TheCochese's Project Con Queso

Skids and sliders are here, five weeks after order. This was a quick turnaround, I must say. They are plenty heavy, which does give me very slight concern about the front end diving once the bumper and winch are on.

But I'm pumped to have these in hand and wish I could get them on immediately. Plan is to get them up to temp in the morning, hit with mineral spirits and a green pad, dry and spray self etching primer. Top coat(s) are TBD.

 

Skids cleaned up and the first primer coat is on the expensive side.

Here are some cleaned up shots and details.

IFS skid

Mid skid

TC skid

 

The bed liner might start to get expensive, it doesn't cover that well and spits. Which means lots of light coats. I used one 15oz can almost entirely just doing the back side of the IFS skid. You can see where it is a bit too heavy, will flesh the process out on these sides before I get to the show sides.

All skids and one slider primed. The IFS skid is basically half done with bed liner.

 

OK, so if I had to do this again I'd likely choose to use roll on, at least for the skids. This took six or seven cans on primer (two coats) and eight cans of bed liner. And the bed liner isn't going to stand up to much, as I was having to touch up just from it touching the ground. However, it is pretty easy to fix even when you do all the wrong things.

Here is my screwup where I put it on too thick and it dripped. Some sandpaper, mineral spirits, and a respray fixed that.

What really irritated me was that the spray can dripped badly. As a result, I'd get droplets on (usually) key areas where it would require fixing. As I was finishing up the final coat (for now), I'd get drips on a few spots and it pissed me off. One section of the driver slider made me sand back down to bare metal, prime, and rebuild because I tried to sand when it was still wet. It was a rubbery mess. I have a couple of spots on that one on the tubes where it isn't perfect, but then these things are made to take punishment. I'll just have to stay on top of of retouching.

At least I learned how to repair, so that won't be daunting.

Install...tomorrow? Maybe?

 

OK, will have an opportunity to install either the sliders or skids tomorrow, but probably not both. Going with sliders.

The lack of good install instructions and pics (there was a thread here, but the entire subforum got nuked) might be a bit of an issue. Relying on other manufacturers for some help.

Got 12 sets of bolts/nuts/washers that match, and four others. Guess I'll just have to figure it out.

 

OK, sliders are on after about 2.5 hours by myself (forever alone, per usual).

But...I have quite a few bolts left over. As best I can tell, there are more mounting locations used on the passenger side than the driver side. I have seven bolts left over, two of those need to go in the forward most mounting locations when I can get a magnetic tool. The others? Dunno. There appears to only be four usable locations on the driver side, which doesn't seem like a lot. @uploadadventure

I'll investigate more after I eat some lunch. Skids might happen today, not sure. Depends on time.

 

IFS and mid skids installed. TC skid will have to wait because it involves frame drilling.

 

Really? I don’t have SOS skids yet so I didn’t know it requires drilling.

 

I’ll have to see how many bolts I have in mine. I’ll add a picture tomorrow

 

Yeah, the front connects to the same stock bolt locations the rear of the mid skid attaches to. The TC brace bolts? Maybe?

The rear gets wide and attaches to four points on the frame. I mean, I take no issue with the design because it helps replace the removal of the cross braces at the TC. I just need to take the time and do it properly and prep the holes after I'm done. I was running short on daylight and energy today.

 

Gotcha. Good deal. I need to get sos skids. I have RCI ones. They don’t go as far back as sos skids and the oil drain is weird. It’s like on the bend of the skid. I don’t like it.

 

Happy thus far. Fit how they were supposed to, feel substantial, the drain hole is exactly where it needs to be and will pair up excellently with my Fumoto. Will have to get some pics tomorrow even without the TC skid.

 

Got a compliment from a dude in a Lexus SUV at Home Depot today. Couldn't think of any response other than thanks because I felt so shitty.

Also, the reason for a shitty pic getting lunch. Hopefully I just strained my neck.

 

You have the right color!

 

Well enough that I could run a 5K this morning, thankfully. Muscle relaxer is such an amazing thing.

Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates.

 

Enjoying some rare (for here) Iron City.

Deciding if I want to go ahead and order the gas tank skid for 20% off today.

 

Y'all bought a shitload of winches off Amazon in the last couple of weeks. Fucking X20 went up by $100.

Went ahead and purchased the Heise SL2014 for the bumper so that it is here and ready for install. Will have to sort out the winch if they remain in low stock.

 

Thinking of picking up some bed stiffiners at some point because I may or may not do an RTT.

Think I will go for a pair from @Tttacodan, seems to not be getting a fair shake from the forum.