Sliders - guess you gotta pay to play

That's not as "flat" as they seemed in the first pic.

Do you still have your pinch weld?

 

This profile is what I would like

 

I am not a welder. I have taken one class on the subject, but I will not call myself a welder. With that in mind, here's my two cents:

$200 bucks sounds fair for a job done right.

There may be someone who will do it right with clean welds and proper prep beforehand, but you won't know for sure until they are done with your truck.

The frames are not that thick on these trucks. I would think that over penetration, under penetration, and possibly changing the temper of the steel may come into play. And it will take time to get them mocked up right and double checked before tacking and final welding. It's not easy to weld in a vertical or overhead position like that either.

I'd gladly pay $200 bucks to someone with a good reputation for doing that kind of work day in and day out. If someone does it cheap and messes up your frame where does that leave you?

 

Sound advice. I figure if I'm spending $200 on sliders, spending another $200 (while a lot of money) for an expert job is not that bad. And 5 years from now I won't be thinking about the $200 of labor.

But still.... I'd rather find another alternative with high quality results.

 

Perhaps you could do the cleaning/prep work beforehand, and help position the sliders and get them clamped up before letting an expert welder have at it?

I'd be looking for someone who does fab already (bumpers, racecars, sliders?) and want's to make some quick side money. Just be involved to make sure the details get done right and all they have to concentrate on is not screwing up your frame.

No offense to anyone on here, but I would not bet the long term reliablity of a frame (particularly a 1st gen frame living in snow country) to someone who's had a couple of welding classes and no certifications. The guy at the muffler shop welding on Flowmasters all day is probably not the right choice either.

 

The TG sliders aren't chinese. And they are great, IMO. They are the lowest cost sliders out there. 4xInnovations sliders are a close second (in terms of cost).
I'll be coming out to CO/WY in a month. If you want some 4x sliders, I'll literally be passing the 4xInnovations shop in Platteville, WI and could bring them with me so you could avoid shipping costs. I'll also be bringing my welder if you want to use it, unless you trust a retard like me to do it.

 

The Truck Shop in SoCal will build you sliders any way you.I want square tubing near my frame,round on the outer with kickouts.They told my $400 out the door installed for TW members. Forgot to ask what steel it was.

 

Everyone else is saying this too, but shoot man, $200 is pretty freakin expensive to get the suckers welded on there.
Heck, that's more than the actual sliders themselves!
Something doesn't add up there...
My Elite's were fairly affordable, and I'm not an experienced welder, but I have an acquaintance with a shop and he got me started and let me weld them on myself.
It was a big job and it'd take you a good 3-4 hours to get it done right, but an experienced welder could have them on in less than 2. That's like $100+ an hour?!

 

The way I see it, the frame is only gonna get stronger as you weld stuff to it... Not gonna weaken the frame by welding on 1/4" steel plates onto it. Just my 2 cents

 

i think $200 is a little much. i took my time and made sure i didnt heat to much of the frame up at one time and it took me about an hour to weld mine on. bring them to mississippi and i will weld them on for you.

 

Wait... you'd let me (someone who's never touched a welder) use it, but then call yourself a retard? After bobbing your bed, building a rear bumper, etc...

And that is a generous offer, as always appreciate it.

I'm looking at 4xI vs TG and don't see much difference. Do you have an opinion on either or?

I'd definitely do the DOM tubing.

 

you could weaken the frame if you heated it up too much in one spot.i skipped around when i welded mine on

 

I would do that (I like the square tubing under the rocker panel) but it does me no good living in Colorado

 

Yeah, that's what I did. Just welded on the majority of the thing. Didn't worry too much about the corners and stuff. Still, we both jumped around on those things (I weigh 160 and he weighs probably 180-190) and those puppies are on there to stay!

 

4xI have optional kickouts that you can get that don't cost extra. I really like my 4xI sliders personally.

Edit: I'm pretty sure you have to pay extra for the gussets with TG and 4xIs come with them.

 

no i ment i skipped around and didnt weld in one spot for too long.
this is how i tested mine.

 

$200 is way more than it should cost to simply weld a set of sliders on if they are all assembled. If you have to set the angle, weld end plates and gussets on, it would be a more reasonable cost from a shop. A buddy would be able to do it for $100 and a case of beer or less in either case.

As far as damaging the frame by overheating, I dont really buy it. I can see it, somewhat, but seeing as you loose the temper on metal any time you take it over ~400 degrees, there is no way to avoid it. Skipping around is advisable so you dont heat up really big areas, but most people are going to do that anyway. You can warp stuff before you realize it if you dont. When I first started welding, I was putting some 3/8" bar stock on a trailer's dove tail for traction and made one long bead accross it(about 2.5 ft). My boss stopped me a little before I finished out the weld. When I pulled my hood up, I saw that the 1/8 diamond plate I was welding to had sunk about 1" between the supports that were about 14" apart. The weld was rock solid though.

Somebody was talking about the welds being hard to make earlier, but it's really not. They are using MIG welders, so any position is just about the same. The only differance is how many burns you will have from splatter.

 

So is there no one local that you know that can weld these on for you?

 

No. Not really.

Before, or as, I get them I'll hit up the Colorado BS thread to see if anyone can help out. Obviously I'd be willing to pay them

 

that's a good idea, i'm sure you can find someone to do it for at least half the price. Any idea what you have settled on? TG or 4x? Of course the TG ones will be much easier and quicker to do because they come shipped and ready to rock. Where as you have to assemble the 4x ones yourself, which can lead to differences on either side and a greater chance to mess up or do something wrong.