Which comes first? Sliders or skid plates?

Just thought I'd run it by the masses and see what you all had to say on the matter. I rarely venture into rocky/boulder terrain but I've kissed my running boards on FSR decommissions a few times. I'd like to start getting a little more adventurous with my truck but I'm wondering which of these items will better serve my needs. My instincts say sliders, and with the relentless thanksgiving sale they're looking pretty sweet...

 

LOL i clicked and was going to say sliders.... then read the post, I'm probably biased.

Really, they're both important but to an extent it depends on your driving style and skills. Theres situations where you can avoid rocks/logs from hitting under the belly but you can take out a rocker panel pretty easy. I wheeled my '03 Tacoma 4 years without skids without issue, my bumpers and sliders however were scraped and dinged all over! I am however quite good at picking my lines, and when theres sliders/bumpers in place you're going to favor hitting an armored part of your truck over an unprotected part.
Sliders also give a lift point for a hi-lift to aid in lifting off an obstacle/stuck situation, and a handy spot to walk along if you bury yourself in deep snow and need to get to the back of the truck to hook a tow strap.

 

Sliders.

 

Sliders. They will give you far more confidence on the trail. In the pic in my sig I was having to be extra careful without sliders, read increased stress. Skids were not an issue.

 

Sliders for sure. While it is important to protect the trans/transfer case you have to be in a real tough spot to hit them. And all the crossmembers and frame rails can take much more abuse than rocker panels.

 

I hit my skids far more often than my rocker panel. That said, I need to get on the slider program since the last hit to my rocker came close to affecting the use of my passenger door. I protected the important stuff first - front diff, tranny, t-case

 

I would pick Sliders too, besides helping while wheeling they also help in the parking lots when some asshat throws his door open into your truck.

 

Considering that the lowest points in your truck are the transfer case and crossover pipe, I think this one is a no-brainer. Bash a rocker panel and you can drive home. Bash the transfer case.....

 

After much debate, I've decided to wait until next black Friday and get BOTH at the same time If I save every penny I've got and throw it all at the truck it'll be paid off by new years eve. I still took advantage of relentless's sale, though, and got a tailgate skin!

 

If you want something that looks like it could go off road but never does, by all means start off with sliders.

Sliders without skids are for mall crawlers. And if I hear that the rocker panel is more important than the oil pan one more time I'll puke. There are old threads on this subject complete with pictures of tiny, insignificant dents that cost thousands to repair. It was argued that these tiny dents cost more to repair than several sets of sliders. This is true only if you pay a body shop to fix them. I firmly believe that the first thing you should do with any truck meant for off road use is hit it with a sledge hammer. That way you won't care about little scratches and dents that need to be ignored anyway.

 

I wish I could have sliders just for door ding prevention. But my kids need the N-Fab steps so they can get in/out.

 

I have a 4 year old that uses the sliders to climb in the truck all the time

 

Is it lifted? I'm about 3" lift. My 4 year old needs the N-Fab steps. lol

 

Where's the picture of the spot you hit with the sledge

 

I went sliders first since I'm more of a mechanic than a body man. Skids were soon after.

 

3 inch long travel and he doesn't have a problem and he's more on the short side of 4 year Olds hahs

 

Cool. My little girl has just enough leg stretch to make it to the step on my N-Fabs. So she must be really short for 4. lol

 

I didn't hit it with the sledge. But this is true: I went to have an A.R.E. bed topper installed maybe two weeks after my truck was shiny new off the lot. The "tech" let his drill bit slam the inside of the passenger quarter panel as he was drilling through, denting it from the inside and cracking the paint (it looks like my truck has an abscess). The manager told me to have it fixed and send him the bill. I thought about doing that, but then decided he'd done me a favor. Every scratch, dent and chip after that has been dismissed with a shrug. If I wanted to rub something with a waxed diaper I'd buy a Porsche.

Here's a fun task: crawl underneath your truck. Now list everything a set of skid plates will protect. Do the same for a set of sliders. Take all those components and put them in a list in order of importance. If "rocker panel" is at the top of your list you probably wear Ed Hardy shirts and think strippers like you, so go ahead and buy a set of sliders first and then ignore all the important bits underneath.

If anything else at all is at the top of that list and you own at least one wrench that didn't come free with furniture from Ikea, there's hope for you.

 

Haha my son does some crazy climb to get it it's actually quite funny but it works and he'd rather climb in himself then have someone help

 

So strippers don't like me?