DIY 1st Gen. Rock Sliders

I don't remember the exact measurement off the top of my head, but i set it to be just about in-line with the widest part of the body. I took a 4x4, and then got it straight up and down, against the widest part of the cab, before measuring the distance from the inner edge to the frame. then i subtracted the width of the slider it's self (and the 1/4" from the plate that separates the kickers from the frame). this gave me just about the perfect amount of stick out. I could have kept them a little bit farther in, but I don't have to worry about trees as much now, provided i keep the truck straight up and down. it should work great for my purposes.

yeah those jack-stands are great. i actually bought them first because i knew that i was going to be lifting my truck so i figured that i should just bite the bullet. completely worth the extra $20! the little ones barely even reach the frame at ride height on the stock tires, so they definitely wont work for jacking the truck up. plus new wheels and tires are coming soon so that's another reason that they'll become obsolete. i actually just bought them to do the rear supspension, so that i'd have a way of supporting the axle while the leaf springs were disconnected. i was originally going to borrow some from a buddy of mine (since they were only going to get one use) but I forgot to ask him to bring them to school. I thought about driving out to his place to get them but he lives far enough away that when gas was all said and done, it was only going to be a couple more dollars to just buy a set... so i went to harbor freight instead. looking back, i'm glad i bought them because they have come in handy on this project. they've more than paid for themselves in convenience.

 

Made a lot of progress today on the sliders. I got the driver's side all welded up, the passenger side primed and painted W/Rustoleum bedliner, and the driver's side primed. the driver's side was easier to weld (i got some of the muscle memory down) but it was a lot harder to line up. the front and middle brackets went in fine, but the rear was being a real bitch. it took me well over an hour of grinding with a dremmel and filing before i could get it to sort of fit. even now, it's not perfect but it's plenty strong. my truck was in a minor rear end collision before i bought it so that might be part of why the frame is a little wider behind the rear body mount on the driver's side. then, as it that wasn't bad enough, i couldn't get the slider to sit level, while keeping all the brackets in alignment with the main tube. i think i found a good middle ground but it's still a little bit sloped. this was part of the compromise of bolt ons though... i can deal with it for now, and i can always upgrade to weld ons later if i really want. overall i'm happy that it's working out. I had to use a floor jack to get the final bracket to align right with the hole and it lifted the truck a bit off the suspension. the brackets are definitely strong, so i think i'll live if it looks a tiny bit off. the finished slider looks great though! i'll paint the other one tomorrow, then leave them to cure for a few days before touching them up. i'm still waiting on the hardware to arrive so i'd be waiting to install them anyways.

Passenger side finish welded. i upgraded my welding table too! no longer sitting on a set of ladders. ruined a decent piece of plywood though, still functional but now it's got all sorts of burns and craters.:


Primed up:


and painted. i applied three full coats, four with primer, so it should be plenty durable. looks great!


this is what i did to support the fuel lines since i had to remove this bolt:


it's actually a lot sturdier than it looks. i was pleasantly surprised at how well it secures the lines.

Finally got all three brackets on...that took longer than expected.


Tacked up, you can see the slight angle pretty well from here:


but it's less noticeable if you're not looking at it dead on:

I also might have a little bit of room to play with on the front bracket. if i can drop that one down by a hair when i install it, then it'd probably make it look better and give the pinch weld some more clearance.

driver's side all welded up and cleaned up for priming. the welding on this one went more smoothly than the passenger side. looks like i'm figuring out what i'm doing.


and the driver's side is primed! I just barely had enough primer in the can to finish it. you can see the spots where it's a bit patchy, but it should work. thankfully this isn't the final coat... although i don't entirely mind the color admittedly.


and that's all for today. tomorrow i'm going to try and get the other one bedlined. and then it's just a waiting game for the hardware.

 

Looking good

 

got some stuff done today:

mainly i just put a few coats of paint of the passenger side. i got 4 coats, with about 70% coverage. i still need to do more, but i had the slider sitting nicely so i figured that i'd just go for it. I will also put an extra coat on the passenger side before I install it. Hopefully that all happens tomorrow.

 

Today i got the Driver's side fully painted, and my Hardware Arrived. I'll touch up the Passenger side tomorrow. My hardware also came today. I would've gotten them both done today but I spent the whole day building this:


The hardware I got. ordered it from Bolt Depot (https://www.boltdepot.com/) I was pretty impressed by their shipping times and all. i Prefer to buy in person but in situations like this, it's good to know that there are decent online hardware suppliers out there.



Driver's Side all painted:


Tomorrow my plan is to touch up the driver's side, as well as prime the sleeves and touch up some areas on the truck's frame that could use it. there arent any rust spots but in some areas the protective coating has come off or been worn away. I figure that since i'm adding the sliders i might as well go ahead and seal those up before they grow or develop into anything major. Sliders are scheduled to go on Saturday. that should give them plenty of time for the paint to cure.

 

installed the sliders today. they went in pretty easily, but they warped just enough during the final welding to make it tough to do. plus... the weather turned to shit halfway through the install. after a whole bunch of swearing, hammering and the use of a floor jack though, they went in. pretty happy with how they turned out. for some reason, i couldn't get the last bolt in, but i don't think it'll make a whole lot of difference. the strength comes from the brackets, not the bolts, the bolts are just there to make it stay in place. i think they look good though!

Passenger side:

getting the passenger side bolted up:

the only bolt i couldn't get in. this one is on the driver's side front bracket:


they stick out just a little bit. should be a nice balance between low profile and protection. should take a bit of getting used to for getting in and out, but hopefully not too bad.