Rock Sliders

[ranchhand77]

Has anyone explored the idea of rock sliders? Took my new ride out for its first real 4x4 ride today and did some custom work to the main tube just below the front passenger door. Don't think I did any real damage, well maybe just a bit to my ego. Anyway, just curious if any of you do it yourselfers have thought about this.

BTW the machine is great. My mom went with me and she just started calling the P4 the "little mule" as it tackled everything we put in front of it.

 

[Admin]

 

[DG Rider]

Has anyone explored the idea of rock sliders? Took my new ride out for its first real 4x4 ride today and did some custom work to the main tube just below the front passenger door. Don't think I did any real damage, well maybe just a bit to my ego. Anyway, just curious if any of you do it yourselfers have thought about this.

BTW the machine is great. My mom went with me and she just started calling the P4 the "little mule" as it tackled everything we put in front of it.

If i had the resources, i think some sort of hard plastic that ran the length of the bars and secured into the ends, maybe covering the bottom half, would be the ticket. The plastic would slide nice and easy as well.

I am almost certain somebody is working on this as we speak.

 

[farmer700]

I agree with DG. I'm sure someone is working on something like this seeing the pioneer is taking off around here. I would say by summer there will be all kinds of accessories. Can't wait.

 

[Hondasxs]

I would like to see a nice rocker panel.

 

[pipefighter577]

Hadn't really looked but I figured they would've put one there from factory. I'll add that to my list now though. All steel for sure, the harder the material the better it will slide so plastic is out for me.

 

[ranchhand77]

I was thinking something simple but this is my first SxS and first real 4x4. If i had to make one tomorrow I was thinking of cutting a heavy gauge pipe in half length wise and then somehow attaching it to the underside of the frame under the doors. I am pretty good at "do it yourself" stuff, but this is all new territory.

 

[waterboy1]

I was going to use 1/2 plastic that was a dump truck bed liner and build it to go from the floor in front to the back wheels and mold it up. I would think if you got a rock in there it would do a lot of damage.

 

[pipefighter577]

I was thinking something simple but this is my first SxS and first real 4x4. If i had to make one tomorrow I was thinking of cutting a heavy gauge pipe in half length wise and then somehow attaching it to the underside of the frame under the doors. I am pretty good at "do it yourself" stuff, but this is all new territory.

Make sure your pipe is thick enough. If it's thin it might loose its strength when cut. I plan to put a piece of 1" or 1 1/4" pipe under mine.

 

[cuthbert1962]

we are planning on making some out of "puck Board" its a real touch plastic they use in arenas

 

[pipefighter577]

we are planning on making some out of "puck Board" its a real touch plastic they use in arenas

I just don't see plastic holding up well. Seems it would scrape big chunks out of it when on a rock or something.

 

[pipefighter577]

There's already "rock sliders" on the Pioneer. My biggest concern with them is where the tube ends in front of the rear tire. I may add an extra brace here if I get any bending. Another concern would be catching on the cross braces to the frame but a skid plate should eliminate that. The first pic with the curved tube is from the front.

 

[DG Rider]

There's already "rock sliders" on the Pioneer.

I was thinking of guards to protect these tubes.

we are planning on making some out of "puck Board" its a real touch plastic they use in arenas

I just don't see plastic holding up well. Seems it would scrape big chunks out of it when on a rock or something.

I said plastic earlier, but what i was thinking of was the composite that they make the skids out of. They get grief...but they actually hold up pretty well.

 

[Hondasxs]

I'm sure someone is working on a set of full skid's and when I find them my wallet will be ready for the hit.

 

[pipefighter577]

I'm sure any extra protection will help. I don't think any of the tubing is very thick. I already found a pretty good dent in my driver side front A-arm. A-arm guards are on the top of my list.

 

[pipefighter577]

Got this damage from the ride this weekend. If you look you can see the frame behind the factory rock slider, well the slider should continue to follow it at the same level but it's bent up an inch or two. This was the week point I mentioned earlier in this thread. I think if we made another brace to the frame here it would cure this. I abused it pretty hard with little damage really. You can also see a small bend downward in the skid plate. Other than that it held up pretty well too.

 

[spifyd]

the stock ones are 0.60 tubing. I already had to repair mine on the down tube that holds the door hinges bends really easy. I caught a rotten 4" tree top and crushed it in 2 inches . 1 1/2 pipe will fit right over it when cut down the center. im thinking of doing this to the whole bottom and welding on.

 

[pipefighter577]

the stock ones are 0.60 tubing. I already had to repair mine on the down tube that holds the door hinges bends really easy. I caught a rotten 4" tree top and crushed it in 2 inches . 1 1/2 pipe will fit right over it when cut down the center. im thinking of doing this to the whole bottom and welding on.

What schedule pipe did you use? Did you see the video of hondsxs I think where the tree ran clear through the parking brake panel?

 

[binfordw]

I'm sure someone is working on a set of full skid's and when I find them my wallet will be ready for the hit.

After crawling down there to change my oil, a custom aluminum skid plate seems it would only be an evening of measuring, perhaps cutting cardboard templates, a little 2d CAD work, slapping a sheet of alum on the plasma table and sanding edges/ bolting it on. I've done more work that that for beer alone

 

[pipefighter577]

I'd say you could just lay the factory plastic and steel skid plate on it and trace it out. It's flat all the way across isn't it? I'm going to leave mine alone until it gets damaged or maybe replace the plastic one with sheet metal.

 

[binfordw]

I'd say you could just lay the factory plastic and steel skid plate on it and trace it out. It's flat all the way across isn't it? I'm going to leave mine alone until it gets damaged or maybe replace the plastic one with sheet metal.

Yea removing and measuring the stock plastic skid would be fairly quick. Replacing the skid isn't very high on my want list, but it isn't very rocky here either.