9/23/02

Many thanks to Mike Carter for ideas and tools as well as Roger Brown for the inspiration. If you don't want to build sliders yourself, buy them from Roger.

Here is a list of pieces needed to build the sliders. All tubing used was 1.5"x1.5"x1/8" wall:

Four 4"x5"x1/4" base plates
Four 6" legs
Eight 4" webbing pieces cut at 30 degrees
Eight 1.5"x1.5"x1/8" flat stock endcaps
Two 5'10" outer bars
Two 5'9 1/4" inner bars
At least twelve 3/8"x1" self tapping screws
Paint (Pick your own color)

Tools you will need, besides normal hand tools:
Welder (I use a 220v stick)
Chop saw
Grinder
Drill (A drill press is nice too)
Right angle drill attachment see http://www.harborfreight.com
A jack and stands are handy to have too

You'll start by making all the cuts. Measure twice, cut once.

It's a good idea to mock everything up so you can see how it fits. At this point it might be a good idea to cross drill all the pipe so they are one continuous air space. This way you could use the sliders as an air tank too. See my compressor writeup. You can, however cross drill them later from the outside and just weld the external holes shut again too. In any case I then began welding the inner and outer bars together with the webbing first. Basically I shimmed everything straight and then tacked things together and checked them on the vehicle before laying the final beads. Since the webbing pieces are cut at 30 degrees, the openings will be larger than the 1.5" tubing it will be mating to. I centered the webbing on the tubes, welded the sides and then pounded the ends a bit to close the openings before welding the larger sides. The shorter, inner tube should be square with the outer tube at the BACK of the vehicle. Since Toys are a bit tight on inside front wheel well space, I recessed the inner tube for more clearance.

After the webbing is all welded up you may notice that the ends have converged due to the heat from welding. I simply inserted a floor jack between them and bent them back straight. I easily maxed the 2.5 ton floor jack out but it did the job. Seems the webbing is pretty strong.

On my plates, I welded 3/16" tabs to the bottom to run a screw into the bottom of the frame. This will keep the plates from flexing away when the vehicle is sitting on the sliders. Roger Brown's design uses four screws in the face of the frame which is another option. In either case drill out the plates. [If you cannot locate self tapping screws, you can buy some 3/4" 16 guage flat stock and some 3/8" nuts and bolts. Tap the flat stock with two holes at the same distance apart which you will be drilling into the frame and plates. Then screw the bolts into the flat stock. You can slide/fish this setup into the frame through the hole you see in the picture here and the bolts will come out the frame if you choose the correct position for the holes.] For my setup mark up the frame for holes that match the plates. Drill ONE hole using the next smaller size bit under 3/8" and install a screw. Now use the plate as a guide to drill the rest of the holes. Repeat this for all the plates.

Once all the plates are installed, position the legs so they are between a 1/4" and 1/2" below the body seam. BTW, the section of the seam near the rear wheel curves down and will need grinding to maintain an even clearance from the sliders. The inner rail of the slider should straddle the body seam (1/4" to 1/2" below) so that the sliders contact the entire body seam when the sliders are carrying the vehicle. Tack weld the legs to the plates. Now position the inner/outer bars so that the gap is even from the seam and that the bars are level in all directions. Tack weld the sliders to the legs. Remove the plate screws and remove the sliders from the vehicle. Fully weld the remaining seams and the endcaps if you haven't already.

Grind down any unsightly or sharp areas. I then used brake cleaning spray solvent to strip the preservative oil on the metal. Several coats of your favorite paint and you are on the home stretch. Go have a cold one while the paint dries. This is the hardest ten minutes you've ever worked huh?

Here is a photo of the sliders installed. I put a jack under them and they hold the weight of the vehicle nicely.
So now they are ready to be rock stripped of their paint! After a recent Calico trip, I can attest that they work awesome!

4/4/04

Update. One of my self tapping screws stripped out so I took a peice of flat stock, drilled and tapped it with a 3/8" screw and fished it through from the inside of the frame.

http://www.larsdennert.com