How close are you guys' sliders?

I got my sliders installed this past weekend, and when my fab guy installed it he installed it pretty high. Like it's touching the pinchweld. And whenever I go over potholes are bumps in the road you can hear the slider hitting the bottom part of the body.

My question is if this will hurt the body? Or when I actually use my sliders, will they dent the pinchweld? I did the hi-lift test, and yea it does flex up a bit, but I doubt I'm gonna be landing on any rocks hard enough to shove the slider up into the body.

Thoughts, comments?

 

The point of a set of sliders is to prevent damage to your body. Sliders need to be a certain distance from the body because they will flex and if they do take a big hit they will bend. I'd be kinda pissed if I were you. I would want them relocated lower. Either that or stuff some fender washers between all your body mounts to give yourself a .25" body lift!

 

As mentioned I would be a little worried that they are mounted so high. The body of your truck flexes a lot more than you think and with the sliders being that close I would be a little concerned about flexing off-road and at the same time sliding across a rock. I would see if you can take it back and tell him the problem and see what he can do.

 

If you are concerned with damage to the pinch weld, then you might want to relocate them. The stand-offs are going to flex to some extent or another, allowing the sliders to move up and down. If they are already touching, whether you set it down on rocks or use the sliders as a jack point, they are likely to do some custom body work for you if they are left as is.

I generally leave about 1/4" between the pinch weld and the stand offs. They move more than you might think.

 

I have read in the past that the closest they should be are 1/4" and the furthest at 1/2". With that in mind, I believe 3/8" is optimal, and is what I have. More room to flex than 1/4" and more clearance than 1/2".

If they are touching the pinch weld/body seam, no doubt you will experience sound vibrations or some sort of noise. If nothing else, perhaps you could try to insert some sort of rubber spacer, or the like.

For on-road use, it will be more of an annoyance more than anything. I wouldn't foresee that hurting the body at all. If you aren't going to be landing on any rocks, did you really need them to begin with? After all, they will certainly deflect some if they are used. There's really no point in having sliders if all you're going to do is do body damage anyway, you know? Depending on what design you have, maybe it wouldn't be too hard to have the guy grind them off and install them correctly the next time around. I would be very disappointed, myself.

 

I would do it again or bodylift, that is not near enough space.

If it is rubbing over bumps, imagine 5k of fat truck sitting on it, things will not be pretty.

At least .5" little more is a little better.

I have no space, but that is because my sliders bolt to the body.

 

Hitting the body under full load isn't necessarily bad if the load is distributed over a significant portin of the pinch weld, but if you're hitting while going over bumps on the street, that's bad. A 1" BL would cure that, and it's a pretty good excuse to get one.

 

Hey Rob- Did you have Tom put these on? B/c he put mine on perfectly. Thats what I used to love about him. Is that not only is he a mechanic but also an off roading enthusiast (sp?)

I'm coming up to see him in a few months for him to throw on my lockers and gears, and the URD kit. can't wait

 

In the past, everyone with this issue just dremmeled little 1/2 moons right above the tubes in the pinch weld.

Now I have 1 3/8" between the body and the pich weld with the 1" BL. Whacked em real hard this weekend, no problem.

 

Rob,

Sounds like your biggest issue is going to be covering up those spots on your sliders where the paint gets scraped off by the pinch weld on a regular basis, thus some rusting might occur. I would say that your simplest fix is: cutting out little moons like Steve suggested or a 1" RB body lift. (do the lift ) If it was me I wouldn't grind them off and reattach. Until you decide on a fix, make sure you watch those spots that rub and keep them sanded and coated with paint or that carbon steel will start rusting like nobody's business, and you might need to touch up the pinch weld as well, as it has a coating of some sort on it and you don't want it to start rusting either.

Good luck!

 

Rob-

I say 1" BL too, but then you will be exceeding the max distance according to Darren and others. Just remember if you get the BL, your 96 will require an additional $68 for the aux body mounts (which I still have not installed :pat: ) - which will then require more welding. So keep an eye on your costs.

I would much rather be too far away than too close. You are definetly too close!

I have a 1.25" gap between mine!

 

I want someone to tell my why more than 1/2" is bad ???

Why would too much matter at all ???

Tell me. I bet you can't.

 

thanks for the suggestions guys. yea I wasn't really thinking how close they were to the body, I was just worried that the door wouldn't open, and when it cleared the sliders fine, I totally forgot about it. The only bad thing is that if I do want to get it altered, I have to drive 2 hrs to get to him, get it done, then drive 2 hrs back again. Kinda sucks. But I did email him so we'll see what he says, he's a really cool guy so hopefully he can do it for me for free.

Shahzad - No it wasn't Tom, I went to another guy that's part of a Southern Mich / Northern Indiana 4x4club I'm in.

 

Decreased pitch clearance, that's the only thing I can think of. That, and how it looks. I guess...

 

i think some sliders designed to put some of the load/weight on the pinch weld. that way when you're using the slider it flexes a 1/4" or so and transfers some of the load to the pinch weld...?

 

Don't go through the troble of relocating them.....just do a 1" body lift and be done with it.
You could run into problems with the relocation so lifting the body will be cheap and easy!

 

The sliders if installed properly should become a jackpoint for the vehicle.
They are plenty strong on their own without needing to share or distribute the load.
I think the paint chipping and rust formation is a far bigger issue.

 

A Roger Brown 1" Ultimate BL is extremely easy to install.

 

Hockey pucks are easier.



( :pat: Don't use hockey pucks unless you are a .)

 

The only commercially available sliders that I know of that use the pinch weld as a structural member are Roger Browns sliders. All others are stand alone sliders, meaning they can support all the weight by themselves.

What exactly is the "pitch" as it relates to sliders? I know what pitch means as it relates to gears, screws, hair combs, but not sliders.

Also, grinding out the pinch weld seems to be the easiest solution here.