I've been noodling around a few ideas for sliders and I had an idea. Has anyone considered making steel plate cladding to affix to the bottom of the doors? I figured if I made a nice stout cover for my sill that went from the underside of the frame to the underside of the doors then add steel cladding on the bottom of doors, it would get me some better clearance. Anyone have thoughts on this?

 

ive seen some jeeps in magazines with this. it looks pretty cool

 

seems to me like it would be harder to make cladding, more expensive, etc. you don't really lose THAT much clearance with sliders... an inch? is that really worth it to come up with all the designs and whatnot for steel cladding? also it would probably dent/bend the door itself because it wouldn't be anchored onto anything else...

certainly wouldn't be as strong as sliders but if you are just using them to protect against little pebbles flying up... might as well get plastic.


thats what it seems like to me but.. i could be wrong. i mean, if some people have it on jeeps, it must be good. might look good, but how well would it work? if ur just going for looks, go for it...

it would be interesting though. maybe you could get some bullet proof glass too. well enough rambling im off to bed.

 

You would still bend the doors.. they will just fail above the "plate" the rockers will still crush unless you tie to the frame.. But if you do that the body can not flex on the mounts and it will ned up ripping it apart.. Mounted just to the rockers they will still bend..

The amount of bends to put into them would cost a fortune..

Now for the sliders, they are still above the frame, and they can be removed without showing damage to the body...

Plus.. You would not be ableto hi-lift like this ??

 

Dude.. could someone like turn this into a photo of a 4Runner peeing on a jeep like a puppy dog?? Oh OH.. and like edit out the Hi-Lift too!!

 

I think it would work, but it'll take some creative thinking to figure out how to attach it. You'd have to tie it into the pinch weld but yet make it extend out enough to protect the little curved part under the doors. You also couldn't use a hi-lift because of the doors curve out too much.

Roger Browns sliders work on the same principle (pinch weld) but still attach to the frame.

Anyways, go ahead and try it and see, you never know.

Steve

 

Better clearance?

My sliders are higher than the bottom of the frame, so I am not losing any clearance.

J**ps have this, but they have a shorter distance between the wheel wells and a higher lip before the door starts. Less weight, shorter lever arm. I don't think that the J**ps intend it to function like a slider. Competition j**ps run a slider type rocker panel, but that is neither a slider nor the diamond plate.

 

I'm in agreement with everyone else- I just got my sliders welded on last Friday- you really don't lose much in clearance, mine are slightly angled upwards, and would be much stronger than anything attached to the doors.

 

Yep, I gained clearance.

These sit up higher than the frame also.

Mad, you have any pics yet of the new sliderz Jeff built for you?

 

OK, I'll admit it... I'm confused. How do you lose ANY ground clearance w/ sliders? They mount TO the frame and stay ABOVE the lowest point of the frame dont they? I hope I'm understanding how they mount.......

 

No pictures yet Corey- I've yet to enter the 21st century and get a digital camera, so I'm waiting to finish the roll and get it developed

1Runner, you're right on the money- mine are welded to the side of the frame. There is a huge gain in clearance over the stock running boards.

 

What I was suggesting for clearance was not necessarily "ground" clearance. In looking at how most sliders are even with the outside edge of the tires, I kind of guessed that if you could tuck the armor closer to the body, it would give better clearance in the vehicle width for maneuvering around rocks and trees. Sometimes it's a matter of inches...

I like the idea of being different. Unfortunately, it appears that it might be too difficult and expensive to get an adequate level of protection from going this route though. I'm not through with this idea yet...

 

Cebby,

On my 3rd gen, the sliders are even with the fender flares.

 

To answer everybody's question on ground clearance:

If there is a boulder in the trail what do you? Do you try to straddle the rock so that you ram it with your diffs? Or do you place your tires on the rock and drive over it? You drive over it. Your tires are in line with the doors, not the frame so when your front tire comes down you will hit your doors and not the frame first (depending on the shape of the rock, and most rocks are pointy, not flat). So, yes, the frame is lower than the doors, but objects you drive over may not hit the frame first. That is why you want more ground clearance near the doors in addition to ground clearance at the frame.

Steve

 

I agree with you Robinhood, but with the sliders I don't have to worry about a rock being 2" taller than I thought it was and pounding the door.

 

Steve - yoou are single handedly going to inspire me to figure this out...

 

Well, that part is easy. Just don't use double bars. Just use a single bar under the doors. But I like the double bars and I should have made mine wider because of situations like this:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/...42875157lVPhTo

I still think it's possible and you shouldn't give up. You just have to figure out how to mount it.

Steve

 

Ha, all our replies are a little out of phase so we keep bringing up different possibilities. I know I keep telling you it's possible, but just be aware of the drawbacks.

1. Difficult or impossible to use a hi-lift without door damage.
2. less side protection because they don't protrude out far enough.
3. Possibly weaker that a real slider, but I don't know, depends on the design.
4. With this design you cannot use double bars or anything that protrudes out like a normal slider. The reason for this is that it cannot take the torque of a vertical load. You would have to support the torque buy running a bar to the frame, but then if you do that then you might as well bet roger browns sliders.

Advantages:
1. better ground clearance.

The thing with jeeps is that their doors are flat and vertical where ours is rounded, it's much easier that way.

Anyway good luck if you choose to accept this mission.

Steve

 

Scott Ellinger had some single tube sliders on his old truck. Tight clearance, basically a heavier rocker panel. As Steve said, no real way to run a jack on it.

You are going to need a frame mount of some sort for this to work. In a perfect world, your tires and sliders would make an almost direct line so that you could put a tire on the rock, run it down the slider, to the rear tire and then off of it.

Are you frustrated with the widths of the trails you are currently running and being near the limit?

 

I have no armor now and have to ˟˟˟˟˟foot around our local trails. Mostly trees and stumps, a few rocks, with tight clearance. I end up going around the obstacle currently. I'm missing out on too much fun...