Sliders, to kick or out or not to?

Hello All,

I have a DCSB TRD OR, and was wondering what most of you run, (with pics of course!!!)

I am debating on the kick out vs non kick out.

I'm mainly looking at BAMF stuff due to them being local and I'd save a fortune on shipping.

 

One must always kick out. Trust me, if you reside in an area with trees it could be a life (bed) saver. I've run them on all of my rigs and will continue to do so on the new taco. Now.. Allpro or relentlessfab, that is the question.

 

I went kickout for the extra bit of protection.

 

Pro's:

-Looks cool
-Will kick the back end off a tree or rock if you're sliding along it

Con's:

-pricier
-stick out further for normal driving

Other:

-no added benefit for dropping down onto something

When I built mine I went with kick outs because the most likely thing id get wedged up against would be a tree

 

I'm never going to wheel hard since this is my DD, so I went w/o kickouts, and I'm getting fill plates because my wife is short and I think they look better w/o kickouts w/fill plates. If you get without fill plates, kickouts look good.

 

BTW, no pics because I have a few weeks left because they are ordered and I went with Mobtown.

 

I recommend no kickout in almost every situation.

 

I loved my kickout because it worked perfect as a step to get stuff in/out of my bed. As far as protection- can't hurt to stick out further.

 

Mine has been fine without. No kickouts on the first or 3rd gens.

 

I would very much like to understand your reasoning behind this. In the PNW, which is full of tight tree laced trails, I've found the kick out to be extremely helpful in getting the rear tire/bed to clear an obstacle. The only time I could see the drawback is if you're in a buggy/don't care about damage or you're severely unlucky and the kickout pushes you into an adjacent obstacle.

 

I do like the cleaner looks of the straight bars, and inwas going to get the fill plates but I think I'll save the 150 bucks and go without the fill.

But, if I do go and wheel this thing, I'd rather not bash my bed lol.

 

Curious as to why?

In my experience, the kickout was extremely useful. Last weekend I was in a really tight part of the trail and ended up pivoting on a tree using my kickout, which helped straighten the truck out in the direction I needed. If I hadn't had the kickout, my rear tire would've ended up running into the tree, due to the width of the tire and backspace of the wheel.

 

Eric Recommended no kickout to me and I'm super happy with them.

Relentless Kicks ass!

 

non kickout looks better, but the kickouts on mine saved my ass a bit

 

SOS Concepts, no kick.

 

I too wheeled in the PNW (grew up in Oregon). Been all over all the TSF/Browns camp trails except the couple of double/triple black diamond crawler trails that a IFS Tacoma has no business on.
The kickouts would hang me up on rocks and trees, plus I'd be too wide to squeeze the gate keeper rocks on some of the trails. I've scraped BOTH straight rails on gate keeper rocks simultaneously. I've never had any issues without kickouts in way of body damage (I make my sliders wide enough to protect, not fully tucked under the rocker panels) and in fact wheeling knowledge says you want your tires to go over obstacles, rather than be pushed around them with a kickout. Yes, trees may be considered an exception, cant drive over them. haha. Like I said though, in my experiences, kickouts would have done me more harm than good, they cost more to add them in to sliders, and anyone putting them on a double cab short bed is putting a big fat obstacle in the way for rear seat passengers.

 

You're dual piece kickout looks sick though. I was gonna throw those on my tacoma before I sold it.

 

Fair enough. I have run across an instance where kickouts were hanging up on trees before, but that was once and on a DCLB who just pushed his way through and almost cut down two smallish trees where his sliders dug rivets down into the trees. That wouldn't happen with rocks though, you'd be stuck for sure. haha. We don't have any rocks or anything in the south, so I guess the kickout is mainly a looks thing.

 

I was wheeling around the grand canyon in my Tacoma a while back and got to a few spots where the trees were so tight that kickouts would have gotten me stuck. With the 4runner being wider than the tacoma, it would definitely get hung up. I'm slightly worried because I have mine flat instead of angled up so it's easier for the dogs and my Girlfriend to get in with the top plate. They stick out further than normal. We will see!