sleepy970

This summer I'm planning on making some sliders for my truck and wondering how much flex if any there is when you use a jack to lift one side of the truck. I know you cant really measure how much they may flex up when you come down hard on a rock, but a ruff estimate would be great.

Elvota

I'd give at least a 1/4" of room from slider to body.... a little more if you can. If things are tight, you can notch the pinch weld where the supports for the sliders are.

Keep in mind that well constructed armor (sliders, bumpers) doesn't really flex to much, but the body moves. The rubber bushings on your body mounts flex and compress off road.

So, even if you slider is rock solid rigid, the body may come down to meet it if things are too close.

AxleIke

Elvotas method is how I did it.

however, I know 2 people who have put their sliders directly on the pinchweld, one of whom has the sliders mounted to the body mounts. Both of them have taken many, many hard hits, and have zero damage down there.

The slider cannot flex at all, so it doesn't do any damage. Its a pretty cool idea, but I'd do more research on it to see if its right for you.

declipse

I built mine out of square tube. That allowed me to run one tube along the pinch weld, about 1/8" under it. Then I have connectors that run out and up to a second tube that is just out farther. You can slam down on them and the farthest they can flex is up into the pinch weld. That helps take some of the bending load of the frame and toss it back into the body, making it act like part of the frame. Let me know if that isn't as clear as mud. I then have three supports that run to the frame from the inside rail.

It is moreless based off of the 4crawler sliders.

See the attached picture.

monstertruckman

if you want to use them as jacking then i would go for 4 fixing points to the chassi and best welded on.i used 50mmx4mm tube with no problems



mtm

sleepy970

Thanks for the replies. Probably go by Elvota's method. I'm still going to do some more searching. My truck is going to be a slow build. Going to do the armor and then wheel it tell I need to start upgrading drive train and other things. So far stock I like how well it performs. Just wanting to help keep the body in good shape incase.

declipse

Placing a bar under the pinch weld is more than adequate for lifting / jacking purposes as well. That is why the pinch weld is where most manufactures tell you were to place the stock jack. When I built my sliders I was concerned about only having the perpendicular supports near the body. If it flexes into it you have high load in a small area. With the bar under the pinch weld you have a much larger area you are spreading the load over as well as greater section modulus in the part you are hitting (IE like a 2x4 carries more load when stood vertically than it can when it is flat.

I also didn't have to cut any sheet metal to mount mine. I do have a 1" body lift that allows my to have my 2" square tube flush on the lower side with my frame lower side.

4crawler does a pretty good job of explaining the concept, so I won't try: http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/RockSliderZ.shtml

Ultimately it is your truck and your sliders so take the concepts from where you want and run with it. Obviously both methods work just fine.

strykersd

declipse, can you use a hi-lift with those sliders?

tc

x3 for having a rail on the slider run along under the pinchweld.

Remember, if the slider "flexes", you are generating a torque load on the frame that it is not designed to handle.

I slit fuel hose and slid it over the pinch weld, then mounted mine FIRMLY in contact with the pinch weld. I don't get any squeaking, and minimize the torque on the frame by dispersing the load across the slider mounts and into the body mounts.

Yodaforce

It really depends on design and material used. If you have poor design and build it out of cheap materials, you might slam a rock and have your slider and rocker torn up. Use the right material, and build something solid. I have seen people call those cheap tube STEP bars sliders. Heck, even when you use them as a step, they flex, more or less wether you put the weight of the truck on them!

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

X4 on the pinch weld tube. I leave around 1/2" of clearance between the slider and bottom of the body and will have the slider contact the pinch weld under high loads. I think this flex is mainly from the frail rail twisting under the torque applied to it.



And the slit fuel hose is one option you can use to quiet squeaks/rattles if the sliders end up too close the the body:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/....shtml#Squeaks