OPOR - GX470 Slider Install (1 Viewer)

[Bluetribal]

Since there are no slider install threads that I could find this is my attempt to help future OPOR slider owners with install so that you will hopefully avoid the errors I came across. And hopefully to verify the actual hardware locations. Because you are just sent a bag of mix matched colors of hardware of all different sizes and basically good luck!

So for starters here is the link to a PDF of Metal Techs GX470 Sliders Installation Guide from their website.

If you order your sliders raw like I did you will receive them from the big brown truck like this and only one bag of hardware and a wrap of two U-Bolts.

First step is removing those damn steps, wear eye protection for all those damn clips in the sill as they pop off at you. And don't forget to unplug the lights front and back of the steps.

Tools required:
Set of Metric Sockets
Set of Metric Open End Wrenches
WD-40 or PB Blaster
12-8mm x 1.25mm Tap
Drill
Drill bit large enough to get a step drill started
Step drill up to 3/4" I used a cheap one from Harbor Freight with no problems.
Center punch
Safety Glasses
Jacks to hold one end of the sliders if working alone
Moving blanket to protect the sliders especially if already finished.

Now to start with the sliders and MT's installation guide (See Above). Blow out any dirt with air, spray with WD-40 or PB Blaster and get the tap going until clean and clear.

Here is where I will differ from the MT installation guide. Get the U-Bolt out and move to the rear of the frame and get that in place. Then put your sliders up on the jacks and mount the front leg with just the top bolt in the threads you just cleaned. Now set the U-Bolt on the back leg and your sliders are in place.

So lets rewind just a bit and getting the U-bolt in place. There are two tube lines running on the top of the frame and you need to pop these out of the clips shown below.

You will also want to loosen the lines on the outside of the frame while you are struggling to get the two ends of the U-Bolt into the holes on the rear leg of the sliders.

Now that you have the slider attached to the frame front and back you can easily mark the locations correctly where you need to drill holes to install the Rivet Nuts.
So for the DS Slider you will just need to mark one hole location on the bottom of the front leg. But for the passenger side you will need to mark the one location on the front leg as well as another location on the bottom of the frame for the middle leg. This way you won't run into the issue that I did and my hole was too far back.

Now on the middle leg of the PS slider hopefully you existing hole will line up correctly and not be off like mine was. If it is off you will need to mark your slider to enlarge the hole and mark the frame for the other hole.

Now that your three holes are marked you can remove both sliders and grab your drill and center punch your locations on the frame. The MT Installation guide recommends drilling a 1/2" hole for the bottom bolt for the front legs and a 5/8" hole for the bottom of frame on the PS middle leg.
*EDIT*
Do not use a step bit like I did! Use a Micrometer to measure the RivetNuts mine were replacements from McMSter Carr since I had to drill out the original ones that were supplied. But I had to order an 11/16" drill bit for the 1/2" Rivet Nuts. And I ended up just using the larger 1/2" ones in place of the smaller 3/8" Rivet Nuts. *EDIT*

TIP: Wear gloves and put something over your wrist while drilling out the hole on the bottom of the frame. You will get HOT metal shards falling on your hand and wrist and these damn things hurt and are like splinters when you try to wipe them away!

It's late To Be Continued this weekend....

 

[Bluetribal]

Part 2:

Now that you got the Rivet Nuts to fit in the new holes it is time to watch a YouTube video on how to set Rivet Nuts with hand tools if you do not have or can't borrow a Rivet Nut tool. I can't seem to find the video that worked for me but do yourself a favor and find the shortest videos because you do not need to sit through a 12 min Rivet Nut video.

Here is how you will set up your DIY Rivet Nut tool with the exception that I recommend adding a second washer to the end of the bolt to go between the oversized Nut and the Rivet Nut in the frame.

I did not feel comfortable using an impact gun so I used a socket wench on the bolt and an open ended wrench on the oversized Nut.
And here it is set on my second attempt after grinding the first one off.

Now you can test fit your slider again to verify your new Rivet Nut will work with the top bolt on the front leg of the sliders. You repeat this step for the other slider on the front leg.

Time to move to the two Nut Certs on the PS middle leg. One of the 5/8" Nut Certs goes into an existing hole in the frame and the second goes into the hole you drilled. Setting these with hand tools is a bear! It will be a major core work out and you will be spent about half way through the setting the second one. So in order to get through it I suggest starting at the back one so that when you do the front one you can set up your open ended wrench like this to help you get it set.

Put one wrench inside the cross member and lock your other wrench onto it. It still helps to have an extra hand or even zip tie it to just hold it in place while you crank away with a very good and recommend large handle socket wrench.

Congrats the infamous, scary Rivet Nut's are done! And the hard part is over! You are soo close to that celebratory

But if you had an issue with the existing hole in the bottom of the frame lining up with your sliders plate hole then you need to adjust this hole to match the frame. What I did was clamped the sliders down to a couple of saw horses, pulled out the step bit and drill. Put an oil pan under the hole and started drilling the hole out and spraying WD-40. I didn't want to just make a giant hole all around so I put my leg into it and just drilled out one side of the hole for the most part and found that moving the step bit up and down worked the best to drill out the material. And I was finally left with this modified hole.

So here is what I came up with for what hardware goes where when you go to mount the sliders:
Both Front Legs PS & DS: Lock washer and washer for each bolt.

Middle leg of passenger side slider: There is a lock washer and washer for all three bolts.

Both rear slider legs: I am missing or will add lock washers to the U Bolts between the washer and the nut.

So what do I think about the sliders? I think they are a great product, they are very stout but with that comes a lot of weight. I will try to remember to weigh them when they get back from paint. I think the Rivet Nut's are fine, I would like to practice with some more using an Impact gun. I wish Metal Tech would give you 1 extra of each Rivet Nut but they were more than happy to send me an extra of the one I learned on. And at just under $500 they are a very fair price in the current market.

My only two complaints are the elimination of the middle leg on the Driver Side slider to make them KDSS compatible. I think that is something easily removed per order. And the other thing is that I think they are a tad too short in the front. I wish they were at least an inch probably two inches longer in the front.
Passenger side front fitment:

Passenger side rear fitment is perfect:

Again DS front comes up short just like the PS

Teaser shots until my sliders get back from paint.
Profile shots

This is

Much better than this!

I hope this write-up will help out others and I will find out if the Nut Certs will be strong enough! As you can see from above I will put them to the test.

 

[little_joe]

There have been several OPOR slider install topics, many are buried within build threads. Having the latest and greatest is always useful though!

There was chatter about the rivnuts. IMHO they are not optimal and I didn't use one of them. For the center leg on both sides (pre-change for the KDSS adaptation), a suggestion was made to tack nuts to a plate then drop that plate into the frame; and thread the center leg bolts up into that. I did this and feel it is a superior solution, MT should think about offering this with the sliders.

On the other holes requiring rivnuts, I drilled through both walls of the frame and got proper hardware. It was a PITA but entirely worth it.

 

[Bluetribal]

There have been plenty of people show off the finished product and say what a pain in the ass it was and offered up some changes they did but nothing detailed and nothing using the hardware supplied by OPOR/MT. If you have a link to share on slider installs please add it to this thread.

And please anyone else add to this thread as it will be easier to find than buried in build threads and why I didn't put it in my build thread.

 

[RobertD]

Can I pay you to install mine? I'm too lazy.

 

[wingysataday]

I used the u bolts on both of mine. First I put the front bolt in that's already factory tapped into the frame. That lined up the slider correctly then I welded the snot out of the front feet. I just didn't trust those crush rivets. The one I drilled and placed just kept spinning in the frame so out came the welder. I bet they will stiffen up my frame as well. PS they are freaking heavy!!

 

[Bluetribal]

Yeah the first Rivet Nut I set spun also and that's why I tried the second one with a new technique.
Using 3 washers I was able to set the rest of the rivet nuts. I still need to set the last one now that I got the replacement in the mail.

Part of the reason I finally got around to do this thread was reading that you just set aside the hardware and welded it. Many of us don't have the option to weld it without paying someone.

 

[mtrain1969]

Yeah the first Rivet Nut I set spun also and that's why I tried the second one with a new technique.
Using 3 washers I was able to set the rest of the rivet nuts. I still need to set the last one now that I got the replacement in the mail.

Part of the reason I finally got around to do this thread was reading that you just set aside the hardware and welded it. Many of us don't have the option to weld it without paying someone.

This might sound dumb, but having never used rivet nuts before, I had to ask. I assume that you used the washers without the slider in place to expand the rivet inside the frame?

 

[Bluetribal]

The Rivet Nuts are set on there own with the sliders off to the side. It becomes the threads for the bolts to screw into.

I will try to get to part 2 this evening after a little Baja wine country.

 

[wingysataday]

Not trying to hijack your thread but...
I am no expert welder by any means but the money you can save from buying a $200-400 wire feed welder is off the charts. I paid a guy $250 to weld on my tacoma sliders and easily could have done it myself. I never had any formal training, I basically just practiced on stuff and watched youtube videos. It's really not that difficult. I have never had a weld break. Sure they are not all beautiful but my welder is a 14 year old 110v campbell hausfeld from sears and I weld something like every 2 months.
I'm sure the experts could recommend a decent mig welder. I wouldn't even know what to recommend.

 

[Bluetribal]

OK, the write-up is complete. I look forward to hear from those who have already installed these and those who are next to install them! And I will update once I get the sliders back from paint and mounted for good.

 

[wingysataday]

great write up! Glad you got the dang crush rivets to work!

 

[mtrain1969]

I just installed my sliders today and I have a tip if you have a rivet nut that starts to spin while trying to get it to crush down. Mount your slider up and hit the bolt with an impact gun. I was able to get one of mine that was spinning to crush down that way.

Sliders

• mtrain1969
• Sep 4, 2016
• 1

 

[Bluetribal]

I never would have tried that because I would have been worried about having the slider on with a bolt I couldn't tighten or remove. But if it works it works and thanks for sharing.

 

[Bluetribal]

What should have been a fun day installing my freshly painted sliders was ruined by trying to install the last rivet nut. Had all the nuts and bolts finger tight and started to wrench down on the one front river nut first and it started spinning. I don't have any impact sockets this size so I had to punt once again and cut it out.

Now it's on to Amazon to order more rivet nuts and order impact sockets. If the damn rivet nut tool was $60 and not over $200 I would happily buy it and never use it again.

 

[kbahus]

What a pain, I hope in the end they are worth the hassle for you. I really dislike how they fit in the pictures, they are simply too short. I wish the Slee 5rh gen slider steps would fit, those are the bicest I have seen.

 

[The Great Him]

tip on installing rivnuts or nutcerts... use an impact to set them, dont do it by hand. when i use an impact i never have issues, and when i do it by hand i always have issues -they never set right, they spin.... take an impact ideally like a makita 18v cordless 1/4 drive impact of likes if you have one, or take air impact and set it to the lowest setting and go to town with them. i have never had one fail or pull out doing it that way, and i have done litterally thousands of them. -i used to install ambulance boxes on chassis and we used nutcerts for most of it, never seen one pull out or fail that was installed correctly either.

 

[Bluetribal]

Yeah, I bought a socket adapter set for my cordless impact gun and a pack of 20 3/8" Rivnuts. Plan is to set this last one and then go back to all the others with the impact to make sure they are completely crushed and tight. Then install the sliders.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

What do you guys think about using some JB Kwik 10 minute epoxy when setting the rivnuts in the hole, for those without impact tools? Surely couldn't hurt.

 

[Bluetribal]

I figure I would update this thread as I have finally got the sliders installed using the Rivet Nuts FINALLY!

So here are my two take-aways:
1) Do not use a step bit for the holes! Use a Micrometer to measure the Rivet Nuts and get the proper size drill bits. The Rivet Nut has to be snug in the hole to not spin this was my primary issue. So for the replacement 5/8" Rivet Nuts I bought from McMaster Carr it required an 11/16" drill bit that I ordered on Amazon since You can't find that size at Home Depot.
I ended upsizing the DS front leg from a 1/2" Rivet Nut to a 5/8" Rivet Nut since the holes were too big. I would recommend doing this anyway since the DS slider only has two legs and it's just two bolts.
2) The 5/8" Rivet Nuts are a beast and even with the Rivet Nut tool they are tough to install. I would not recommend doing the YouTube Nut & Bolt install for these.
My boss was sympathetic to my Rivet Nut issues so he told me to order the tool in case we need to install Rivet Nuts on the work trucks But as mentioned above even with the tool my shoulders were toast and even used a ratchet strap to close the arms of the tool. Getting the truck high enough for the tool to fit under the bottom of the frame is a sketchy proposition that had two jack stands under the frame as back-up with the jack.

By far my least fun project and it took me forever and a day partly because we have been doing a house remodel for four months now. And I spent an additional $50 to replace all the Rivet Nuts and bolts I had to cut out. Not to mention the $200 tool that the company now owns.