Rock Sliders Weight.

[HarryO]

Almost finished building my own set of steel Rock Sliders for my D3 - more for the enjoyment of the project than to save any $$$. It actually works out almost the same $$ anyhow.

Done all the design and almost finished the prototype. I am using 100x100x6mm angle iron as the "foundation" mounted on the bolts in the sill. For the tree slider tubing part I am using 48x4mm pipe.

These things are bloody heavy and will weigh about 35kg each:eek:.

Does anyone know what the steel retail rock sliders weigh? Looked on the web but they don't seem to publish this.

Cheers.

[Gary S11]

I've looked at making them for my D1 disco, and as I started gathering the steel realised the same thing. I'm going to be carrying a lot of weight around all the time. I was going to make them for the same reason, for the fun of it like most of my mods, but now. Am thinking with the terrain around me and a 2" lift will they ever come into play.and how much extra fuel will be used lugging them around ..

[ramblingboy42]

Harry, yours sound rather substantial.

its not that much weight really though, I will be carrying about 200kg in fluids alone for my trip

[strangy]

35kg each is....substantial I don't know what the retail rock sliders weigh.
Yours aren't too far shy of the weight of a bullbar hanging off either side. Not a criticism here, just a caution on how all this gets attached to the vehicle.
That's some big wall section you are using there and if not mounted to the chassis will set up some very serious loads on the thin sheet metal you are trying to protect 99.99% of the time.
Lots of stuff on the market like this is "over built" to boast the vehicle will break before the product and it is easy to add a bit more "beef"to anothers idea when making our own. I haven't seen what is required for a D3, so the design may require a bit more steel to fit with strength, however, 6mm is over the top and I"d be looking at a redesign if that is what is required in the current design. I am currently building a set for the 130 and they will come in around 40kg for the pair.

[Tank]

Less than half of that, each, 6mm plate is a bit of overkill, the plates on my ARB's are around 3mm thick, haven't had any problems, no bends yet, Regards Frank.

[TeamFA]

Ours is a Defender, so perhaps a little different to a Disco, but our rock sliders are square section steel replacing the lower strip under the doors.

I agree they are a lot of weight that would rarely (and haven't yet) been used as actual sliders.

I'm happy to have them on there as some side impact protection, in lieu of much else on the Defender that would do the same...

[Tombie]

Way too heavy! :cool:

And why angle iron? It wont profile the body correctly...

The basic shape is vertical, 45 down to the horizontal with a lip on the horizontal

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=82272&stc=1&d=1408328274

[FeatherWeightDriver]

For comparison, Mulgo's sliders with tubes but without chequer plate add 30kg total for a 110. So for full length box steel and basically full length steel tube that ends up being about 13.5kg bare slider per side (excluding mounting hardware).

Total weight includes weight saved by removing existing panel work (2kg) under the doors and all mountings (4.5kg all up).

And yes I am somewhat anal when it comes to weights... :angel::wasntme:

[HarryO]

Thanks for the replies

The reason I went for 6mm is that it is angle iron and does not have the snug fit that follows the contours of the sill - so structurally it needs to provide it's own support. Not sure that the next sizedown (4mm) will be strong enough to hold the full weight of the car.

Take the point onboard that the weak point will actually be the sill and not the slider. I think the risk will be the twisting forces if the weight is all on the tube furtherest away from the car - looking to make a "hook" along the length that actually holds onto the inner lip of the sill - this will take a lot of load off the bolts.

Cheers

[strangy]

Now Tombie has provided a profile, I think you could go to a local sheety and have them bend that profile up from 3mm sheet( very strong in that profile) and easily enough to support the vehicle.
I did this for my D2 and the cost was $30 more than RHS which need lots of fab work and never would have looked or fitted as good.
Now someone may like to correct me, I think the sheet metal from factory is approx. 1.6mm.
With that in mind and the strength achieved from the section, 3mm profile will virtually build a serious sub chassis to the existing sill.

[HarryO]

Looked into it a bit more and looks like the material they use is about 3mm thick (1/8th in the USA). So I could have reduced the weight by about 40% (or about 20kg :eek:) by using 3mm and a wrapped form on the sill as Strangy suggested.

Sill profile is not quite 90 degrees but will definately go the formed route on V2 as Tombie suggested. See attached

Got the material already and half way through the build so will just finish these off as a very heavy "prototype" to sort out the bugs for V2 sometime in the future.

So for the moment V1 will remain 20kg overweight and tough as a brick **** house - like some of the ladies I know:wasntme::wasntme:

Will post pics and CAD file for 3mm version for those wanting to try their own build - but for my money unless you want a project - just buy them from Gordon it's easier..

[mason]

You make any head way in the CAD? I'm just embarking on building some sliders in Autodesk Alias. Are you willing to share the file?
Any tips would be appreciated.


James