northwest parts sliders?

[drum655]

anyone know anything about northwest parts sliders. they look good and the price is right, but are they any good? http://www.northwestparts.com/rock_sliders.htm

[p76rangie]

They will not offer protection from side impacts, only those coming up from underneath.
Ian

[drum655]

how is that...they protrude out more than most sliders i have seen. i don't inderstand how they could only protect from underneath!!

[p76rangie]

These are about the minimum width you want.

Ian

[drum655]

did you look at the pic...those stick out about that far. what kind are those in the pic above...rte?

[p76rangie]

Josh, I do not believe from the pictures they come out as far. The ones in the picture are made locally. Seen too many side bars that do not protect and are made out of too light a steel and bend too easily.

[rmuller]

The ones in the pic look very close to rovertym sliders w/ nerf.

There is no real need for the nerf bar, as a byproduct of being a step, they'll protect you abit if you get too close to a tree.. but the real purpose of rock sliders is just that, to slide over rocks.

Northwest Parts look like they'd work fine.. but they aren't as cheap as most of the NWP stuff is compared to the competition.. RoverTym will end up only costing ya a $100 or so more.. I also think 4x4ag.com has some nice rock sliders... ask John C. about them.

[drg]

Looking at the construction, they look pretty tough to me. 1/8" steel box-section should be plenty for the slider. The construction of the mounting system looks to be stout.

I'll probably buy these when I get my sliders, which should be soon. Of course, part of the reason is because I can just drive over and pick them up. I don't have to pay to have them shipped from, oh, say, Maryland.

[p76rangie]

Ryan, if you look at my original comment, I said the same thing. That is they would be OK for rock sliders but not much side protection. In regard to side protection, 9 out of 10 times my side bars prevent side damage from either rocks you have to go around rather than over, trees, stumps, banks, etc. By side bars are made of of 45mm round steel pipe with a 3.6 mm metal thinkness and they get bent on a regular basis.

The main problem I can see with the bars listed for this thread is that the part protruding out the side of the car has very little upward support. I have seen similar bars take out doors when they get hit hard upwards on the outer edge.

Ian

[racerwad]

i just got my NWP sliders and i don't know what you're talking about p76rangie. they stick out plenty far. the finish work is a little rough-think of their products as the off road version of unfinished furniture apart from that, i love 'em. they look great and make a great step to get into the truck as well as to get to stuff on the roof. and, the people of NWP are great.

ps, drg, NWP is moving so you might want to order sooner rather than later.

[p76rangie]

Racerwad, obviously we do different types of off road work.

Ian

[drg]

Originally Posted by racerwad

ps, drg, NWP is moving so you might want to order sooner rather than later.

Really? As in away from Portland? That's strange. Do you know where to?

I haven't purchased anything from them yet, so they wouldn't know anything about me to send me updates.

[racerwad]

drg-

they were talking seriously about moving down somewhere to the southeast. i'm not sure what the timetable is anymore as they were supposed to have left already. i'm not associated with them in any way, just thought i'd tell you what they told me.

p76-we might do different types of wheeling, but i still don't see how that affects the distance the sliders extend from beneath the door sills. from the sill the slider extends ~4". that should be plenty (at least, that's what i tell myself )

a

[p76rangie]

Raceward, it depends what side angle the car is on compared to the angle of the item going along the side of the vehicle. My bars sit out 2 inches from the widest part of the body work (up near the door handles) and I still have the scrapes and dents to prove this is not far enough. By the bars you are looking at having a flat wide top, any dent upwards will cause it to dent the door panels. It takes around 5 tonne of pressure to bend my side bars, buy if you slide off a rouck or other hard service, the impact of the car falling onto the bars will dent mine up higher than the bottom of the doors. But they do allow me to get through many spots without damage that would be impossible without them.

The picture I have posted of the side bars on the Disco 2 were developed by Disco owners that do take their cars into the more adventurous areas. What prompted the bars to be developed was that 4 of them did one track and the average panel damage bill for each vehicle was over $10,000. This was on top of 3 out of 4 winches being stuffed. They started the track at 4pm and finished at 8.00am and the track was around 3 kilometres long. Needless to say they are not rushing back to do it again.

Ian

[racerwad]

ian-

i'm not sure what you're trying to say so i guess we'll just agree to disagree. the only difference between mine and yours is that where mine is flat, yours has some open spaces. also, mine bolt through the sill so it would take quite an impact to deform them that much (that's not saying it can't happen). i'm glad that yours works for you. i was just trying to tell drum655 that the sliders he's considering-and the ones i just so happen to own-work great and provide plenty of protection from both below and to the sides.

andy