[643]

Rock Slider Project:

Very easy mod that anyone with a welder and a stack of zip discs can do.

I used a piece of 2X3X.125 HSS for the main body of the slider (47" long) and then miscellaneous cuts to box in the end where the fender bolts (that area has an approximately triangular cross section to clear the modified fender - ~10" long).

When you cut the outer rocker panel off you are left with the flat inner rocker which the cab support (c-clamp in first picture is pinching the slider to the cab support) is welded to. I welded the slider full length accross the door sill and cab corner and stiched it to the inner rocker panel. Also drilled a bunch of holes in the inner rocker for plug welds and found a couple spots to grab the cab support too..With the slider installed, about 1/2" sticks out pass the bottom of the door sill, and with a 2X4 piece of HSS you'd have a bit more protection for your doors.

I believe this mod gained me about 3/4" of ground clearance under the edge of the cab, and allowed for the fender to be trimmed back and the corner protected from sticks and such (I had a stick go through my fender & floor from that spot in the old beater)..

Anyways, this is an easy mod to do, and the gains in clearance and armor are worth the time it takes to do.

 

[wrath]

Pretty cool. If I ever got a trail-K5 I'd do that. However, what are you going to do about a fuel tank? Or are you going flatbed and putting it between the rails?

 

[643]

I will be either running propane with a tank in the bed (custom deck most likely) or a blazer tank between the rails if I decided the propane swap will have to wait for another time...

I think if a guy was careful and inventive it wouldn't be to hard to make the mod work with the stock saddle tanks..

 

[Guest]

BAH death to saddle tanks !

Cool mod, I'm glad someone else did it before me so I could get some tips.

I plan on doing this soon, I have about 16 feet of 2 x 3x .120 leaning on the wall, and I cant for the life of me remeber what the hell I was gonna do with it.... maybe bed supports or something, anyway, rocksliders it is

One thing I have to applaud, you did it all with a DAMN STICK WELDER! Man I'm gonna be praising mig when it comes time to fab a new tranny tunnel and these sliders, I'll have to switch back to gas too....

Anyway great mod

Hey if you want I can show you my EFI Van tank setup now, and later when it's done, 30 gallons or so and JUST fits between the rails behind the cab if you redo the crossmembers

Well, cool

- RJ

 

[643]

Ha I wish I did that all with my $100 stick welder.. I built the slider with the stick (the welds are pretty sweet, I've had lots of practice burning rod lately), but the actuall attachment had to be done with my POS 120V fluxcore wirefeed as my cheapo stick will not work below 100A it seems...

Does the job for patching sheet metal and what not, but to attach the slider to the rocker I had to aim most of the heat at the slider and then push the puddle up into the rocker as I could... Suffice it to say that my fluxcore skills are no where near my stick skills.

I will have some good pics of the cut cab before I installed the slider in a few days for ya.. Shoot if you got any questions.. It wasn't that hard of a job.

I'll take a raincheck on the van gas tank swap but it does sound good.. I really want to go to BBQ gas cause its real easy to get up in Canuck land and pretty cheap relative to gas.. But, to get the truck moving and whatnot sooner rather than later I may go gas for the time being..

 

[Guest]

So do you have those pics yet?

You beer sucking metal melter

 

[Guest]

COme on come on come on come on