Attaching Sliders - Alternate Method

[Bronco638]

In my never ending search for things I can adapt to my truck, I came across another 'Yota site that appears to make a range of excellent, useful products (Slee Off Road). I was particularly intrigued by the sliders and rear tire carriers they make. While checking out the images of the sliders (and reviewing the associated slider hardware kit), I noticed that these sliders are attached by u-bolts! My initial reaction was "no way will that hold a slider and take a hit". So, I bounced the idea off my (professional engineer, 'Yota owning, off-road enthusiast) brother-in-law who pretty much told me it would work (he'd prefer two u-bolts per outrigger. ). We're all quite aware of the hazards that could befall someone attempting to drill thru (or weld to) the Ex frame. There's a lot of lines/hoses/harnesses that run along the frame and I'm not particularly ready to experiment with a holed line or melted harness (or worse). Well, if you can simply use 7/16" specially shaped u-bolts to hold the slider to the frame, that makes things much easier, with respect to installation. I sent Christo Slee, the owner, an email asking if any of his sliders might be adaptable to the Explorer. He didn't think so but did mention that a 1991-97 Series 80 (FJ80) Land Cruiser has a similar frame arrangement (narrow at the front and wider at the rear). The sliders for the Series 80 are quite pricey ($745) but the idea of using u-bolts to attach the sliders might convince some of us (me, particularly) to forge ahead. I'm sure there are quite a few places that make u-bolts. All we need are some frame dimensions and a willing manufacturer.

Thoughts?

 

[410Fortune]

This is an old trick, it works well if you can find the room on the frame to run the U bolts.
I plan to attach my sliders to the frame this way, no welding and you can take them off for whatever reason (paint, repair).

Nice find

 

[Positive Vibes]

I don't think they would be strong enough for an X. An X is pretty heavy. I had Cory make me some, even guseted them and they still bent up into my door and rocker panel. The X is a pretty heavy truck.

 

[Hokie]

He didn't think so but did mention that a 1991-97 Series 80 (FJ80) Land Cruiser has a similar frame arrangement (narrow at the front and wider at the rear).

That series of Land Cruiser was dubbed a Land Bruiser by the car magazines due to its immense size and weight. I'm sure if they can work for something of that size, they can work for a 4400 lb Explorer

 

[Bronco638]

PV, like Hokie ^^ said, one of those tanks easily out-weighs an Ex. All of the sliders Slee off-road makes are attached with u-bolts. The only truck I saw, on the site, that had them welded was one of the early pickups. Otherwise, all the Land Yatchs had them u-bolted on.

When my brother-in-law and I were discussing the engineering and fabrication aspects, he mentioned that the gussets were the key to the slider taking abuse and not causing the outrigger to bend. I'm not saying Cory doesn't know what he's doing but the size (of the triangle) and material thickness of that gusset is key. If you have a look at some of the Slee sliders, you'll see the gusset is almost as long as the outrigger, on some of them.

 

[bmxking5]

Nice find , I never would of thought of using U-Bolts to mount sliders.

 

[Bronco638]

Thanks Bryan (& Jaime, too).

Yeah, it's so simple I guess it never came to mind because I figured it'd be a weak way to do it. Again, thanks to a detailed explaination from my brother-in-law, there's several forces at work on a slider. First, the u-bolt will hold the outrigger baseplate to the frame under compression of the u-bolt. That simple connection causes friction between the baseplate and the frame rail. Then, don't forget that the outriggers act as levers when the slider takes a hit. So, the baseplate is not really being forced (in shear) to slide up the frame rail, the bottom edge of the baseplate is trying to be pulled away from the frame. This means the u-bolt is now in tension (in addition to shear). So, in reality, there's two forces acting to keep the outrigger baseplate (and therefore the slider) 'attached' to the frame, friction (shear) and tension/compression. Add those two together and they can easily overcome the force of a hit on the slider (esp. since the Explorer weighs less than the 'Yota FJs).

 

[osker75]

i really like their designs nice find dude