So, my wife did something I never thought she would ever do... she conspired, along with another man, to modify my truck without me finding out. Yep, she researched, organized, and purchased new sliders for me as a birthday present!
http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accou...54577b56/renditions/1024.jpg?md=1339935453000
I had to take a trip to Germany for business and they arrived at my doorstep while I was away. Vic with VORFAB, a fabrication company local to Mountain Home, Idaho, created these.
The welds on these turned out nice:
My wife stated several times that Vic was very great to work with and that he helped her out tremendously. Vic's customer service was top-notch! Although I did not receive them on my birthday, she did tell me that they were on their way, which got me totally excited! The only problem was that I had no idea as to how they were going to look.
Vic had made a pair previously for ginericLC and my wife "hacked" my Facebook account to get in touch with Eric, who was so very gracious about taking his 100 over to VORFAB so Vic could get measurements before starting the build. She also picked to have them powder coated, which although they are beautiful right now, I told her that the coating may not last very long given their purpose, but in no way was I about to complain with her selection!
To start this modification, I had to remove my OEM steps, which I had left on since our purchase back in 2003.
http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accou...b7116618/renditions/1024.jpg?md=1339935189000
My oldest daughter wanted to help and ended up taking the driver's side step completely off by herself!
She is such an awesome person! At almost 13, she can do almost anything!
This is how the Cruiser looked without the steps, but before the sliders arrived:
To make room for getting my fat self more easily under the side of the truck where I was working, I used my ramps to raise the one side, being sure to chock my opposite side wheels. This made access much more comfortable.
On the passenger side, I then removed the vibration dampener from the frame.
Before I got too involved with the install, I had to remove the front "rock deflector" (big plastic sheet attached on the bottom of the truck).
I had to loosen the clamps holding the brake hard lines to make sure and not clamp over them, but to reroute these over the custom made U-bolts that came with the sliders. Speaking of the bolts, because the frame has welds the length of the frame, I had to spring the bolts out a little to get them to slide over the frame. To do this, I used my large bench mounted vice to push them out just enough to clear the welds.
These bolts are made from Grade 8 round stock and cut to fit a fine thread nut.
I used my 19mm socket, 1/2 inch driver, and my 19mm boxed-in wrench to tighten the nuts on. Of course, the hardware also included large flat washers and spit washers. I also used a bit of anti-seize compound on the threads to keep corrosion down to a minimum.
Ok, so here are a few photos of the end product!
Passenger side:
Driver's side:
Overall, even though I did not get the chance to give any input as to the design, I am very pleased with the outcome. They are nice and beefy and look to serve me well. If you are in the Boise, Idaho area, I would recommend getting into contact with Vic at VORFAB. He can do some awesome things! Next will be bumpers!
One last note to the install, because the front U-bolts lined up just behind the mounting holes for the farthest to the rear bolt holes for my rock deflector (not going to call that thing a skid plate!), I trimmed off the "ears" (top pieces that stick out from the body of the deflector - see pic above) with my Dremmel using a cut off disk (or several) and then grinding the plastic smooth. I forgot to take a picture of this mod, but if you need one I can drop it and snap a pic, updating this post.
I do have one other thing to say about this: Although I am not much of a mechanic, this install was fairly easy and only ran into one rough spot. This was the installation of the bolt on the driver's side farthest to the rear. This is due to the limited room caused by the gas tank and dealing with the brake lines in that spot. I did remove one brake line bracket in order to allow the center bolt to mount up. I just cut off the tab holding it onto the frame, leaving the bracket in place and bent the lines out to allow room for the U-bolt to lay directly against the side of the frame. No kinks, no worries.
Hope you guys enjoy the read, as I will be enjoying the sliders!
Jonathan
http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accou...54577b56/renditions/1024.jpg?md=1339935453000
I had to take a trip to Germany for business and they arrived at my doorstep while I was away. Vic with VORFAB, a fabrication company local to Mountain Home, Idaho, created these.
The welds on these turned out nice:
My wife stated several times that Vic was very great to work with and that he helped her out tremendously. Vic's customer service was top-notch! Although I did not receive them on my birthday, she did tell me that they were on their way, which got me totally excited! The only problem was that I had no idea as to how they were going to look.
Vic had made a pair previously for ginericLC and my wife "hacked" my Facebook account to get in touch with Eric, who was so very gracious about taking his 100 over to VORFAB so Vic could get measurements before starting the build. She also picked to have them powder coated, which although they are beautiful right now, I told her that the coating may not last very long given their purpose, but in no way was I about to complain with her selection!
To start this modification, I had to remove my OEM steps, which I had left on since our purchase back in 2003.
http://api.photoshop.com/v1.0/accou...b7116618/renditions/1024.jpg?md=1339935189000
My oldest daughter wanted to help and ended up taking the driver's side step completely off by herself!
She is such an awesome person! At almost 13, she can do almost anything!
This is how the Cruiser looked without the steps, but before the sliders arrived:
To make room for getting my fat self more easily under the side of the truck where I was working, I used my ramps to raise the one side, being sure to chock my opposite side wheels. This made access much more comfortable.
On the passenger side, I then removed the vibration dampener from the frame.
Before I got too involved with the install, I had to remove the front "rock deflector" (big plastic sheet attached on the bottom of the truck).
I had to loosen the clamps holding the brake hard lines to make sure and not clamp over them, but to reroute these over the custom made U-bolts that came with the sliders. Speaking of the bolts, because the frame has welds the length of the frame, I had to spring the bolts out a little to get them to slide over the frame. To do this, I used my large bench mounted vice to push them out just enough to clear the welds.
These bolts are made from Grade 8 round stock and cut to fit a fine thread nut.
I used my 19mm socket, 1/2 inch driver, and my 19mm boxed-in wrench to tighten the nuts on. Of course, the hardware also included large flat washers and spit washers. I also used a bit of anti-seize compound on the threads to keep corrosion down to a minimum.
Ok, so here are a few photos of the end product!
Passenger side:
Driver's side:
Overall, even though I did not get the chance to give any input as to the design, I am very pleased with the outcome. They are nice and beefy and look to serve me well. If you are in the Boise, Idaho area, I would recommend getting into contact with Vic at VORFAB. He can do some awesome things! Next will be bumpers!
One last note to the install, because the front U-bolts lined up just behind the mounting holes for the farthest to the rear bolt holes for my rock deflector (not going to call that thing a skid plate!), I trimmed off the "ears" (top pieces that stick out from the body of the deflector - see pic above) with my Dremmel using a cut off disk (or several) and then grinding the plastic smooth. I forgot to take a picture of this mod, but if you need one I can drop it and snap a pic, updating this post.
I do have one other thing to say about this: Although I am not much of a mechanic, this install was fairly easy and only ran into one rough spot. This was the installation of the bolt on the driver's side farthest to the rear. This is due to the limited room caused by the gas tank and dealing with the brake lines in that spot. I did remove one brake line bracket in order to allow the center bolt to mount up. I just cut off the tab holding it onto the frame, leaving the bracket in place and bent the lines out to allow room for the U-bolt to lay directly against the side of the frame. No kinks, no worries.
Hope you guys enjoy the read, as I will be enjoying the sliders!
Jonathan
and daughter are definitely keepers
