Aluminum “Sliders”

Looking into Greenlane Off-road Aluminum Sliders. How fragile can I expect aluminum sliders to be? Are they purely cosmetic or can they actually take some hits? Thanks.

edit: guess I wasn’t clear when I didn’t mention or ask about steel sliders at all… in any case, it seems the aluminum is fine for mild off-road inspired excursions. Gonna go with the Greenlane sliders, thanks everyone.

 

They’d be cosmetic. Aluminum would gouge heavily if you ever actually used them as sliders. If you don’t plan on using them and are getting them more as a precautionary measure then you might be ok. You’d just be paying for the weight savings over steel at the cost of strength.

 

I see, thank you. The intent would be never to use them as sliders but once in a blue moon maybe they could take a hit and give their lives for my rocker panel? How about a 300lb gorilla standing on them? I’ve already decided on an aluminum engine skid plate so it’ll be an off-road inspired rig…

 

IMHO...aluminum aslong as you wont be doing any full body drops and use common sense.

If your even considering aluminum, theyll probably be fine for you.

 

VVVVV this because he knows better than most anyone

Here's a really good write up about sliders. I'd go with steel, especially if you're painting them yourself.

https://www.roundforge.com/articles/rock-sliders-and-rocker-guards/

 

You could buy bolt-on DOM steel sliders for more or less the same price as their aluminum ones, and they're almost certainly be more durable.

 

Looks like Green Lane compensates for the softness of aluminum with thicker 3/16" wall tubing. (Most steel sliders use 1/8" wall.) They should be OK to take a hit. Gouges can be filled by metalized epoxy, sanded, and painted over.

To truly match the strength of steel sliders, the aluminum tubes would have to be solid bars... Competition rigs nowadays use 7075-T6 bars for axle links and steering tie rods.

 

Dont slide them over rocks and you should be fine.

 

I’ve heard of steel ones before. Was just curious if aluminum is totally frail, or serviceable. For my “off-road inspired” rig I think the aluminum a will suffice.

 

I just don't see any advantage to paying that much for aluminum sliders when you could just buy steel for less (HREW) or around to the same price (DOM).

 

what's the intention? save weight? if so, SDHQ has chrome moly steel sliders that are 50lb or more lighter per set than DOM or HREW steel ones. total weight 100lb per set and chrome moly strong. kinda expensive.

 

Well the price is irrelevant and my only concern is weight.

 

Yes save weight! The aluminum sliders are 50lb for the set

 

I think that's the same thing that's normally called a mall crawler around here.

But who am I to argue with the goal of weight savings. I only run 20 lugnuts instead of 24.

OTOH, if you really want to save weight, no sliders is the winner. But I suppose that's uninspired.

 

Tacoma is born to be light

 

so then you have to ask what you want out of light sliders. the sdhq's are super strong, the greenlanes are for sure not "super" strong. plus 50lb yay or neigh for strength.

 

I think they make sense for the DD that only sees trails on camping trips that require vacation time. All that weight catches up fast and the next thing you know, your dropping 5k on a whole new suspension.

 

The greenlane ones in question are fine for light-duty use. I've come down relatively hard on mine a couple times and they're holding up well. I use them to pivot around trees and such on tighter trails as well. Like OP I wanted light weight and I live in Canada so was going for corrosion resistance too. I wouldn't take them rock crawling but they're a nice in between option if you want something beefier than a predator step but don't need steel sliders.

 

Just a data point for the aluminum sliders...

Some lady pulled into a parking spot next to my truck today. She came in a little hot, with too little care, and ended up running into the drivers side of my truck.

Thankfully I put the sliders (Greenlane Aluminum) on a few weeks ago, barely scuffed the powdercoat, but ripped the bumper clean off her mini van.

If it wasn't for the sliders I'm sure both of my driver's side doors and rockers would have been needing some love.a

 

Was just wondering about those real trail experiences, glad to hear they can take a decent beating! I might end up going with them as well. Any other hits since/how are they holding up? Winter on Vancouver Island is pretty mild and more rain than anything else so its not to bad for corrosion and such. I wonder though, the website mentions not designed as a hi-lift point, but could you, in a pinch still lift them to replace a wheel/tire, fix a flat and such? If they can take a beating and meant to hold the trucks weight...