I have taken it upon myself to make a slider, but what materials do you think I should use?? At first I thought about 3x3 1/4" tube, but is that a little overkill. Also, does anyone have an ideas on how to make the slider so it will go with the contour of the sill panel. The damn Disco sliders are going to be such a pain compaired to the D90. Are there any words of wisdom before I get started? :confused: :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Im using 3x3 3/16's. While mine have been laying arround for a year or so and still haven't been mounted I am keeping them straight. One reason is for ease (although it is fairly easy to bend if you have access to a press) the second reason is the the gap created by a straigt slider looks better to me than a banana shaped slider. Although with my truck ('90 RR) being black, the gap is less conspicious than on a white truck. Lastly Mr. Slade might be able to offer some pics of his sliders(white RR, 3x3 tubing)


-Jeff

My highly skilled fabbing buddy put the bend in 2x2x.250 with a rosebud.

I do not think 1/4" is overkill at all. You should see how bent the underside of the SG ones I have are. Wish they would have gone thicker. The weight is not much difference. The strength gains are enormous and the weight is low so who cares. I forgot the name of the machine that puts the bend in, but it looks like three giant wheels that make the bend so that it contours the body.

Having to outsource that part, I wonder how much you will save when you are all finished??? Another option to make the slider contour the body is to buy an additonal tube and cut a wedge sliver out of it and weld that on the top. You could then grind the welds perfectly smooth (they are not crucial at all for strength, so grind away) and it would give a nice bow shape look.

Has anyone ever thought of going with thicker steel for the rocker guard and making them not so tall. It seems that all Rover owners are not able to do 8" lifts like the J**p owners and every inch of lift counts.

Way

Originally posted by Way
Has anyone ever thought of going with thicker steel for the rocker guard and making them not so tall. It seems that all Rover owners are not able to do 8" lifts like the J**p owners and every inch of lift counts.

Way

ive always wondered the same thing. why not make a 1/4" wall, 1x3 slider that would yield you TWO INCHES more ground clearance under the sill, instead of a 3x3?

doesnt make sense to me.

hell if you were worried about strength you could even go to 3/8, although they would be almost solid :eek:

and heavy :D

3/16 is plenty thick.
Remember they are only as strong as what you have them connected too................

Originally posted by WBDISCO
............At first I thought about 3x3 1/4" tube, but is that a little overkill. Also, does anyone have an ideas on how to make the slider so it will go with the contour of the sill panel. ?..............

I'm using 2 x 3 x 3/16 tubing. Had them on now for close to 4 years and they've held up great. The fellow who made them for me heated the tubing with a rosebud, as suggested by OS, and shaped them to the contour of the truck.

In my own opinon, if you use a tubing 1/4" or heavier, chances are the mounting points will fail first and drive the slider up into the truck. With lighter material, the worst that can happen is the slider takes the impact and gets creased, and that can always be replaced or fixed.

Marty

Why not use a frame support also. Similar in concept to angle iron is what I have in mind. Basically the angle iron would corner the frame. A drilled and taped hole on the bottom would be a nice start. A baking plate secured with a bolt that ran through the entire frame would be plenty overkill. Possibly 1/2" bolts for overkill strength. A support brace from the slider to the angle iron piece would work great. This would strengthen the side impact of the slider as well. Especially if you plan on putting those nerf tube things on the slide of the slider.

When I say 1/4" should be used, I was not saying that the same mounting style that SG uses should be used. With proper bracing I think 1/4" is as small as you should go. The SG ones are 3/16" (I think) and mine are all jacked up.

Way

EDIT: re-readin this post, I think I may have had to many :beer: (s) when writing this. Typos fixed (better anyways).

I have taken it upon myself to make a slider, but what materials do you think I should use?? At first I thought about 3x3 1/4" tube, but is that a little overkill. Also, does anyone have an ideas on how to make the slider so it will go with the contour of the sill panel. The damn Disco sliders are going to be such a pain compaired to the D90

An easy way to get the contour of the sill panel is to make cuts thru 3 sides of the tube with your off cut saw , grind the edges of the cut, bend the cut closed and reweld.

The tube ends up as a series of straights but the closer the cuts are together the tightler the radius you can make.

This saves the cost of having someone bend it for you and I don't like giving other people money when you can do it yourself.

John D

having never made a set for a disco specifically my advise should be taken with a grain of salt but we just used 2x3x3/16 box from a steel years capped off the ends and then mounted through the posts in the rear and with bracketry up front. We used 1/2 bracketry that we cut with a torch so it isn't that hard to build something that you can slam your truck down on and not bend anything. For a disco I assume that you are just going to the bottom of the sill like most mass produced ones are right now. I'd definately go to the frame with an extra support. I would guess that making a piece of flat plate that goes from the middle or bottom of the slider to the frame wouldn't be too hard and would add significant strength. Hard to describe with words but if I"m not clear just call me stupid and ask for a better explanation.

-ben

All of the sliders I've seen on discos and range rovers that actually get used and attach to the sill have failed. I installed some rovertym heavy duty ones with the angle iron and half inch bolt attachment and they bent up into the door, presumably due to the nerf bars that stick out and give extra leverage.

So when a friend with a Range Rover wanted some sliders I decided I give it a shot making some. I didn't worry about the contour thing. I knew they had to be attached to the frame so I used 2"X2"X1/4" rec tubing and bolted it to the underside of the front and rear frame outriggers with a 1/8" backing plate on the top side. Then 1.5"X1/4" square tubing was slid into the 2x2 to extend down and bent out to attach to the slider. SO the slider is held in place by the frame outriggers/body supports not the body/sills. Then as an extra measure some 2X3 tube was welded to the backside of the slider about 1/4" below the front and rear door pillars. Therefore if there is enough force to flex them 1/4" they'll contact the door pillars which are pretty thick. The key is that there's no twisting force at work on the sill, only a straight up push on the pillars.

So far he hasn't had any trouble with them and they were a PITA to make, a lot more involved than bolting to the sills.

On the subject of sliders I was looking at some SG sliders on a 110. THose things must be a joke I mean the attach through the normal bulkhead bolt up front but the primary support in the back is a little piece of channel that is not really part of the frame structure. It bolted to this little piece of channel with 2 bolts that looked to be 8mm or 5/16". They also bolt to the body along the length and I can't see that these would do anything. Maybe I'm wrong but I see no way in the world that they could support that vehicle.

Maybe you guys are right about loosing the bend. I mean I really don't give a damn if it is curved. I can always make them "look" pretty after I am finished. I Think I am going to go ahead and use the 3x3 1/4" square tubing, but I am going to have to do some thinking on how I am going to do the mounts to the frame. I will keep you guys updated. :beer: :flipoff2:

The cutting through three sides is the way to make the bends. I built a frame for my '27 roadster this way and the frame matches the outside contours of the body perfectly. As long as your penetration is good:D , everything will hold up great.

OK, I have the tube and I am "was" in the middle of putting the bend in it, using the "cutting three sides" technique. But damn, it takes a lot to get that to bend. After jumping on it and piliing things to weigh it down, I just pulled the front tire of my truck on it and there it went. I tacked it in to place but the second I pulled off of it, the damn welds broke. Anyway, I am going to get a hold of a more heavy duty welder tomorrow, and try again. I will also take some pics and post them. I beleive it is quittin' time. :beer: :beer: :flipoff2:

WBDISCO,
I've fabricated sliders in the past and my method for bending the tube is to make the three sided cuts in four places. Place a 4x4 block of wood on what will be the inside radius of the slider and stretch a ratchet strap from end to end over the wood block. As you tighten the ratchet you can fine tune the curve by tack welding in each location as required. Try increasing the amperage and wire feed by about 20% for the tack welds, you'll want very good penetration (I hope Merv doesn't read this) to hold the curve in place. Also when you finish weld jump from place to place to prevent warping.
Mike
:usa:

Ok, guys I'm a little curious about your bending techniques!

Four years ago I didn't know all this fancy smancy stuff so I just made straight sliders (2x3x3/16) and mounted to the sill. But, the sills are getting rusty so I'm losing my strength and it's time to reloate to the frame mounts. However, they have held up extremely well and no air leaks either during these years.

Jeff, tell me how you would go about bending a long slider in a 20ton press. Perhaps supporting the ends with strong vertical supports then placing the press in the middle? I'd think the bend would go away when the pressure is off.

OS, explain to me about the Rosebud technique. Is it simply heating it with a torch and then applying force at the end?

Greg, I can't quite picture the cutting "three sided cut" thing :( .

Thanks.

Ali
sliders for dummies

Ok, I have taken some pics. They have basically the slider itself, and the cuts for the bend. I haven't started on the mounts yet but i think i have a pretty good idea of how i am going to do it. Who do I send the pics to, to get them posted??

Ali, as far as the three-sided cut technique goes, think of the tubing as a loaf of bread. Pretend that you are slicing the bread, but don't cut through the bottom.

The material removed by making the cut will be enough so that when you close the gap by bending the ends of the tubing up, there will be a slight bend in the tube. It will take several cuts placed along the tubing, but it will give you a very slight radius to the tubing.

I built a strret rod frame from scratch this way. My friends thought I was crazy, but when they saw the results, they were really inpressed. You just have to make sure that you bevel the edges of the cuts so that you get proper penetration for the welds.

Gotcha Greg. Basically you're taking small wedges out of the tubing. This is really easy to do with a chop saw.

Thanks.

Ali:D

Ali,
You're not even taking out a wedge. If you remove the thickness of the saw blade (called a kerf) in four places, and deburr or chamfer the edge of the kerf you will be able to produce the contour you need. Also remember that the tube may curve a bit more than intended due to the heat from welding (don't ask how I know that :confused: ). Hope this helps.
Mike
:usa:

Yeah Ali, DON'T take a wedge out. It will cause the tubing to have WAY too much curve. Just cut with a band saw and reweld. A few of those and you'll be surprised by how much the tubing will bend.

Ok, you guys make sense. Now, about the other two methods of bending: press and Rosebud? :confused:

Rosebud is a torch big torch tip used for heating up the metal. You would put the heat to the side you wanted to bend and it is going to curl towards you. We use to actully put slight bends in I beams with just the rosebud. For something like slider it would work perfect. The best way to do it on a brake press would be a radius die top with a rubber die bottom. It would take alot more time but would be more precise. A set of rollers would be another option.

Ahh, now I get it (sorry, slow learner). I'll see if I can find a rosebud for my oxy-acet.

Thanks.

Ali