Thoughts on RCI skid and sliders?

RCI skids and sliders here as well.
TRD Pro aluminum in front.
I went with aluminum for the skids. Trying to save some weight. Probably going to have to swap to steel front to back at some point, but, they're still doing their job.
Wish I went with the plates on the sliders, but, not a deal breaker. Next time I take them off for paint, I'll add tabs, and make some aluminum fillers(I'm in New England).
Either way, no regrets. You'll be happy.

 

Not to thread jack, but for those of you looking to save some money on armor and aren't partial to RCI we have this group buy going for Coastal Offroad. They have skids, sliders, bumpers, whatever you need.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ders-skids-group-buy-all-makes-models.829531/

 

LTL trucking rates probably got blown out recently between UPS giving their long-haul drivers a huge raise, and a lot of owner-operators taking PPP checks and getting off the road for a year or so altogether. Shipping domestic via boat is crazy expensive because of the Jones Act (only "US built" ships with US Citizen crews can be used to haul freight between US ports, and there's not many ships which actually qualify since the ship-building business that it was intended to protect in 1908 has since pretty much still closed down).

Unless you're somewhere close to a rail freight depot, there probably aren't a lot of shipping options to choose from, and you'll probably have to find someone local to CO to buy and ship the stuff to you to use any option that the vendor doesn't offer on their website.

If you know someone in CO who's planning a road trip to Seattle, Vancouver BC, or somewhere else along the Northern border, you could look into driving down to meet them and haul the stuff yourself.

If All-Pro has any products which meet your needs, they might have a lower shipping quote (and no sales tax collected) to AK since they're located in MT and are several hundred miles (straight line distance) closer to Alaska. I don't know if they make skid sets for Toyota, but they do make Sliders which seem to have a pretty good reputation; they even had a feeler out about 10 years ago looking to hire a staff engineer but I don't know if they ever actually hired one.

 

Surprisingly the boat brings just about everything to AK and it is very cheap, just paid $24 for a 12v fridge coming from Seattle to AK, 20 days in transit but its here.

 

I wonder if they can use a loophole in Seattle-to-Alaska by stopping at Vancouver BC in between. That technically makes the travel of the ship "international" on either side of the stop in Canada. I think the law is written to apply to shipping between US ports directly (LA to Portland, or from the mainland to Hawaii for example). The law in question has to be suspended every time there's some kind of disaster in PR so they can ship relief/rebuilding supplies from Miami to San Juan without having to wait for one of the small number of qualifying ships in the region; there's no significant foreign port to stop at in the carribean, though (Cuba is a no-go, and Haiti/DR aren't big economies).

A 12V fridge is also a lot smaller and lighter than a set of skids/sliders, especially if they're crated with wood, and if the fridge is built outside the USA, there might be a way for drop-shipped goods to be kept outside of customs if they're being shipped back out from the same port before reaching a final destination.

 

+1 to all the RCI praise mentioned before. I have been running their sliders and engine skid for 2 years now and have beat them up quite a bit.

They make super quality products, I definitely recommend them. Some tips from my experience:

• Get the sliders powder coated directly from RCI. I tried to save a few bucks and paint them myself and it was a complete pain in the a**. I did tons of prep work, primer, and multiple coats of spray paint and they chipped the first dirt road I went down. The maintenance of spray paint isn’t worth saving a couple bucks.
  
• I used amsoil heavy duty metal protectant on my frame before installing the sliders to avoid rust issues. I also applied the protectant to the underside of the sliders. This stuff really works. No rust on any of the frame or sliders since application 2 years ago. And the initial application is still holding strong thru Colorado winters.
  
• I initially ran an aluminum engine skid for weight savings and corrosion resistance. Loved it, but ended up swapping to a steel engine skid after my aluminum one took a beating on wheeler lake and got a bit warped / cracked. No fault to RCI, just the limitation aluminum as a material. I am running aluminum transmission and t case skids tho still since they don’t take as much of a beating like the engine skid does.