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I don't understand if body mounted sliders

1K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Mike H. 
#1 ·
Hi I have more questions I read that body mounted like the poison spider brawlers are stronger than frame mounted? But then I read on another forum that no it is not and that it can cause a fender to be damaged by flexing...I Seen a video where you can jack up from these sliders..why all the confusion I don't understand can anyone one explain please
 
#4 ·
I am guessing here, but I think you are confusing 'frame mounted' with 'mounted to bolt between body and frame'. 'frame mounted' means WELDED to the frame. That is always the strongest and best mount.

Most sliders you see for sale only mount to the 2 body/frame mounts which have rubber bushing in them to separate the body from the frame. Sliders / steps that only mount at these points will flex when sliding over a rock and push up into the body.... sometimes damaging it.

The sliders that mount to the 2 body mounts AND to the side of the body (sheet metal) are the next best thing to being welded to the frame. They hold up great for sliding or lifting. They may fail (causing buckling to the body) if the vehicle is somehow dropped on a rock that gives a sudden impact to the slider.
 
#5 ·
I PM'd you a link to a thread elsewhere on the internets with a great discussion on the merits of both systems.
I do not want to get into all of it again, suffice it to say there are several folks who wheel hard that are making the move from frame mount to body mount.
There is no doubt that a frame is "more structural" than a body, but in the case of cantilevered outriggers putting torsional loads on a member designed for vertical loads you start to understand why folks are making the move. In addition, those outriggers hang low, and are good at hanging up on terrain when being drug across it.
Read that thread... lots of good discussion fore and against both/either style.
 
#9 ·
The effect of torsional loads on the frame, a part designed to twist, has an inevitable ending. The frame twists so far that the body takes the last energy of a hard hit and is crushed at the small impact point(s).

You can make the sliders themselves as strong as a train bridge. But in the end, the frame is the part that will always bend at the same energy level.

The only way to get around this is to add body mounted armor between the frame sliders and the rockers, like Ace optionally does.
Now you've ruined ground clearance even more and made the frequency of hits much more common. So, you have to make the sliders even stronger and/or reinforce the body tub.
It's a vicious circle.

Much better, IMHO, to simply eliminate the lever bar effect and minimize ground clearance loss compared to naked rocker panels by mounting the sliders on the body.

----------------

After reading that thread, I came to the conclusion that I don't want boat sliders, or any other slider, that ties the body to the frame either.
 
#10 ·
It's the body (Pinch weld seam) that is being protected on the JK. A body mounted skid would work best IMO. My Schrockworks on the TJ were great and mounted only to the body as I recall.
 
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