What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

I too would like to know the answer to this

 

Yep. Looks like they put them on the wrong side

 

Plates came in and I finally got around to reorganizing the MOLLE racks to fit a smaller shovel and fire extinguisher.

 

After making a big boo boo crash crash scrape scrape on the rocker panels and door in March, I got them repaired and finally installed the Randy Ellis rock sliders today. For anyone not familiar with (or familiar) Randy Ellis, this is a pinch-weld design mostly used on RAM and JEEP trucks. I know, it's sacrilege but it works. The design creates a box off of the pinch weld of the body and then rivets into the door sill. It's nuts how hard it was to drill these holes, we killed two Dewalt batteries and rendered all our bits useless. That alone made me believe in the strength of the pinch weld. My friend tested these out first (older design). They are sturdy AF. You can stand on them, you can jack the truck up off of them and everything. I know that you all love the frame-mount ones, so please don't @Me because I also think those are great but I wanted a different design and function.

The new design does leave a little to be desired in terms of flush fitment though. Might not be a bad thing but the old design wrapped around the rocker panels very tightly (which apparently made install a pain compared to these). These have a lot of uneven gaps due to the definitely not straight or flat truck body. The gaps would make it a lot easier to clean though when there's dirt and rocks inside and it does leave them floating away from the body which might be better for actual impacts. You also can only see the gaps up close or with the door open and every other rock slider is full of gaps.

Use wise, they stick out further than I personally wanted, but will also make a great step for getting access to the roof (I used to stand on the door sill and slide all over the place). I kinda wish I had ordered them without the tube but then they'd no longer be a step. And most other rockers stick out like that too, so it'll take me some getting used to. Get a nice calf massage on the way out of the truck though! Will have to figure out where to put my grip tape to avoid ripping pants and leg hairs.

In all, 10 bolts and 16 rivets per side. The rivets could probably be hammered and painted to blend in better.

Side note: Does anyone else hate the poorly written instructions that come with stuff like this?

 

Thanks, I ordered my SOS bumper at the beginning of November. That was the part that took the longest.

 

Thanks! they will never be this clean and shiny again

 

Swapped out my OME nitros for Bilstein 5160’s, new OEM shackles with polyurethane bushings, removed the 2nd overload and medium leaf from my Dakar’s as well as cleaned and greased everything up. Not bad for a Monday!

 

The tire carrier is coming along nicely. The hand made drop down table and propane mount needs painting is all.

Ps my k02 and scs f5 go on the swing out today.

 

They are nice, I'd be interested to see how they hold up being tied into the body. As for the Jeeps, I believe you are referring to what is known as boat sides which are at a much steeper angle deflecting the rocks/hits outward away from the frame/body. Also with jeeps the body mount sliders usually have a skin or top mounting material that gets riveted to the panels up the side of the doors for added strength. It looks like these are riveted to the step in. Some real world testing would be cool.

 

x2 They're tied into the pinch weld which concerns me for anything other than aesthetics. I would think those would move if someone over 200 lbs. used it as a step getting in and out.

 

I hope you trimmed those u-bolts before dropping the truck back on the ground..

 

Pro Grill was due today, but it's delayed per UPS
Diamondback cover in about 2 weeks

 

sold it

 

Great info! I wasn't super familiar with how the Jeeps are built in/designed just that they exist. Will def. have to see how they work. They definitely would've deflected the rock that creamed the rocker panel originally though or at least scratched them up, lol.

 

Why??

 

What did you get? I've been looking for a while but seeing mixed reviews all over the place

 

They'll definitely deflect objects and act as a step but I don't think they'll be a true slider that can support the truck's entire weight. If that's what you're after. If this is strictly for the city, they'll be fine. And they're still higher than the frame rails so they won't protect that either

 

You might be right about the sliding part, but that's not my goal, true and I likely would not test that theory just out of my own general fear of rock sliding, lol. But they should be able to take it. You might try reading about them first before just making a blanket comment (https://www.randyellisdesign.com/store/p33/Toyota_Tacoma_Rock_Sliders_Body_Armor_Gen_2_&_Gen_3_#ROCK5205.html). But deflecting side impacts and being used as a jack point (if I ever need it/get one) is all within its ability that I intend to use, as seen here https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccl1p3av5ls/.

Not sure how you got "Strictly for the city" out of deflecting though. I don't encounter a lot of things to deflect in the city other than J-walkers.

In general, I dunno why people need to be like "I see that you did a bunch of research and spent money on this thing but let me just tell you that you made a bad choice/that thing won't do what it says it will" like stfu if you don't know.

 

How did you get 3” with 6112? You add a spacer or stronger springs? They rated for 2” max