I know I deserve a for not including pics with this post (yet, I will tonight) but I finished my sliders last night! They're 1.5" square tubing, 0.12" wall. about 5' long, with 5.5" inch distance from the frame. The extension tubes each have a 3" piece of 1/4" thick angle iron that I will drill and bolt with 1/2" grade 8 bolts complete with heavy duty washers and lock washers to the frame.

I'm going to clean off all the shop dust and crud with some brake cleaner and then give them a thick coat of black rustoleum.

One thing I noticed yesterday - there's no clearance behind the frame where the gas tank is. Maybe the best thing to do is to just drill and tap a hole at the side and bottom? Or maybe just one clear through from the bottom up with a nut on the end? That is my general strategy with the other bolts, just a 3.5" bolt through the side of the frame and torqued with a nut on the other end to about 50 ft-lb.

Any advice would be appreciated, anecdotes about hang-ups you guys encountered when tackling a project like this, etc., are all welcome too.

BTW, I was going to build a semi-wrap around rear bumper as well but since I am starting school soon I have no time and connecting it to the frame will be more complex than I had thought. Anyone have some good 1st gen rear bumpers for sale? I'm not really keen on paying much more than $200 for something like that.

 

Why not just weld them on?

 

Dad says no.

 

Any reason why?

 

Well, basically it would make it easier (obviously) to remove to paint again. He also just does not like the idea of welding things to the frame.

I'm also considering the fact that in the later future I would like to get an 85 to play with. If one comes along, I'd probably want to put the sliders on it.

 

Why not welding mounts to the frame for the sliders?

 

well the mounts are already welded to the extension tubes on the sliders. I'm pretty well commited to this mounting method. I think that 3 half-inch bolts on each side will provide a large enough resisting moment and shear force to hold under most conditions save dropping 10 feet and landing sideways directly onto a slider.

 

PICS!!









Check out those awesome welds... oh yeah.

 

What did you weld that with, jumper cables and car batteries? JK.

Lamm

 

Just rip all that other stuff that is WELDED to the frame off of it before it rips out and ruins your vehicle completely.

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, Wabbit.

I think a few of those welds in the picture I didn't even do myself... one of the other students insisted on welding some of it himself and, as much as I needed his help, his welds were less than desireable...

 

It was a poor attempt at sarcasm. There are literally dozens of welds on the frame, and thousands of folks who weld on sliders.

When I removed my sliders from my 3rd gen and sold it I simply cut off the attached bars, ground them flush on the scab plate and the new owner nor anyone else never knew they were there after a coat of paint.

As long as you diamond the scabs on the frame and are competent welding, you would never have a problem keeping them mounted or removing them later if need be.

I mean...how the heck are you going to cover up the HOLES if you remove them?

 

Weld a plate over the holes?

I'm also not an experienced enough welder to weld up to the frame. My class is also ended so all I have to work with it a stick welder that doesn't have its plug-in end, rather than the nice wire-feed we had at school.

And I already bought the stupid bolts I fully realize, Wabbit, that welding to the frame is not a BAD idea. It would probably be a little bit stronger than bolting. But I also think that this method will work fine. Those 1/4" brackets cradle the bottom of the frame, and since most of the time the sliders will be stressed from the bottom side those brackets will spread out the pressure on the frame, rather than yoinking on one bolt.

 

Yoinking? Is that a Georgia word?

 

 

Nope, "yoinking" is a highly technical term. It expresses very clearly the situation in which a tension is compounded upon one object without a sufficient shear resistance through its second moment


...though come to think of it, I think I made that word up in like, 7th grade

 

Wabbit and Intrepid...

I owe an apology to both of you. I worked all evening drilling holes in these sliders, got them clamped up, and my welding instructor said "we're gonna have a heck of a time drilling those holes in your frame." He was of the mindset before that we ought to bolt them up, but right then he changed his mind.



So we welded them on


I'll get some pics when there's daylight.

 

Glad we taught your welding instructor something.

Weld on.

 

Haha indeed you did.




Anyone want to buy about $40 worth of grade 8 1/2" bolts...? Hopefully ACE will take them back.

 

Thank you ACE hardware, for swapping out my stupid bolts with some 1-1/2" stainless steel ones.

Here are some updated pics, the sliders are mounted. The bottom face of the brackets had some gaps from the frame due to the fact that our frickin' saw can't cut straight. So I drilled and tapped some holes and put spacers, washers and pieces of 1/4" steel, between the brackets and the frame.






And here's just a fun one of myself and a friends enjoying the tailgate



Okay, this one's gross, but while I was drilling the holes the hot chips kept falling on me. I cut some socks in half and put over my forearms, which helped, but it didn't keep this one from searing my upper lip. This is to warn you all to wear lip protectors when you drill.