Welding my Sliders? Good or Bad?

I've been getting price quotes on welding on my sliders. Several welders have asked me why I don't bolt them on? They said it would warp my frame if I was ever a crash. One also said if I get a tree stump caught in it, it could also do damage to the frame?

I need some opinions. What, other than strength, are some pros and cons? To weld or not to weld? That is the question.

P.S. I live in Florida so there aren't too many rocks around here. Plenty on trees though.

 

I say bolt them -- If I had sliders, I would bolt them on... just personal preference I guess... easier to take off if I sold the truck.

 

X2

 

I had welded sliders. I could lift the entire truck from one slider. Bounced off plenty of rocks. Never did any damage to the frame. Rolled the truck 3 times. Frame and sliders were still straight and my rocker panels were well protected despite the crushed in cab. Sliders are getting cut off the old truck and welded onto the new truck. You can't beat the durability.

Just make sure you get a quality weld job. The frames are relatively thin and it can be a difficult upside down weld. A master welder can handle it no problem and if anything it will penetrate and reinforce the frame. If they give you any grief about compromising the integrity of the frame because of the way its heat treated at the factory, the dude is doubting himself, go some where else.

All offroad/fab shops in my experience have very skilled welders and understand the intended use and will do a bomb proof weld job.

 

I welded my sliders on when you buy allpro you have no choice, but its up to you to bolt sliders on or weld them up.

 

It depends on HOW you weld them on.

I had a set of 1" square tube sliders and took 'em to a welding shop. On the ends of the tubes, I had them weld on an "C" bracket (with gussetts). This L bracket cradled the outside of the frame. They 'stitch' welded the brackets onto the frame. It was a very costly job. The guy recommended stitch welding to lesson the stress on the frame. Makes sense to me...

But yeah, anytime you weld to the frame (depending on how its done) can weaken that area.

My Jeep has 1" square outriggers welded to the frame for the rollcage support. The passenger side outrigger got ripped away from the frame slightly in a rollover. The frame has a small crack there were the weld was.

Frames are very thin in a lot of areas.

 

Weld them! Why are you even asking if you should or not? Bolts can shear off, even Grade 8. Welds if done properly should never break. Weld them on, don't be a Noob. You don't see Rockcrawlers "Bolting-on" sliders, or bumpers. Weld them on, and don't look back.

 

I'm not a NOOB and I wouldn't weld them on my truck either. There's nothing wrong with having a little concern for frame integrity. My truck is not a rock crawler. The original poster is from Florida -and he mentioned there's not a lot of rocks down there.

Bolts can sheer off. Bolts cost $2.

Repairing a weld job and a frame is expensive.

 

I went round and round with the same question for weeks when I got my All Pro sliders! I like having the option to remove them, but the way the mounting plates were, I would have had to modify my pinch welds on the cab to get all four holes on each plate to make contact with the frame.

In the end, I had a good fab shop weld them on for me and I'm happy. Thinking about having them make and weld on some gussets for increased strength, but happy none the less.

 

Those look really sharp. I'm leaning towards welding. It would take sooooo much work to bolt them on. I found a welder that will do it for $100 on Sunday. It's hard to say no. I'm gonna more than likely have to trim my pinch welds though. I talked to Slimcubby and his are touching sometimes.

 

FWIW, i am having mine welded. I debated this too. But, I decided it is better to weld them on than to drill holes in the frame and bolt them.

 

I just built sliders and they're bolt on. I don't want to risk damaging the frame.

 

You can get bolts that are stronger then grade 8 if your worried. I can't remember what there called, I think there a metric bolt tho.

 

Thanks for all that responded. I think I'm leaning towards welding them. The bolts would be convenient but I counted them and there are 20 for each. I don't feel comfortable drilling that many holes. Plus welding is only gonna run me $100. Thanks again.

 

That was kinda my thinking too, but I had 16 per slider. 32 holes would have taken forever! And the welding cost me $140, but that's because I took it in at the end of the day and they put two guys on it to get it done in time... Probably would have been $100 normally.

 

Thats a significant amount of holes in the frame too. I'm not an expert but that has to effect the integrity of the frame.

 

Either way is fine if done right. Plus, you don't need a million holes if you find some good stock mounting points. They get welded on because that's just way easier for the fabber to do.