Sliders build thread

[891Ton]

Hey guys decided to post up a thread of my sliders build since I rarely see them done this way. My rig is a full time wheeling rig but I think this can be done with a DD too if the trimming is done to the bottom of a door panel. I decided I have no use for the rockers on my truck since I dont run doors anymore so I cut them off about 2". This was great since I had just removed the body lift to lower the truck 3". (it used to be a mud truck now its a rock crawler). I cut them and am going to fill the gap up with some 1.5"x.5" rectangle box I had. It fits PERFECT in our rockers. it creats a nice snug fit and smooth line. Im going to get them welded up and them build the slider for under it. Whats nice about doing this before making the slider is that I dont need to make the slider a two piece design like you always see with a second bar built off the slider bar as a step. since the bulge of the rocker is out of the way I plan on just using a piece of 2x4x.25 rectangle box which will stick out enough to use as a step. This will be a ton easier than making two piece bars out of 2" like everyone does. Ill post up pics as I progress, but here is the cutting and begining stages.

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Oh yeah I also cut a part of the fender out since Im narrowing the front end. I cut this (and Im going to make it even steeper) so that I can plate it flat so the tire can rub smoothly against it when fully stuffed rather than the corner of the cab

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here is the 1.5" box just placed in there. Fits so nice cant wait to weld it up. But this will allow me to make the slider an easy 2-2.5" higher than if I left the rocker. And I can weld the support brackets to the middle of my frame rather than the bottom of it.

 

[891Ton]

Had a couple hours to work on the truck today. I was able to weld in that rectangle box and plate the corner. Plating this corner and making it on an angle gained me about 8" of room in that wheel well. And I will let that tire fully stuff and rub agains this plate all day VS the cab corner and fender which I can not believe never sliced and popped my tires.

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before:

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After:

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Now to fab up the sliders tucked up nice and high under the new low pro rockers.

 

[891Ton]

Notice how you cant even see the body mounts in the before pic? And look how much of the frame is visible in the after pic. I realize the pic is taken from a slightly lower angle, but its not even close. Its amazing how much clearance this gained me.

 

[891Ton]

Today I got around to fixing the rear cab corner. Now I know I could have bought some corners fairly cheap, but since I cut the majority of the cab corner off it didnt make sense to me to replace and entire corner to only use about 3 inches of it. So I patched the holes with some sheetmetal and called it a day. What a PIA since the pass corner was wrinkled beyond repair due to trail damage. Whatever though it came out rust free and solid. Thats all I care about so I can start building the sliders.

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What I had started with

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Passenger side done.

Now for the drivers side mess. This is what mudding does to your truck. Another reason I do rocks now.

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[891Ton]

Some of you guys might be thinking wtf is this guy doing all this **** for in a sliders build thread. Well when I build my sliders they are going to be tight to the body. Not connected which is a huge no-no. Because they are going to be snug I wont be able to access my rockers once they are on unless I pull off the body mounts again. So in an effort not to have to do **** twice, Im getting this out of the way now and I included it in this thread because I think that if you are going to build sliders you should have the area they are going in just as suitable for them. This trimming puts the sliders way higher than most people are able to achieve.And this is totally do-able with doors. The bottom of the doors can be trimmed and boxed just like Im doing the rockers. There is nothing on the bottom of a GMT 400 door that would prevent this.

 

[891Ton]

I got half a minute today to work on the rig. Tomorrow I should have at least one side welded up. But I mocked it all up now and changed my mind again. NOT boatsiding. Not getting into all the details as of why, but who gives a $hit. So I mocked it all up and tacked it up. Need to pull off the sliders from the frame so that I can do the welding on the slider while its off the truck then weld it back on. I would suggetst doing it this way. Tack everything in place. Then remove it from the frame, and weld the slider to its support bars, then weld it back up to the frame. Make sure to tack enough so that you wont warp when welding and go to put it back in place and it wont fit. So here's a couple pics. Also I made them on a slight angle so that I can add a gusset on the top of each bar, welding that to the frame as well. This way there will be zero flex in this b*tch when Im laying it on a rock.

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[891Ton]

cut out the cancer and filled it with some undercoating.

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welded on my end caps which really cleaned it up and tacked up the slider

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the way i did this leaves plenty of space on the slider to weld the tube for the exocage in the future.

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[891Ton]

here is the end result.

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I also gusseted the support brackets. This is something no one ever does, but what a drastic difference it made. These do not even flex a millimeter under load.

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[891Ton]

sorry I didnt realize how $hitty that pic was. Here is a better one.

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[891Ton]

here is an overall look since I finally got it out of the shp yesterday.

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