2006 DC Tundra. DD meets ongoing tinkering.

[wrenchMonkey_]

Ha Ha! I did the same thing. I got one piece of 1.75 x 1.75 x 96" and a) like you too short and b) 1.75" looked too gimpy for such a long slider.
So I got a 2.0 x 2.0 x 98.5" and upped the wall thickness on the main tube to 3/16. Could have made it a little longer. Everything else is .125 wall. Ended up being 70ish lbs each with the passenger side a touch heavier with the 2" receiver.
Already added some "character" to my kick out on the drivers side on my last trip out to Whipsaw trail in BC
Air Hydraulic ram is the t*ts. Once i got the bender I figured there was no good way for me to use it without the ram. I could have made a mount for the tailer hitch, but in the end just got the SWAG kit and a ram.
Didnt want to drill my floor since I have in-floor heating.
Was told if I wanted to increase my circle of friends in the off road community all I had to do is get a tube bender.
GC

Hah that's funny. I went from 96", to 102" and I've cut and settled on 100". Fills the gap well and I am trying to take into account tubing the front wheel well for 35"s.

I see a air/hydraulic conversion kit in my future.

Thanks for the pictures of the sliders. they look great.

 

[wrenchMonkey_]

Had to get new drill to feed the tube notcher. My cordless Makita was just having its battery's eaten, which is strange. Oh well, new tool today. 1/2 Dewalt 9AMP all metal gear box 800 RPM max drill. Thing is a torque beast. Gotta love sales. That notcher seems OK, but its a bit flawed. I can't notch a 45 or greater on 2" in tube. My hole saw will run into the U strap holding the tube in. I have to finished the rest with the plasma then a file.

Got the supports in. Going with two on the short tube and one on the rear kickout.

One done! Off for 12 days away from home with work. Hope to get the other one knocked out in a few hours when I get back.

 

[AaronK]

We have that same dewalt drill at work. It's awesome. We use it to sink SDS screws. So much better than the air impact wrenches we used to use!

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk.

 

[GasCan]

I think I had the same type of pacific rim notcher from Princess Auto. Was quite limited even with 1.75" tubing. Had to tweak it a bit so it wouldn't drill off centre. One of the brass bushings came out when I was halfway done...and I only had to do 6 notched pieces. The really oblique connection between the two secondary rails was done with a grinder buy hand.

GC

 

[wrenchMonkey_]

Got the second set of sliders mocked up.
Fully welded up one set.
Started bending a 1in lip on some .250 plate that I am using for the mounts.
Tomorrow Ill start cutting the 2x2x10GA and making the frame mounts.
Undecided on some things. Thinking 1/2" below the pinch weld and about 1" below the door, that gives me an angle around 10 degrees, which I like. I could go with more, but I'd have to lower the main rail about 1.5" below the pinch weld. 10 degrees might be a bit better to for the wife to use them as side steps. Maybe I'll go 15, call it a day.
Anyone recommend more or less on my pinch/door gap?

 

[GasCan]

I would go about 1/4" or so.

I messed up the passenger side a little and was really close...about 1/8 to 1/16" of so. Every time I went around a corner and hit some bumps it would flex and hit the cab. Very annoying. Ended up notching the arms, bending the slider down and re-welding.

Secondary tube is about 10deg up (1:6"). Would look cooler with more angle but you might bend it up into the path of the door if you clobber something hard.

GC

 

[rickashay]

Sliders look great Scott! I've got about 1/2" between the top of the slider support rails and the pinch welds. I have not made pull contact with the pinch welds, even with lifting one side of the truck up with the hi-lift.

 

[wrenchMonkey_]

I am using 2x2x10GA to mount it to the frame. 4 mounts per side of 2x2 would give me roughly 16in square of welding surface. I put on some 4x6x.250 plates, with a 1in lip, much like a fish plate. Gives me 96 inches of weldable area on the frame. Much better at distributing the load across the frame.
Also, got my legs cut to mount it to the frame. Going to add some gusseting across the top of the mount, triangle piece of .250, then go for some paint and weld it up. One done. Tonight I'll cut the other leg mounts, weld up the other slider, bend up the fish plates, and weld the fish plates to the frame.
Welding the frame plates was a PITA. Overhead, out of position, uphill. Fun stuff.

Going to be about 3/4 of an inch below the pinch weld, giving me 1.25in between the door and the top the tube. Final angle around 9 degrees. Give or take.

 

[tyv12]

In cold climates one thing I realized is I tapered my sliders up rather than sticking straight out, now if I drive through bad slush and it freezes and builds up on the sliders I can't open my door cuz it hits the ice on the sliders

 

[wrenchMonkey_]

Hah, never thought of that. Hope my 1.25-1.5 gap will be enough. Should be. Thanks for the tip. Never thought about that.

 

[wrenchMonkey_]

So, welding on the truck was a PITA. Mainly because the Miller 252 comes with a 15 ft gun, bit only a 10ft ground/work lead. A common gripe with an otherwise fantastic welder.

I hated how I had to come from the inside to get a clamp onto the C channel frame on the truck. Hard to get at and not very secure. So, last night, I decided to fix that problem instead of working on the sliders.

Up sized the cable from 10 ft to 15ft and went with 0/1 instead of the stock 2GA. Also put some Lenco LC-40 cable connectors on the ends. Female on the welder end and males on my attachment work clamps. All terminals were crimped, soldered and the heat shrunk.

This way I can swap out the clamp depending on what I am working on. Pretty stoked, this should make life a lot easier. Excited to use the magnetic clamp. Should make welding on round DOM easy as pie.

 

[toyotech]

Nice job on the modification. I got a baby Miller myself but I don't do much welding. Not much to weld so hard to learn lol. I could get scrap metal but I rather be building something than playing with scrap lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[toyick]

you would be suprized how much the sliders will bend up if actually used with full wait of truck.. i think the 1.25 from door should be decent. tundras are heavy.. your adding a tone of leverage with the kickouts like you have them, so i would just make sure you gusset them properly.. which by the looks of your work you will have no problems doing that


Blaaaahhhhhhhh

 

[xlcaferacer]

Sweet build thread. Wish I had the space and tools you have. I have some SERIOUS garage/tool envy!!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to detail the build steps on your truck. Its fun to see the fab work involved. I never find time to take pictures. My build thread sucks compared to yours.

 

[wrenchMonkey_]

Nice job on the modification. I got a baby Miller myself but I don't do much welding. Not much to weld so hard to learn lol. I could get scrap metal but I rather be building something than playing with scrap lol

Thanks. A baby Miller is better than no Miller . When I buy metal I always get extra. You'll always fine a use for it. 1/8 or 3/16 makes for good coupons to practice on. Cutting them into 2x6 pieces is good for practing all your joints, however, I agree, it does get a bit boring after a while. Fabrication is always much more enjoyable. The actual welding is only 20% of it. The rest is measuring, cutting, grinding, checking, eyeballing ect.

you would be suprized how much the sliders will bend up if actually used with full wait of truck.. i think the 1.25 from door should be decent. tundras are heavy.. your adding a tone of leverage with the kickouts like you have them, so i would just make sure you gusset them properly.. which by the looks of your work you will have no problems doing that

Cant wait to test them out and see. Most of my research showed around 1/4 pinch weld gap and 3/4 to 1 for door, but seems a bit tight for me. I decided to play it safe. I actually cut my mounts on the band saw after eyeballing the angles for 10 minutes. When I mocked it up, I was pretty happy with the angle, gaps and everything else. That and I amanged to get both my cuts to sit flush on what I wanted them to, and I knew if I changed it, it would never happen again. Hahah. I added some triangular gussets tonight. 1/4 steel about inch high and 5 inches long. Should help spread the load up vertically.

Sweet build thread. Wish I had the space and tools you have. I have some SERIOUS garage/tool envy!!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to detail the build steps on your truck. Its fun to see the fab work involved. I never find time to take pictures. My build thread sucks compared to yours.

Thanks! Its been a bit of a interesting journey getting all this metal fab stuff. I got my first welder this spring, a Hobart Handler 140. That was soon replaced (re: two weeks) with a Miller 211, which with 220V was night and day, and I picked up a Miller 375 Plasma for a pretty solid deal. Fast forward two months, and I could not pass up a deal. So I traded the 211/375 in for a 252 with Spoolgun/Dual Cart Runner Kit and a Hypertherm Powermax 45. Its been a pretty agressive upward dirrection, but, as I tell my fiance. I am done. Maybe a better TIG some day..... but I'll live with my Syncrowave 200 for now. I should probably spend less $ on kit and take a class or two.

Certainly not the best build thread or the most money, but with my fiance in school and her time busy with studying, I wanted to take this time to spend building things that keeps me around the house but busy. So, rear bumper, sliders and this December I'll be doing the front bumper. After that, I'll have to spend $$ on some pre-made stuff to give my self more projects to do!

Glad you enjoy it!