Sliders and Skids (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jul 15, 2022
Threads
11
Messages
180
Location
Lake Arrowhead, CA
Sliders came yesterday and skids today. Gonna be busy.

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Who makes the sliders?
 
I'm about to order mine. any opdates?

torn between 0 and 15 deg (kids and wife...)

MJ
Yes, an update!

Finished installing the sliders about 30 minutes ago. Took longer than expected with the help of my son. There are three things that are time consuming: 1: On the driver's side, you have to loosen the forward hard-line bracket to install a shim. There is no room to get a wrench or anything else in there. A 12 mm offset wrench might work. I had to angle a wrench in there and was finally able to get it done. 2: On the passenger's side, the rear backing plate that goes on the inside of the frame rail is difficult to install. You have about 1/2 inch between the frame rail and the gas tank. The hole is about 3 inches up and it is difficult to get the 4 1/2 inch bolt to engage the threads in the backing plate nut. You can only get about 2 threads to catch and then have to tighten the bolt down the crush the lock washer. 3: Six holes have to be drilled in the bottom of the frame rails on each side. Start with an 1/8th then a 1/4th and end up with a 21/64th. These holes are for the self threading bolts. Also two existing holes need to be taped out to 12 mm. White Knuckle supplies the tap. A tap wrench will not fit. I used a 5/16th wrench to engage the tap and just pushed like hell. It will go. The 1/8th inch thick shim that goes under the hard-line bracket is a pain also.

Be sure that all of the mounting plates are FLUSH against the frame rails before drilling. One of my holes was off and I, with considerable effort, was able to get the bolt in, at a rather severe angle. Oh well. I also used medium-strength lock-tight on everything that did not have a lock washer.

Since I did not get top plates, I used some anti-skid safety tape on the outside tube to be used as a step to get in. Works well.

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Side view showing how far they stick out.

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Left front looking back.

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Passenger side.

Too tired to get on the skids today! At least they will bolt up to factory holes! No drilling. I will say that the Slee skids are absolutely first rate in quality. The finish is flawless and the packing was solid enough to withstand a nuclear blast. They were delivered on a pallet and the box was filled with that expanding packing foam. The welds are excellent. Really top-notch.

The sliders are also really nice. Excellent welds and the powder coating is well done and look durable. Oh, I forgot: Mine are angled up 15 degrees.

I'm going to go rest now.
 
Last edited:
Just put on the Slee skids. It took couple of hours, going slowly. The kid helped a lot. The instructions are fairly good but there are a few places where you have to stop and think about what they are saying. A floor jack and a bottle jack are useful in lifting and positioning the skids. You need an assortment of metric and SAE wrenches and sockets. A breaker bar is also useful with the recovery point bolts and the outer cross-member bolts. I did lock-tight everything that did not have a lock washer. The right and left front air-dams have to come off as well as the "L" bracket tie-down on the recovery points. The U-shaped points stay. The recovery points go on last, with the front skid tabs between the frame and recovery points

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Sorry the picture is not that good.

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Passenger side, rear skid and cat.

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Driver's side front cat. I do wish they covered the cats better. It is more that the stock skids but not enough to really be a deterrent. The cats are still accessible, just more difficult to get in for some of the cuts. For both sides, the pipes would have to be cut short off the cats and then wiggle the cats out. It would take more time.

Now, to think about the next project: Bumpers, lift, bigger tires??? I've already reduced the payload by about 300 pounds.
 
Can you post some pictures of your LC from the side. I have exactly the same LC as you and am considering the WK sliders. I was hoping to get a better look at your setup
 
These are what I have at the moment. It is raining and will be for the next couple or three days. I hope these will help:

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One looking straight down from the driver's side.

I will take some more when the weather clears. I'll also get some of the brackets.
Jim
 
hopefully those decals are easily removed.

looks great otherwise!
 
A couple more pictures of the side and one of the left rear bracket.

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Yes, it is cold, rainy and a dirty LC.

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All the other brackets are similar. The two bottom bolts had to have the holes drilled. A total of 12. The bolts are self-threading. Recommend to use a thread locker. I used cobalt drills to make the holes. I had one 21/64th and it was able to make all of the holes. Chipped one of the cutting edges though. Still drilled. The instructions state to use a 7/16th bit to hand turn in the bracket hole to mark the center of the hole. Then use a center punch to make a dimple. Start with a 1/8th bit then a 1/4 bit and finally the 21/64th. It will take a fair amount of pressure on the drill to cut. Cutting oil just runs down the bit and does little to help. Make sure the brackets are absolutely flush and tight against the frame rails before marking and drilling the holes. Clamps can help. I had one hole that was off. For shame! The center bracket has two bolts that are horizontal and the pre-existing holes need to be tapped with the provided 12mm tap. A bit difficult as the room is tight. Jack stands and a bottle jack are useful. I am hoping that the thread locker will help act as a rust deterrent by sealing the hole. I am tempted to get some Rust- Oleum or something similar and flood the bottom of the frame rail on the inside. If anyone has any suggestion on this feel free to comment. I thought about spraying before installing the bolts but past experience has shown that the bolt threading in the hole scrapes off the paint, rendering it useless. Also, if someone helps, double check the tightness of the bolts. My son did the driver's side. I asked: "Are all the bolts tightened down?" "Yes, daddy, they are." I checked and the two center bracket bolts that go in the thread-cuts holes were finger tight. Bad son. That's okay though, he is coming along and I could not have done this without his considerable help. He is a lot better at this kind of stuff than I was at his age! He is becoming a pretty good driver at 16. He has a couple of hundred miles off-road in Death Valley and does really well. I really wish I had gotten that kind of experience when I was his age.
 
Looks great.
Any chance you want to sell/ship your factory skid plates?
 
Looks great.
Any chance you want to sell/ship your factory skid plates?
Hmmm! I ain't never thought about that. The wife says to sell them. Looking at the OEM prices, dang, they are expensive. Plus, shipping to NH would not be cheap. The weight, plus hardware is around 35 pounds. Let me noodle on it and I will get back to you. Plus, I still need to clean the mud and grime off of them! They are certainly not doing me any good sitting on a shelf in the garage. If I could get them to someone who can put them to good use, all the better.
 
Awesome, let me know. I’ve got some in a cart through different vendors on EBay. With shipping and it’s about $440 (for left, right and center). I’m going to call the local dealership tomorrow and price them out.

Let me know.
Thanks
Steve
 
Awesome, let me know. I’ve got some in a cart through different vendors on EBay. With shipping and it’s about $440 (for left, right and center). I’m going to call the local dealership tomorrow and price them out.

Let me know.
Thanks
Steve
Looking at a local Toyota dealer's prices, the front and left right are about $125 each, the center is around $155, the rear plastic shield is $270 and the oil pan shield (it actually covers the transfer case) is $150.

Those prices shock me, particularly for the plastic shield. I have no idea what shipping would cost from CA to NH. Plus, finding a box to put them in and be properly protected from damage and the rough handling by the shipping, uhm, persons.
 
I've got a full set of well used aluminum
budbuilt skids that are about 1000x better than factory skids for sale in the classifieds a couple hour roadtrip away in the Burlington VT area.
 
I've got a full set of well used aluminum
budbuilt skids that are about 1000x better than factory skids for sale in the classifieds a couple hour roadtrip away in the Burlington VT area.
That might be the ticket rather than me boxing this stuff up and shipping across country. Budbuilt aluminum skids are much better than the factory stuff for sure. Plus, it won't add much weight. That was the route I was thinking about taking but decided on steel instead.
 

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