front bumper

[Funrover]

Originally Posted by gragravar

I will have to look for some sliders that attach to the frame, mostly because that sill by the drivers door does have some rust.

www.rockware.net they are located in Colorado Springs!!

[Funrover]

Originally Posted by bovw

I've got a GDE also, do you run with a winch? If so, how is it mounted?

Not yet but I have seen a few!

[bovw]

Originally Posted by Funrover

Not yet but I have seen a few!

I know a guy out here that will cut my bumper for a winch, but I'm torn on doing it. Just like I don't want to cut the rear quarters on my Hunter. Oh, what to do, what to do.

[John C]

Originally Posted by Funrover

I disagree... every sill mount that gets serious use here just bend the hell out of the truck!! Frame mount is the only way to go...

I disagree, if it's a two piece slider then it will bend the sills. If it's a one piece then it will not.

I had the RTE on my Rangie and they bent the sills to the point where I could not open the doors. JBS (original owner) told me to stick a flat piece of iron between slider and sill.

The one piece design I have on my DI have held up extremely well.

That's my experience.

I'm curious to hear comments from folks that have tried other sliders.

[series1rangie]

I have sliders from AB they mount to both the sill (which is almost gone on my truck) and the frame. they are boxed plate very sturdy. I have attached pictures, 0062, was taken at the Spring MAR, and i levered my truck up and over that rock on the slider, no problem, it did just what it was supposed to.

[Denny]

Here's the ones that I have -









They are made of all 3/16" material and have a 9" skidplate to them and have never deflected after coming down very hard on rocks or rubbing against any and having the truck pivot off of them against rocks. They are also rolled to get the correct radius and not notched and bent then welded together so the don't flex as I think those style could do. I have no experience with frame mounted units but I don't think a strut coming out from the frame could be all that good for rocks hanging up on them.

[Thor]

remember frame and sill mount can cause problems. The frame and the body (which the sill is part of) are mounted on rubber puck body mounts. Therefore the sill and frame can and do move independently of each other. So if there is a rigid slider bridging the two of them something has to fail... welds... mounts... sills.... etc. the weakest link will be under constant strain until failure.

Many of the frame mount ones (like Rock Ware if I remember correctly) use frame mounts and then used hard rubber pucks where the sill and slider touch to allow for some movement of the body/sill relative to the frame.

[roverandom]

Bahh, sliders shimders. Denny is that a 69 Charger? you luck dog. Oh, and your sliders look nice too.

[roverandom]

Back on topic, many of the sliders I have seen are just that, sliders. Designed to aid the veh slide over rocks etc that would otherwise hang up and damage the body. They are not realy designed to take a hard impact with the full weight of the veh falling from several feet ! (even though apparently some can) Heck, you can crack/bend the frame doing that, the RRC is just too heavy to take the same impacts as a rock buggy. As for the bumpers, tryed the ARB but sent it back before installing it as I did not like the weight of it, too big and heavy, and I never realy like the looks anyway (but thats just me) The RTM looks just as heavy (and reportedly is very heavy). For me form must follow function in a 4x4. With a winch adding weight up front already I don't need a bumper that is big and heavy. I think I will most likely end up making my own to suit my needs. Just my 2 cents.

[Denny]

68' 440" Auto soon to be 5spd

[SCSL]

Originally Posted by p76rangie

If regard to side protection, I would not waste my money on the type of rock sliders listed above. They may protect you from rocks coming up from underneath, but offer very little protect from the side. Your side panels srick out further that the rock sliders above, without taking into account any angle of the vehicle.

I have to strongly disagree with my friend Ian's view on this. As someone who routinely relies on their sliders bashing up against rocks, I would list rocksliders as the #1 first most important piece of body armour to buy - and I always recommend to novice wheelers that this be their first purchase. Why? Because every other area of the vehicle other than the sills can be temporarily modified to gain clearance. Just take a close-up look at my sliders sometime & you'll see what I mean.

True, they offer little protection from the side (direct side-impact) because the side panels do in fact, as Ian pointed out, stick out further than the sliders.... but this is not the purpose of the equipment. There's no way short of an exocage to protect the door panels from side-impact and, in rock-crawling, sometimes you have to accept the body damage to clear an obstacle.

The purpose of the sliders is to protect you when you come down hard on a rock. This doesn't necessarily occur from carelessness in getting high-centered leaning to the side. This occurs when you are pushed off-camber down onto a jutting rock or when you lose lateral traction on smooth or wet rocks and come down from an angle onto a another rock. Deep moguls can also cause bottoming out in the door sill area. True, sliders won't protect you from denting a door panel. But they will prevent you from bashing your door sills up. In my experience, the latter happens far more often than the former.

In fact, I'm not a big fan of sliders with "tree sliders" attached because they are more prone to being bent up or "snagging" on obstacles. I've wheeled with a friend who had this happen & he was getting in & out of the truck "Dukes of Hazzard" style the rest of the trip. Why did that happen? Because, again, the nature of rock crawling involves frequent impact to the very areas that rock sliders protect.

My .02

(edit: attached picture demonstrates what I mean)

[SCSL]

Oh yeah... regarding the original question... ( )

I would suggest going with RTE. Made here by hand in America by two guys who are true enthusiasts & committed to the LR community. PROVEN on the trails. Best customer service in the Land Rover aftermarket. (period)

Though... as Funrover said... since you live in Colorado it wouldn't hurt to check out RockWare.. they make some great stuff & you can drive down to pick it up and save the shipping.

[toyota_jon]

Originally Posted by SCSL

I would list rocksliders as the #1 first most important piece of body armour to buy ...

well said

[gragravar]

thanks for all the input guys. great info in this thread.

For the bumper I was leaning toward RTE, but then found a local & used ARB. The price was right and I couldnt pass it up. I picked it up this weekend and put it on. it looks good, we'll see how it performs over time and I'll consider an upgrade if needed.

here is the ARB on the rover



Now for sliders. I'll investigate a couple of the local makers, and also have a friend who has done extensive metal work. he made his own rock crawler - from scratch. I may recruit him to make some sliders for me. Keep the comments on this stuff coming, I am learning a lot and really appreciate the group knowledge.

[SCSL]

Originally Posted by gragravar

Now for sliders. I'll investigate a couple of the local makers...

In Colorado, in addition to RockWare, also check out SlickRock Fab: www.slickrockfabrication.com/default.asp