Mobtown Offroad Aluminum Rock Slider Group Buy

Suspect you mean viable and affordably, but given how long this one has been sitting open you may be right.

 

I always wanted the Mobtown bolt on slider. But I already have the sos. Since, aluminum is different, I guess I will be on board. I really love the design of it warp around the frame.

 

I was just comparing prices of all your options.

 

Correct. That is what I meant.

 

I'll give this a free bump, I was 100% set to order Aluminum I voted for it and I would have paid the cost of admission however I simply couldn't wait and bought the steel ones (and a full set of Aluminum Skids) from Mobtown. My steelies just came in last week, going to begin prep and paint Monday. @Mobtown Offroad do you have any advice on prepping and painting steel sliders, AND aluminum skids? I have access to a ceiling mounted winch (to hang the sliders) and a spray gun. Curious as to steps for prepping bare steel and aluminum in your opinion and what paint to use. My gut is wipe it all down with acetone and spray it with Rustoleum a few times. Than just touch it up with a spray can as needed. I'm thinking the Aluminum may need a different primer though??

 

You're spot on with the acetone. Give everything a really good wipe down, use self etching primer, and then your color of choice for paint.

After a quick search, it recommends self etching primer for aluminum as well.

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate. It.

Shameless plug. But Mobtown you guys really do contribute a ton to this community and I appreciate it very much. AND. Your stuff is amazing. I’ll be at Mid-Atlantic with your skids and sliders on hopefully I’ll meet a few of you guys.

Again thank you for the contributions you make and the top tier products you produce.

 

I assume these are a no go now due to costs?

 

Correct. I’ll update OP

 

Thanks. Are the steelies still on a 12+ week lead time?

 

Max, yes. We’re making good leadway getting caught up but that could change in a second. Fingers crossed the luck stays on our side.

 

Man can these things take a hit? Aluminum bends easy

 

They’re no longer pursuing these due to a lack of interest.

To answer your question though, these could definitely take a hit. Obviously not quite as well as steel, but these would have been for the wheeler who wants sliders as a “just in case” and doesn’t intentionally bang off sliders. These could even take the weight of the truck on a hi-lift.

 

I wonder who ended up with the prototype set? NICE....

 

The scrap yard.

 

Depends on how you define "take a hit" and "bends easy". That's not a Bill Clinton answer.

If your expectation is that these should be able to get smashed into rocks and not show any damage...then no, they likely wouldn't be able to do that. If you are looking for them to protect the truck from damage in that situation, then yes, with some engineering they can take a hit.

How do you describe bending? All materials bend relatively easy. Steel is easily bent (in engineering we call this deflection). Bending can refer to deflection under normal load, forming due to manufacturing processes or maybe even denting. I assume you're referring to how easily aluminum yields in bending (permanently deforms). It's true that aluminum has about 1/3 the bending stiffness. Material thickness, tube shape and design can all make up for this. There's also denting. Wall thickness can help with this, but without unique design changes, you'll probably getting denting a lot easier than with steel.

One example were aluminum is stiffer than it's steel counterpart is bicycle frame. Talk to anyone who's into cycling and they will tell you that aluminum frame are much stiffer and even uncomfortably so. The design and size of the tubing cross section make up for the material limits. Now, that being said, they are only stiff in one direction so the frame can easily be damaged from lateral loads. Also, the tubing has a larger O.D., but a very thin wall. This leads to it denting easily compared to steel frames. Steel frames are heavier, but due to the smaller tubing O.D. and higher yield strength of the steel, it is allowed to flex more under normal conditions. This makes for a more comfortable ride, but is less efficient as energy from each pedal stroke is wasted in flexing the frame instead of driving the wheels. Also, dragging the extra weight around is no fun.

Anyway, that's probably more discussion than this topic warrants, but it's fun to talk about.

 

Yes, aluminum is brutal on the body, but super peppy and light. A nice steel frame bike is like butter but rides like a Mack truck.