round with MT about the sloppy poly bushing set up they deliver there rear control arms with. I’m not an engineer but a mechanic and I have a good deal of experience with poly bushings and theirs are sloppy from the start and get worse at a rate dictated by how often the suspension gets flexed out.

Not to jack your thread but just another example of MT being to big for their britches and expecting us to eat their crap. I would return those sliders and get a set of White Knuckle off-road sliders. I like mine and they have taken a beating.

 

[Marco Lau]

Not a fan of these guys as well. I ordered their adjustable panhard bar thru a holiday sales, they ended up sending me 2 (one after another). 4 weeks later, i received an email from their sales guy (asking me to take the package for UPS dropoff with the provided label) I responded like, no way i am going out of my way to drop off your package when your guys rightfully screwed up the order and acted like it was my fault! So demanded a label for door to door pickup. No response for 3 weeks...then i got an email with a label for pickup.
What a joke.

 

[REKCUT]

Also not a fan of OPOR products. I have original MT sliders and love them but helped a friend who ordered OPOR version and they are way different than the MT sliders and pictures

 

[Qball]

That’s a bummer, my OPOR sliders seem fine but their excuse and refusal to fix the problem is plain wrong.

 

[btslaser]

Here is a sketch of the issue. The braces extending from the frame mount are correct, they just miss the body seam by about 3/8". The angle where the 2x4 rectangular tube meets the braces is about 6-7deg more on the left which makes the outer tube higher.

 

[nukegoat]

Can't you translate one slider up and the other down so it's even?

 

[btslaser]

Left side. Door trim hits slider about 1.25" down from top.

Right side. Door trim clears top of slider.

 

[cme4lyt]

Send ‘em back, that’s just BAD !

 

[btslaser]

There is no freeplay in the mounting holes to move them up or down. Also if you try to move the right side up, the braces would hit the body seam. Moving the left side down a little would be possible but then the gap between the body seam and brace gets larger. We tried adding a wedge at the frame mount on the left to angle it down but moving it 1.25" creates a huge gap and looks stupid.

 

[btslaser]

It was mentioned above that the MT sliders stick out a lot... When we first mounted these things we were like, whoa! They stick out past the fender flares! If we end up reworking the angles we are going to cut out like a 2" chunk on the braces to bring them in closer to the body so they don't stick out so much.

 

[baldilocks]

It was mentioned above that the MT sliders stick out a lot... When we first mounted these things we were like, whoa! They stick out past the fender flares! If we end up reworking the angles we are going to cut out like a 2" chunk on the braces to bring them in closer to the body so they don't stick out so much.

You might regret that if you ever take you rig on tracks more serious than a trip over hill and dale to grandmas place. I respect my white knuckle sliders because the tubes are dented and beaten, yet they remain intact, but I want to redo them to stick out farther. My doors tell that story.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

@btslaser
send them back and exchange for the Metal Tech brand. They fit nicer than the O-POOR ones.