Who Has Sliders?

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dc916cruiser said:
I was successful using 50ft/lbs on the front bottom brackets since the metal that is drilled and tapped is 2 layers thick. However, the center and rear bottom brackets are only a single layer thick of metal, which can't take the full 50ft/lbs of torque. That's how I stripped the center. After making that mistake, I hand tightened the remaining center and rear which if I had to guess, would be around 20-30ft/lbs. For the 1/2" horizontal bolts, I will loosen and retorque them to 40ft/lbs to lessen any frame squeezing that is currently occurring. I am also using red loctite on all fasteners. I sent a message to WKO inquiring about their recommended torque specs but was told they don't have any recommendations.

HTH
Click to expand...

The Type F thread cutting bolts I supply with my sliders have a recommended assembly torque of 42 ft/# these are a 3/8"-16 bolt. This of course is based off of a new steel base metal condition and a properly first cut install.

J
 
the Metaltech sliders did not come with directions but they really aren't needed, but would proly help, expecially if they came with torque settings etc... Here's what I did, put the slider on a floor jack, jack it into position. Once in position put a couple of the bolts that already have holes in to seat the slider. Now mark the bolt holes that are in the slider but do not have corresponding holes in the frame, I just used a maker. Then I removed the bolts and lowered the slider out of the way. Now grab your drill and drill out the holes you marked and install the rivnuts. Then jack the slider back into position and start putting bolts in! Boom now ya got sliders!
 
I was "lucky" that one of my boys was sick on Saturday. He stayed home instead of going to his baseball game, and I did my White Knuckle slider install this weekend. I took pics similar to @kreiten - looks like the WKs provide about a 4.5", going up to 6" at the kickout. Because of the angle of the camera, the photos make it seem like the tape measure isn't lined up with the body, but I can tell you it was.

Note I have the "John Cody" special with the 2x3 rub rail, not the standard 2x2. In hindsight I think the 2x2 would've provided plenty step area and protection, but I dig 'em.

Pics or it didn't happen, so...

Installed:
IMG_1955.webp


Front Door:
IMG_1953.webp


Rear Door:
IMG_1954.webp
 
I feel like all these slider outter tube, and those with a kicker option, are all about the same width. Which is good, because from my rock bashing and tight tree trails from the Lone Star Jamboree, I never felt my sliders were in the way, until I needed them to be.

Here is a bad picture of my BudBuilt sliders.
IMG_0410.webp




Not viewed in this picture is how the legs are designed. Bud's second to the rear leg, is the rear most leg on all the other available sliders. Plus the legs are triangulated versus just being all run down a single line. Just think how much stronger a triangle is versus a line, that's why his sliders barely deflects when taking a big hit on the far corners, that and the legs to the inner tube are much close to the ends, about 7". Then there are trianglure gussets instead of flat gussets. Then the frame mounting surface is a 3/8" plate and held on with a ton of 5/8" grade 8 bolts.

NO DRILLING of the frame, just bolt on through existing holes in the frame and a big bracket thing on both the inside of the frame and through the entire frame.

Fill plates are whatever you want, none, half filled, full filled, smooth, diamond plate, dimple die both up or down. Powder coated in anything you can think of by and industrial coater like how Slee does, the picture is flat black, but mine are in 40% gloss. You can have either an angled up outter tube for rocks or a strait outter tube for a step slider.

Here you can kind of see the triangulated leg design at the back of the slider. Again, that last leg is soooo much further back to keep deflection minimized.
IMG_0412.webp


Here is a still image from a video of the 200 falling off a 20" rock the rear right tire was on, and that rock pictured hitting the kicker of the left slider, it maintained about a 1/4" clearance from the body.
IMG_0411.webp
 
Last edited:
Nathan Neumeyer said:
Does anyone have a step by step guide to install sliders? Not too mechanically inclined. If I bought some white knuckle sliders does it come with instructions?!
Click to expand...

Hey @Nathan Neumeyer, if you haven't done your slider install yet, let me know if you've got any questions. My install took 5-6 hours, though knowing what I know now I'm pretty sure I could do the next set in about 4 hours by myself. Having just done mine this weekend here's my advice.

WK specific:
  • I did the install myself and used the bottle jack to position the slider. I layed on the ground and lifted the slider with my arms, body, feet, then cranked up the jack to hold it. Just put the bottle jack on the center slider arm near (but not under) the frame and it worked fine.
  • I have an 18V Ryobi cordless drill, and that was sufficient to drill all the holes (using good cobalt drill bits), though I did have to go through both batteries to do it.
  • Tapping the two center holes on either side is a PITA. The tap that WK supplies works fine, but there's not a ton of room between the end of the tap and the body. I used an adjustable wrench to turn the tap and my thumb to apply pressure to the tap. No room to fit a drill under there. Honestly I wish WK would have used self-tapping screws on those, but I'm guessing those bolts must not be as strong?
  • Drilling the 6 holes underneath the frame required lifting the vehicle with the jack slightly as my drill was about 1" too long to fit under the vehicle with anything longer than a 1/8" drill bit.
  • I personally did not like the washers supplied with the 4.5" and 6.5" bolts to use in the existing frame holes. I don't like this design, and I think WK should change it:
    • WK shipped with the smaller washers on the long bolts and the largest washers on the smaller center bolts. When I first attempted to slide the 6.5" front bolt through, I didn't realize they had done this and the smaller washer slid inside the frame. Fortunately it was still on the bolt, and I was able to grab it with my pinky slid inside the frame hole, angle the bolt, and work it out. However if I had lost the washer inside the frame I would have been PISSED since I can't see how I'd ever get it out.
    • When I used the larger washer, this MOSTLY worked ok. On the passenger side it fit OK. However on the drivers side front the bolt wasn't perfectly square and the larger washer slid into the frame the same way. And that hole was behind the KDSS cover. F**K. Again after serious care I was able to get it out. I ended up putting a larger washer behind that washer, and then used some loc-tite on that nut.
    • The head of the bolt on the drivers front bumps against the KDSS hard line. That made it difficult to tighten. Again I'm not crazy about using that location.
    • It seems to me that the existing frame holes are designed for larger bolts (maybe a 7/16" or 1/2" threads with 7/8 or 1" head) instead of the 3/8" thread with 3/4" head that were supplied. Alternately WK needs to supply bigger washers, or a steel plate, or make their slider feet U-shaped instead of L-shaped.
  • To get the bolt through the passenger side rear, I had to remove the 3 screws on the gas tank skid and drop the skid in order to get my fingers and a 3/4" wrench up there. NOTE: Be very careful not to let the washer drop into the hole in the frame! I couldn't get the nut on with the the lock washer on, but I used some loc-tite so hopefully that's sufficient.
General:
  • For drilling the frame, go buy some M35 (5%) or M42 (8%) Cobalt drill bits. Black oxide, titanium, etc are for masochists. I bought some Drill Hog M42 bits of ebay. Seriously, if you're spending $1000 on sliders, go spend $60 on the right tools.
  • Start with a 1/8" bit in each hole. Then step up 1/64" at a time. Drill the holes carefully. If the bit binds, there's probably a burr on the hole so reverse it, then try again. I found if it binds the second attempt worked best if I got the drill bit spinning fast and then lightly inserted it.
    • Be warned that Cobalt bits will shatter if they bind up and you force them. I broke one of mine in the frame as early on I jumped from 1/8" right up to 13/32" or 15/32" (can't recall offhand), the bit bound in the frame, and I stupidly used the drill to try and twist the bit, rather than back it out. I couldn't work it loose with needle nose pliers so for the moment it's still there (if you have any ideas, please let me know), and ended up drilling another hole in the slider mount. Not sure how to extract this without dropping any metal into the frame.
  • Use lots of cutting fluid to keep the bit cool. If the bit gets hot, it'll dull quickly and then your bit is useless. You're drilling upwards, you may need to stop every few seconds to reapply a drop of oil because it will run down the bit.
  • Wear work gloves and long sleeves. Otherwise you WILL get shards of metal flung into your hand and hot cutting oil on your arm. Trust me.
 
Taco2Cruiser said:
I feel like all these slider outter tube, and those with a kicker option, are all about the same width. Which is good, because from my rock bashing and tight tree trails from the Lone Star Jamboree, I never felt my sliders were in the way, until I needed them to be.

Here is a bad picture of my BudBuilt sliders.
View attachment 1460194

Not viewed in this picture is how the legs are designed. Bud's second to the rear leg, is the rear most leg on all the other available sliders. Plus the legs are triangulated versus just being all run down a single line. Just think how much stronger a triangle is versus a line, that's why his sliders barely deflects when taking a big hit on the far corners, that and the legs to the inner tube are much close to the ends, about 7". Then there are trianglure gussets instead of flat gussets. Then the frame mounting surface is a 3/8" plate and held on with a ton of 5/8" grade 8 bolts.

NO DRILLING of the frame, just bolt on through existing holes in the frame and a big bracket thing on both the inside of the frame and through the entire frame.

Fill plates are whatever you want, none, half filled, full filled, smooth, diamond plate, dimple die both up or down. Powder coated in anything you can think of by and industrial coater like how Slee does, the picture is flat black, but mine are in 40% gloss.
Click to expand...

great looking sliders. For us folks with limited tools and mechanical skills these seem to be the way to go. All of the options currently available are great but definitely interested in these. Thanks for all the info.
 
Taco2Cruiser said:
Here you can kind of see the triangulated leg design at the back of the slider. Again, that last leg is soooo much further back to keep deflection minimized.
Click to expand...

If I hadn't already bought WKs I would've considered these to avoid the hassle of drilling. My only issue is that I wanted them as flat steps for my kids to use, so not sure if the BudBuilt sliders could be made flat or are only available with the angle.
 
linuxgod said:
Hey @Nathan Neumeyer, if you haven't done your slider install yet, let me know if you've got any questions. My install took 5-6 hours, though knowing what I know now I'm pretty sure I could do the next set in about 4 hours by myself. Having just done mine this weekend here's my advice.

WK specific:
  • I did the install myself and used the bottle jack to position the slider. I layed on the ground and lifted the slider with my arms, body, feet, then cranked up the jack to hold it. Just put the bottle jack on the center slider arm near (but not under) the frame and it worked fine.
  • I have an 18V Ryobi cordless drill, and that was sufficient to drill all the holes (using good cobalt drill bits), though I did have to go through both batteries to do it.
  • Tapping the two center holes on either side is a PITA. The tap that WK supplies works fine, but there's not a ton of room between the end of the tap and the body. I used an adjustable wrench to turn the tap and my thumb to apply pressure to the tap. No room to fit a drill under there. Honestly I wish WK would have used self-tapping screws on those, but I'm guessing those bolts must not be as strong?
  • Drilling the 6 holes underneath the frame required lifting the vehicle with the jack slightly as my drill was about 1" too long to fit under the vehicle with anything longer than a 1/8" drill bit.
  • I personally did not like the washers supplied with the 4.5" and 6.5" bolts to use in the existing frame holes. I don't like this design, and I think WK should change it:
    • WK shipped with the smaller washers on the long bolts and the largest washers on the smaller center bolts. When I first attempted to slide the 6.5" front bolt through, I didn't realize they had done this and the smaller washer slid inside the frame. Fortunately it was still on the bolt, and I was able to grab it with my pinky slid inside the frame hole, angle the bolt, and work it out. However if I had lost the washer inside the frame I would have been PISSED since I can't see how I'd ever get it out.
    • When I used the larger washer, this MOSTLY worked ok. On the passenger side it fit OK. However on the drivers side front the bolt wasn't perfectly square and the larger washer slid into the frame the same way. And that hole was behind the KDSS cover. F**K. Again after serious care I was able to get it out. I ended up putting a larger washer behind that washer, and then used some loc-tite on that nut.
    • The head of the bolt on the drivers front bumps against the KDSS hard line. That made it difficult to tighten. Again I'm not crazy about using that location.
    • It seems to me that the existing frame holes are designed for larger bolts (maybe a 7/16" or 1/2" threads with 7/8 or 1" head) instead of the 3/8" thread with 3/4" head that were supplied. Alternately WK needs to supply bigger washers, or a steel plate, or make their slider feet U-shaped instead of L-shaped.
  • To get the bolt through the passenger side rear, I had to remove the 3 screws on the gas tank skid and drop the skid in order to get my fingers and a 3/4" wrench up there. NOTE: Be very careful not to let the washer drop into the hole in the frame! I couldn't get the nut on with the the lock washer on, but I used some loc-tite so hopefully that's sufficient.
General:
  • For drilling the frame, go buy some M35 (5%) or M42 (8%) Cobalt drill bits. Black oxide, titanium, etc are for masochists. I bought some Drill Hog M42 bits of ebay. Seriously, if you're spending $1000 on sliders, go spend $60 on the right tools.
  • Start with a 1/8" bit in each hole. Then step up 1/64" at a time. Drill the holes carefully. If the bit binds, there's probably a burr on the hole so reverse it, then try again. I found if it binds the second attempt worked best if I got the drill bit spinning fast and then lightly inserted it.
    • Be warned that Cobalt bits will shatter if they bind up and you force them. I broke one of mine in the frame as early on I jumped from 1/8" right up to 13/32" or 15/32" (can't recall offhand), the bit bound in the frame, and I stupidly used the drill to try and twist the bit, rather than back it out. I couldn't work it loose with needle nose pliers so for the moment it's still there (if you have any ideas, please let me know), and ended up drilling another hole in the slider mount. Not sure how to extract this without dropping any metal into the frame.
  • Use lots of cutting fluid to keep the bit cool. If the bit gets hot, it'll dull quickly and then your bit is useless. You're drilling upwards, you may need to stop every few seconds to reapply a drop of oil because it will run down the bit.
  • Wear work gloves and long sleeves. Otherwise you WILL get shards of metal flung into your hand and hot cutting oil on your arm. Trust me.
Click to expand...
Thank you!!
 
linuxgod said:
If I hadn't already bought WKs I would've considered these to avoid the hassle of drilling. My only issue is that I wanted them as flat steps for my kids to use, so not sure if the BudBuilt sliders could be made flat or are only available with the angle.
Click to expand...
He can do either, angled up or step slider. At the end of the day, he makes everything inhouse. So whatever you tell him you want, he just makes that.
 
+1 on the recommendation to wear long sleeves and gloves. There were many expletives yelled during my install, especially when the plate next to the gas tank dropped on my face from a foot high. Ouch!!
 
Drew Hall said:
Does anyone run the ARB Protection Steps. Are they as stout as a slider? I'm looking more for protection than a step.
Click to expand...
They a definetly NOT to the level as a slider. They are rather weak and not meant to slam rocks like a slider.
 
M1911 said:
Let us know how much your mechanic charged and how long it took him.
Click to expand...

He charged me $175 to install it but he did my full 150k service for $450 at same time. He likes me so he charges me much less on everything.
 
Does anyone on here have the ARB sliders / steps? What are the thoughts and where did you buy them? Finally pictures with a measurement???
 
jblatl said:
Does anyone on here have the ARB sliders / steps? What are the thoughts and where did you buy them? Finally pictures with a measurement???
Click to expand...

I’ve seen two different ARB sliders and came away feeling they were not very strong. Both were kinked/bent, and one truck had kinks on both sides.

Weird, because ARBs bull bar is plenty strong, but seemed like the sliders weren’t of similar strength.

No photos though...so believe it...or not. :)

Bud Built super strong with the right tube selection, and I have been unable to damage my Slee sliders despite many monster hits on my 8000#+ 200.
 
So I’m thinking of the bud build... bolt on, no drilling, and seem like some it’s strong ..... change my mind
 
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