$450 Bolt On Rock Sliders

I’m going to go out on a limb and say if I don’t see a seam then it’s in the DOM more difficult to see category.

 

I would definitely agree.

 

SOS Concepts has some nice sliders, no drilling and they are beefy AF.

 

I'm not an expert by any means, but I don't follow. The curb weight of a Tacoma is what, 4,200#? Yield strength of ASTM36 steel is 36,000PSI? A 2x2 angle is stronger than the truck frame!

Again, not an expert, but using a modulus of elasticity of 30000000 lb/inch2, supported at both ends for a length of 6' with a full 4,200# load and a moment of inertia of 24 yields only .045" of deflection.

 

Shh get out of here with physics, you're forgetting to factor in the EAF constant and the sticker coolness ratio. Amateur mistake in this business!

 

There is a little more then yield strength when designing mounting points on a dynamically loaded part. 99% of the time when the sliders contact the ground will be dynamic loading far exceeding the forces of the curb weight of the truck. The little angle plates are not what's going to fail on these sliders, the frame of the truck is going too fail from having under sized mounting points if and when there is a failure. Those frame plates should have a much larger contact point then 2x2 with triangular top mounted gussets to minimize deflection.

Simply making the plates thicker does not make them stronger your just moving the failure point to the frame of the truck.

 

2.5x2.5 still isnt enough. Most are around 5 to 6 inches. 3/16 is plenty strong for the thickness. I've got welded on HREW and they have held up. DOM or not I wouldn't worry about it

Exact numbers I would have gotten if I sat behind you in school.

 

Precisely.

If the truck even falls for a fraction of a second before the slider contacts the rock/solid object below, the resulting force is increased drastically. Using the work-energy principle to solve for its velocity at impact, a 4200# truck, falling 6 inches, with an arrest time of .1 seconds generates of force of over 14,800 lbs.

Also, the width of the plate (which is tiny in this case) is the 'section width' used to determine the maximum allowable bending force in a rectangular cross section of steel plate. These plates are simply not wide enough for a bolted connection to make much sense. The force is too concentrated, exacerbated by the fact that the mounting plate is terribly thick and offers little to no plastic deformation to help dissipate the energy of impact, for the thinner truck frame to handle. The slider will be fine, but your frame will pay the price.

Also, the idea of creating a bolted moment connection with bolts along the center line of the load is the shit of nightmares. *shudders

 

Thanks for the additional info. Do you have any examples you can share of the frame failing due to mounting points like that? What is happening twisting of the frame itself at the mounting point?

 

Here you go.

The video does show some extreme situations, but nonetheless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdQPhzA44ms

And this is with welded sliders, which do not interact with the frame the same way that a bolted connection does, fyi. Bolted connections are worse and the damage will be more severe.

Basically, the frame will bend inward along the line that the thick mounting plate makes with the frame.

 

Man, I went to law school so I didn't have to do math and here I am worrying about math on my truck! So what type of frame failure are we potentially looking at here? Twisting, bending, cracking? With light wheeling (never any crawling or anything that a TRD Pro can't do on stock suspension and tire size) what are your thoughts as to failure probability?

 

That's why you, and the designer of these sliders, pay guys like me to do it for you.

In all reality you will probably never have any issues, especially if you drive and use the truck as you described above. In all honesty, the 3/8" bolts are too small under a loosely fitted shear and tension connection. A serious fall would most likely affect those, especially due to their terrible placement, before you will suffer severe frame damage.

My comments are mainly directed towards others who may want this cheaper bolt on slider, but that will be out there putting them through the paces on the trail. For those folks, this currently is not the best answer, or even a relatively good answer (again, not purposefully attempting to knock the manufacturer, just extrapolating on what I see).

 

I would say your fine for the type of wheeling your going to do. I'm just pointing out the weak aspects of the design more so the builder can rethink the design before he sells to the masses and people start beating on them and they fail.

 

Well you guys have me worried and comforted at the same time. What a feeling. I guess the only thing to do now is paint them and see what happens next!

 

Worst case move the rear leg farther forward and put on a bigger piece of angle iron or weld them to the frame

 

@YumaTRD

 

Damn, those things can take some abuse. I have RCI sliders on order. Hope they are as good. Although I don't expect to be dropping the truck from 2 feet.

 

I agree. TBH, this video really solidified my decision to go with 4X Innovations.

I dont plan on dropping my truck 2 feet either!

 

GET BACK TO WELDING

 

That’s what I got.