nrgetic99

I was about to pull the trigger on the cheap Marlin sliders for my 2nd gen and the price changed

Got me to thinking.

Weld on : Strongest if done right, permanent, read a while ago about folks who think you should not weld onto frame, no convincing argument why.

Some folks weld direct, others weld a plate on the leg then weld that on.

Bolt on : Still unsure about this.... Roger has demonstrated this is a simple and strong way to mount... don't know why but I am leary of self tappers into a fairly thin wall frame.

Clamp : Seems a nice solution but really adds cost.

This is for my 2nd gen that I plan on having and wheeling gently for the next year. It must have good resale potential when I am done so I am leaning toward bolt on for an easy 'return to stock' option for future sale.

Whaddya think ?

Thanks (and be nice)

David

FilthyRich

If you are thinking about resale in a year, plus Roger's demosnstration= BOLT ON

Welded: You can always cut the scab plate off, grind the frame down and never know they were there. Plus scab plate help distribute the weight and offer a stronger mount.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Or as some folks have done with my sliders, bolt them on then run about a 1" weld bead near the bottom corners of the brackets. If you want to remove them, fairly easy to grind out the welds and then unbolt the sliders. Or you can do a few through the frame bolts or even sleeved bolts:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...l#Installation

If you think about it, weld-on is only attaching the slider to the outer frame rail. Unless you add mouting plates to reinforce that area, you are welding to 1/8" thick steel. I think sleeved bolts are perhaps the strongest way to go as you are actually reinforcing the frame by spanning the inner and outer walls with the sleeves and bringing the whole frame box section into play to support the loads. Clamping is also good, but you almost have to build each clamp to fit the frame closely in order to get a good fit.

But if done right, all the mounting options are viable. If done poorly, then they all can fail. With self-tapping bolt mounting, the sliders have to be designed for that type of mounting. You can't just slap any old slider onto the frame with a few bolts and expect it to hold any weight. But the nice thing with sliders designed for self-tapping bolts is that they can be mounted in a variety of other ways as well.