School me on rock sliders...

Thanks! Are you asking how much space is between the lower rocker panel pinch weld and the rock slider tube? If so, its about 3/8" or so. There is about 1/2" clearance around the side of the rocker between the rocker and where the step plate attaches.

 

Hi Joe. I'm curious about considerations you guys have taken in regards to the truck frame itself. It sounds like your sliders have unique clamping system and are well constructed, but potentially overbuilt/stronger than the frame. I'd much prefer my sliders to bend or break away before by frame is plastically deformed. My main concern is the clamping system effectively being 4 fully boxed sections that are connected to the C-channel frame. This would make those clamped frame sections stiffer, but at a cost of potentially transferring load into to the weaker unboxed portions of the truck frame. Could you perhaps elaborate on these concerns? Overall, I think Mobtown makes a nice product. Thanks -Trevor

 

Under what scenarios would you be worried about the frame being damaged due to sliders?

 

Toyota use to fully box their frames for added strength, most true off-road vehicles have boxed frames like the 4Runners. They stopped doing it because they use cheap steel that rust out and moisture would be sitting in the frame just eating the chassis.

We boxed the frame in the center of the sliders only about 8" in width and then use clamps to pinch the chassis in about 8" in the rear. The Tacoma chassis is very thick steel, some places 1/4" thick.

In no way would you deform the truck chassis before damaging our sliders. To do so, you have much larger concerns in our opinion.

They're built the way they are to provide more protection to the vulnerable areas of the thin sheet metal like the doors and rocker panels. Our sliders are design to not deflect because we don't want them flexing into the cab of the truck.

 

It was more of a theoretical question, just worried about coming down really hard on a slider and having it bend the frame instead of the slider. I'm not saying that it would, but these sliders have a boxed clamp design (similar cross section as frame), beefy DOM tubing, proper gussets, etc so it was a concern.

Joe, thanks for the quick reply, this ^ is what we were looking for. I've been on the fence between your's and another company's sliders (that aren't as strong, was considering them for that exact reason). This definitely helps with the decision. Thanks!

 

Here is some of my own personal thoughts/theories/info about rock sliders to add to the mix here. Again, im no engineer and dont claim to be the one who knows all about rocks sliders! This is just my personal experience and views. I am basically just a fabricator who has had about 15 yrs of experience beating the crap out of various styles of rock sliders!

A customer had asked me this in regards to the rock sliders we offer:
I like those a lot and they are a bolt on as well, which is what I am wanting at this point. My question is, do they still make a decent "step"? My wife and son have to use the running boards and I want whatever slider I get to still protruded out enough to allow good footing for her and our 5 year old.

Also, I'm a little confused on bolt on sliders as I've read varying reviews. Some say they are nothing more then glorified running boards with little to no added performance/benefit over running boards. Others say they are way stronger then a running board, however not as stout as a weld on slider. Now I know a weld on slider is going to be the top of the mountain, however, Ill still be able to put bolt on sliders through some work...right? I'm not an extreme off-roader and the sliders would probably only see some occasional action being pushed into earth/dirt. Not really any rocky places around me.

And here was my response:
Thank you!
I know there can be alot of confusion about steps/running boards/rocks sliders and their differences.
First off the biggest/main difference between running boards and rock sliders is the fact that running boards attach to the body of the vehicle and rock sliders attach to the vehicles frame rails.

Running boards are made to be used only as a step. They have no strength whatsoever to provide any protection against rocks/stumps and other large obstacles that can damage the body. Running boards are also made out of much thinner wall steel and typically also have plastic end caps and other plastic parts that are not suitable for any off road use.

Rock sliders attach directly to the steel frame rails which is a much stronger point of attachment than the vehicles body. The goal of a rock slider is to be separate from the body and be strong enough to protect the body from any damage it might encounter on an off road trail. Rock sliders are made out of much thicker wall material which is made to handle the abuse of landing on rocks or stumps and other obstacles without bending up into the body and causing damage to the body.

Now to address the never ending argument about bolt on vs weld on. Welding rock sliders onto the frame used to be the standard years ago when people typically used older vehicles for off roading. Most people were not concerned with welding sliders to the frame since their off-road vehicle was too old to have any factory warranties or any other things like that which could be affected by welding something to the vehicle. In more recent years it seems that there are alot more people buying new vehicles and using them for off roading. The demand for bolt on rock sliders comes from people not wanting to permanently attach them to the frame of their new vehicle.
As far as strength is concerned, some will say weld on is always the strongest. While that may be true to some extent, the fact is that many of the bolt-on sliders made from reputable companies are plenty strong enough without needing to be welded on. There comes a point where the strength of the slider can overcome the strength of the frame rail. There is no need to weld sliders onto the frame if the bolt on style is designed properly. The main thing to look for in a bolt on rock slider is that the mounting plates wrap around the bottom of the frame rail and attach to the bottom AND side of the frame rail. When the mounting plate wraps around the frame, it greatly increases the strength of the mounting plates on the rock slider. The wrap around style mounting plate reduces pretty much any flex or warping in the mounting plate when there is a large amount of force applied to the rock slider.
The frame plates on our rock sliders are a wrap around style. We installed our rock sliders onto a 2016 double cab short bed TRD Off-Road which was built to the max with our front and rear expedition bumpers with all the accessories. It also had a roof rack, and our bed rack with roof top tent and other accessories installed. Needless to say the Tacoma was probly at least 1000 lbs over its factory weight. We adjusted our car hoist so the the arms would lift the vehicle by the rock sliders and not the actual frame rails like you would typically lift a vehicle on a car hoist. We lifted the truck up 6 feet off the ground with 100 percent of the vehicles weight being held by our bolt on rock sliders. We measured before and after the weight of the vehicle was on the rock sliders and the sliders flexed up towards the vehicles body less than 1/8" total. The point of this demonstration was to show that there really is no need to weld rock sliders onto the vehicle when they are designed properly.

So to recap your main concern, yes bolt on sliders (if designed properly by a reputable company) will be absolutely strong enough for any amount of abuse you can throw at them.
Welding rock sliders to the frame really isnt necessary at all.

As for the steps, our rock sliders are the ONLY sliders on the market that offer an excellent combination of a slider and a step. Our sliders are extremely strong and can handle hardcore off road abuse. At the same time, they are also designed with a typical 25 degree up-slope for the highest clearance possible all while retaining a very functional flat stepping surface. All other companies build their sliders at a 0 degree angle if the customer wants to use them as a step. This decreases ground clearance, but works well as a step. We feel we have designed a rock slider unlike any other out there that has some defining qualities that you cannot get anywhere else. Your wife and son will easily be able to use them as a step, all while retaining the highest ground clearance and strength possible.
Check out this link and scroll down about halfway to see a few more detailed pictures of our rock sliders with step plates! https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ts-by-c4-fab-bumpers-sliders-bed-bars.433888/

 

Hi, Caleb I got the Rock Sliders back from powder coating just waiting on the rain to quit so I can intall them. The bumper just got finished being fabbed up and should be going to the powder coaters here on Monday.
As for the OP I can vouch for C4 rocksliders and bumpers they are amazingly solid and as soon as you see them in person you will instantly know that you can abuse them with out any fear of damaging them.

 

To add to what was written here, regarding the frame attachment design. The mounting flange does need to wrap under to the bottom of the frame rail, but it also has to be attached along the bottom. It's not much better to just have the extra bend and no extra attachment mechanism. Some vendors simply add the bend under and pick up the one bolt for the carrier bearing or require drilling bolt holes in the bottom of the frame for the extra strength. This is insufficient to prevent the frame mounting plate from flexing under impact to a rock, particular at the trailing edge of the mounting plate. There is a significant amount of load transmitted through the back end of the mounting plate. We have added specific design features to handle these issues while not requiring any drilling. We use two different clamping systems to securely fix the mounting plate to the frame.

Finally, a Hi-Lift test is great, but it won't demonstrate whether you have a well designed set of rock sliders. I call the Hi-Lift test a "bare minimal" test. It's the least possible amount of force. If a set of rock sliders can't be Hi-Lifted from, then they are just steps. However, there is significantly higher forces on the sliders when you are on the trail and drop onto a rock. The forces can be several times the static weight of the truck. We have run lot on computer simulations on our design to ensure they can handle this kind of abuse. We have also trail tested them to be sure.

 

I will say that the Mobtown sliders don't move a millimeter under a hi lift test.

 

Yes agreed that there needs to be an attachment point along the bottom of the frame rail (which we do have on ours) in order to make the wrap around frame mounting plate actually function properly. And yes you are also correct that the "Hi-lift" test does not accurately depict the same amount of force as if the vehicle was to drop down onto a rock on the trail. The frame clamping design you have come up with is a great idea and provides excellent strength and function, however i dont personally think that it is absolutely necessary to do it that way. Bolt-on sliders have been abused for years just using the typical wrap around style mounting system. Personally i have not come across or heard of a situation where this design hasnt been strong enough or has caused the bottom portion of the C-channel frame rail to twist or be damaged. This is in no way insinuating that your frame mounting design is useless, like i said before, i think its a great idea. I just dont believe that it is necessary.

 

Thanks for the pics Carlos! We are excited to see them on the Tacoma and also excited to see how the front bumper came out with the extra fab work to fit the fiberglass fenders!

 

The c clamp system we use is just one way to tie down the bottom edge of the mounting plate without drilling holes along the bottom edge. The goal was to have a no drill attachment point at each support tube. This prevents any deflection in the mounting flange and makes our sliders solid. We literally tried to make these as much a part of the frame as weld on sliders.

 

you two need to make a baby so we can see what we get.

 

I'm sure between the two of us we could figure out how to build anything. I vote for a space ship.

 

I second this.

 

Thank you @C4 Fabrication For being a huge influence in the additional knowledge in sliders. Pretty cool to see so many vendors and members step up to the plate to make sure the OP and anyone for that matter has a huge understanding on the engineering behind sliders.

 

That is a great way to make a bolt on slider that also does not require any drilling!

Of course, i wanted to at least throw in my personal experience and knowledge to give another perspective. I was just trying to do it the right way so that no vendors got into a pissing match about who's product is better! haha

 

For those of you who are using your sliders as steps, especially with top plates, do you find the angle is awkward as a "step?" Any pictures from sitting in the truck looking down at the step for a reference of how much "step" there actually is?

 

I use it as a foot rest when I'mm sitting in the truck and the door open. Cant really use it as a step being 6'2 the seat is at ass height with the lift. as far as how much "step" there is I can rest about 1/4 to 1/3 of my size 13 foot on the slider toe to the frame.

I have the MobTown sliders set @ 0 Deg. and no fill plates.

 

Mine are built at 15*. Not much there to use as a step. I usually just step over them when getting in. But I will stand on the slider when I'm off road to view obstacles, so I don't have to stand in the mud