I will be adding sliders to my 4runner when I finish my 3.4 conversion.

What are the pros and cons to each method of attachment?

I don't plan to rock crawl and bash up the sliders a lot. They will be for protection when things aren't going as planned. ;-)

 

I always like bolt on, only because I can't weld. I think the strength of either is about even, just depends on whether you want to weld them on or not. And, welded on are cheaper from what I've seen that bolt on.

 

depends on what ur lookin to spend and what ur lookin to do with em. i figure bolt ons would be better cause it wouldnt require as much work. less effort = better, every time. lol. not to mention if u need to take em off itd be a heck of a lot easier if they were bolted.

 

installation and removal will be easier with bolt-on. i had heard for a while that bolt on just wouldnt be as strong, but recent threads about it have swayed my opinion on that. they seem to be just as strong according to guys who have used and abused them for years. mine are welded on and they are rock-solid, but if i ever want to remove my body lift, i have to cut them off and re-weld them lower on my frame rail, which is a big pain as i'm sure you can imagine.

 

What he said..... Hope I dont ever have to remove mine

 

I have bolt on, on my FJC. They are very solid, I've come down on them pretty hard with no problems. I'm going to weld on for the 4runner, because I can Weld

 

I used one of these slider gusset kits:
http://www.trail-gear.com/rocksliders.html

 

Yeah, I saw those on Trail-Gear, but I don't get it. Nothing in the description says they bolt on, but they clearly have 4 bolt holes. Also, for me, it defeats the purpose because I still can't weld. If they have them as an option, why can't they just weld them on for you if you get their sliders?

Hopefully I'm going to start taking welding classes at the CC here in September, but it will be awhile before we get to MIG/TIG.

 

I could probably answer this question myself by looking. But I'm nowhere near my truck. Do bolt on's usually require drilling holes or are there existing ones that get used? Also, how many bolts usually hold them on?

 

lol. good luck with those welding classes. i taught myself how to weld. kinda. was supposed to be cuttin up a steel oven with an acytelene oxygen mixture, but kept welding it back together. now i see it wasnt supposed to be infuriating, but actaully a valuable lesson that i can use in life. lol. NOT.

 

look at ur frame where u would be bolting them on. theres no more valuable research than actaully looking at ur truck and figuring out what it looks like. u'll find u can answer almost all of ur questions.

 

If it's like the Trail-Gear plates, you would be drilling holes. There are 4 holes per stud for the plates, in a square fashion. There are no holes like this in the frame. You would need to drill your own.

It shouldn't weaken the frame though, so you should be ok.

 

5 holes actually, and the 5th one is the most important, on the bottom of the frame. It provides great support for slamming down on rocks because the bottom bolt is seeing all shear stress when the forces are up on the bottom of the sliders.

Here's some more on my install:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...8&postcount=17

 

It can depend on who makes your slider. Some makers like Demello align their mounting plates to the existing holes in the frame on the side. But it's an L-shaped bracket, so there are bottom mounts as well, and I had to drill 3 of these holes (one was already there for the cross member). So 8 bolts per side, 3 needed to be drilled. Very solid!

But there are cheaper versions of the bolt-on sliders that either don't have the L-shaped mounting bracket, and/or just create generic holes for the slider mount that have to be drilled out of the frame.

 

It depends on several factors:

1. Can you weld? If not, paying someone to do it needs to be factored into the price.

2. Who makes the sliders and what philosophy do they use for the mounting?
CBI's bolt on is far and away the best bolt on IMHO. I'm not real keen on trusting self tapping screws just into the frame - seems too easy to strip out.
See the Rock Slider Tech section for more info:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...ar_HowTo.shtml
I am in full agreement with Roger about method #2 - why apply all that torque to the frame?

I bolted mine on just to hold them in place until I could get a buddy to weld them. As noted above, If I decide to do a body lift, it's gonna be a lot of work...