sasquatch

I was thinking about making my own sliders. Can't be too tough after looking at the many available options/wall thickness's out there on the market.
I have my own mig welder and think I can make a damn nice pair that will do the job. Besides...I'm a finish carpenter by trade...and, if I apply the same, I can make some nice ones.

I'm curious though. Mainly on the thickness of the tubing used. 1/4" - 5/16 wall I'm guessing would do the trick rather well. I was also thinking the square wall would be the best suited for the purpose due to the impact strength against all the angles of the sliders in general.
I've got a friend who does mufflers who can do the bends for me which appears to be the critical part of the whole look/strength of them too. But I was thinking that they way they mostly lay out is for appearance....ie..angled to the under body and as tight [somewhat] to the rocker panels/sills as you can get.

If you can recommend anything in the building process that may make the layout more sense, please.....do tell.

This might just be my next project.

Thanks Guys...

sasquatch

Hmmm.....already 45 members looked at my post and not one reply.
What, is this topic voodoo ??

toyotaj

Go for it.
Its not like you are building a roll cage. I built a pair for my 1st gen and I am an amatur fabricator for sure. I used scheld 40 pipe for the first pair and I am now planning on building a pair for our 3rd gen 4runner.. I am thinking 1.5" square 1/4" wall would be pretty sweet.

-J

Tanto

I don't know about other sliders, but the ones from Stubbs Welding come with "scab plates" that you weld on to your sliders, then weld on the frame. This way, if your sliders separate, it'll break at the scab plates and you won't rip holes in your frame. The higher priced sliders usually have a square wall so it would seem like that's better for strength. I think Phalanx has round tubing for the wall and I saw him ride off a rock with his sliders no problem.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

You want round tubing, not pipe. Tubing is measured in OD like 1.5" tubing and the common thickness is going to be 0.120" wall...no need for anything thicker IMO. Square tubing IMO offers up too many rough corners to get entangled to use as outriggers but seem fine for the main beams if done correctly...like many hydbrid sliders are built.

I don't think a muffler shop is going to be able to bend square tubing...and perhaps not the thicker round tubing either...as muffler shops are bending very thin tubing.

You need to have the sliders sitck out far enough that they would push a tree that is parallel to the body panels out far enough that it wouldn't damage them. Sliders protect the underside, the rocker panels, as well as the sides of the vehicle if designed correctly. If you get them in too tight...they don't do any of those things well.

There are tons of threads on here about sliders that offer lots of pictures and design types. I'll be fabbing mine out of 1.75" OD DOM tubing in the future to go w/ the exo cage of the same material.

Good luck and post up when you get something under way.

sasquatch

Hey...waskillywabbit

I was thinking the same thing after I posted [re: muffler shop bender] Maybe he can't bend the thickwall stuff. And for sure can't bend the square stuff. That would all have to be laid out and cut to size.
But I'm thinking I'll lay it all out using milled wood as a mock-up [cheaper] in the fabbing end. Then when I get it all sorted and looking good, make the needed cuts for the real deal.

Who knows...when I get the mock-up all done I can paint them and sell them to some sucker on ebay...... LOL..just kidding !!!!

Kalvin00

Let us know how it goes...this is kinda making me want to fab up some of my own. I've got MIG & TIG welders (not that I can tig weld though ), as well as a plasma cutter...I think I could probably make some decent ones.

toyotaj

There is nothing wrong with using pipe for sliders. In many cases most would never know the difference.


http://myweb.cableone.net/marzonie/Slider1.html
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19314
http://www.wayoffroad.com/rock_sliders.htm ..I've seen this guys work and its very good btw.
http://www.geocities.com/pmurf1/customrocksliders.html

you have a mig.. all you need now is a 80$ Harbor Freight PIPE bender and some PIPE.

-J
edited: for grammer

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Pipe is not intended to be used as a structural member, it is intended to be used as a pressure retention member. Tubing and pipe have different mechanical and chemical properties, thus the reason for both of their existences...otherwise we'd just call it all pipe or call it all tubing...but we don't. Sure, you can use it to make sliders, and sure, most folks won't know the difference, but the sheer fact that professionals make roll cages out of HREW tubing or DOM and not pipe speaks volumes.

Pipe is a poor choice for sliders that will be anything other than bling.

sasquatch

Hmmmm.....I wonder if there's any members close to the washington coast that might want to burn a brain cell and douse it with beer and get together to make some sliders?

Shoot me a pm if it sounds like a plan

toyotaj

You gotta have one of these before you can make your first rock sliders.

Otherwise you aint got no bling.




http://www.jd2.com/

jeremys73

LoL

William439

I agree, if you are going to make rock sliders, you want to use some heavy wall tubing. It is going to take some punishment and unless you want the pipe to shear or deform, I would go with some heavy wall tubing. If it were me I would go with either a 1.25 or 1.5 diameter pipe with the thickest wall that your bender says he can bend (1.25 diamater .12 wall 4130 6 foot long tube is 60 bucks, and cheaper for smaller thickness). Then I would get some square tube of the same length and wall thickness and fab it all together (1.25 length / width .12 wall 4130 6 foot long square is 32 bucks). Then after you weld up the whole thing see if you can find a powder coater in the area and get them powder coated. So you are going to need about 120 for the round tube, 120 for the square, and depending on the powder coater you are looking at about 4-5 hundred bucks for the whole thing. If you do that it will look very nice and last a long time. If you want to go with some cheaper ones, get some cheaper tubing, and spray paint them. But I agree that you shouldn't use pipe for anything that is structural or anything else for that matter on your truck, you'll regret it later.

heckler

I agree with you on the fact that pipe is not used for structural materials. However I have made a bumper for a mini and two sets of sldiers for an FJ80 land cruiser and the pipe has held up better than the square tubing that I welded it to. I think pipe is actually a better choice than HREW or DOM for sliders. Pipe seems to take the impacts better and does not kink and crumple like the DOM or HREW. Also about the cages and pipe. There is a thread on pirate were a guy makes an entire buggy with pipe and another where a guy builds and exo and then flops it on purpose to test it. Personally i would not build a cage just because i would not want that hanging over my head but i would not hesitate to build a bumper or some sliders out of pipe.

Whitey13

+1. It becomes cost-prohibitive to make sliders on your own when all you have to start with is a welder. The materials and equipment you need to make a single quality set of sliders would put you well over the cost of buying from an established/proven vendor here.
If you are doing i to save $$: Bad idea
If you are doing it for fun/to expand your garage/fab skills: good idea