Open source frame brackets for bolt on slider fabrication

[1 Bored Clerk]

I'm building sliders for my 2013 AC Tacoma. I like to build stuff and have something a little unique. I also don't care to weld anything to my frame. This means that, for this slider project, I have to design my own bolt on frame plates. I know there are budding DIY'ers out there that would love to make their own sliders but are intimidated by the frame attachment. So, since I have to do the work anyway, I thought I'd share it all. Once I have my sliders built and I am happy with the fit of the frame brackets on my truck, I'll offer up (FOR FREE!!) all of the files necessary to have a set of frame plates made...or make it easy for you to make your own. This will also be a build thread for my sliders. Be patient, I expect this will be a month long process (or so).

**FRAME PLATE FILES ARE READY! READ POST #26 FOR DETAILS!**

Here's a ROUGH mockup of my sliders




The tubing kickout at the back of the slider will NOT stick out that far. It's pretty gross here but I have a CAD version that looks much nicer. I'll post up a screen shot of that later today. Overall, I really like the look, though.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Here is the mockup of the frame plate. I'll be putting this in CAD today. Once it's in CAD, I'll print it out on paper and give a quick test fit (on both sides) to make sure that it looks to match up with all of the holes properly. After that, it'll be ready to get cut out of 3/16" steel and bent!




These will be trimmed up, minimized, and look pretty good overall. All corners will have a nice radius. I hate having square corners on stuff...it just doesn't look finished.

 

[keezer37]

:lurk:

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Progress update. I've got most of the slider in CAD now. I need to make some adjustments. I really wanted the slider to go from wheel well to wheel well but due to the shape of the truck, and how tightly I'd like to have the sliders sit to the body (3/4" or so), I'll have to shorten the slider up a bit. I'll verify measurements then make the appropriate adjustments to the design.




*edit* Well, those are tiny pics. I'll see what I can do about that in the next day or two.

 

[hrt4me]

looks good!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

The frame plate files are out for quote! Hopefully, I'll have some numbers back soon. I'm expecting that I'll have to make some tweaks to the first set ('adjusting' mounting holes, etc). It could be perfect right off the bat but I'm certainly not expecting that.

I'll be completely transparent on this process as well. I'll let you guys know what it cost me to get this done. I'm excited to see how this project moves and changes as people take this on as their own.

I'm tweaking the actual rock rail as well. I'm hoping to have that pretty wrapped up by next week with all the files I need to get plate cut and have tubing bent. I'll post up new screen shots as I have them. Hopefully we'll transition to photos of actual metal (and welding/grinding!) soon.

 

[SGTCap]

Awesome idea and very generous. I'll be following this closely

 

[Wainiha]

Interested.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

I gave the green light for a vendor to get my frame plates done. I am still waiting for two other vendors to return quotes but I took the first one for two reasons: 1. He can get it done by end of day wednesday and 2. Price seemed very fair. So, now to the info you care about:

3/16" steel
Laser Cut
Bend

$64.00 for each plate. $128 total! I'm really pumped about that price. I may get a cheaper quote to come in but that's okay. I have the opportunity to devote ALL of next weekend to this project so it was really important for me to get these plates in my hands by then. I'll post up the other quotes when I get them so you can see the range. After all, this is all about learning!

 

[keezer37]

Wow. Agree. At that price why not move forward.

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Right!? Haha...I'm wondering if he forgot a 1 in there somewhere. Oh well, I have the email that says $64 x 2 so I'm good. I'll post up pics of the brackets as soon as I have them. Fingers crossed that I measured everything correctly and they just bolt up with absolutely no modification necessary. Sure...

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Picked up the frame plates today! They look really good. It's a LOT of 3/16" steel...they're pretty heavy. I may look into trimming more material out of them as I get the legs welded on. We'll see...
These were laser cut and cost $128.00...TOTAL! That includes steel, laser cutting and bending...and a 3-day turnaround. I'm really pumped and will be using this company again for the laser cutting involved in making the outer portion of my sliders.






I gave it the 'ol 'hold 'em up there and admire' test fit. It looks really promising! I'll be doing a full bolt up this weekend that will hopefully include making all the backing plates and maybe welding the legs and basic outer 2"x3" tube.






This bolt head under the frame rail was REALLY tight so I left it in for now. It was preventing me from getting a really good test fit. I didn't feel like going back to my garage (other side of the apt complex) to get my 3/8 drive breaker bar. I'll save that for this weekend.

Can't wait to get to work on these on Saturday!!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

Oh, forgot to mention two things:

1. One of the RFQ (request for quote) came back as a 'no quote' and I still haven't heard about the other one. Don't really care...the company I used was very nice and quick. I like that!
2. There is the possibility of having 13 mounting points (11 on the side and 2 on the bottom) on each frame bracket without drilling. Unfortunately they are all in, more or less, a line. I still don't want to drill my frame. So, my plan from the beginning was to make a mount that welds to these frame brackets that allows me to bolt to the arms on my Relentless Fab skids. There is an arm that goes from the transfer case skid to the frame on each side. I'm going to cut the end of that off and make a bolted junction. It should add a lot of strength to the frame plate. We'll see as this progresses. It would be very easy to drill the frame on the bottom and I may put the holes in the files for the frame plates just so you don't have to guess.

 

[MtnClimber]

Very nice. I plan on having some sliders on my DC by spring and this is a great option!

 

[1 Bored Clerk]

No photo updates, but I did work on these this weekend. I'm going to tweak the CAD file a bit to bring a lot of the holes/slots down a bit on the bracket. I'll tweak my brackets with a file for now...doesn't need much...and only in a few areas. I also realized a bit of a blunder that will be fixed in the CAD file. I made all of the holes in the bracket to fit a 1/2" bolt. Duh...this is a METRIC truck! It's just damn tacky to mix inch and metric. So, 14mm was too big for the existing holes so 12mm is it on mine...and I think I'll shrink all the holes for a 12mm in the CAD file as well. It's still a damn big bolt! I cut 8 backing plates and have several more to do. That job sucked bad. Metal working (if I can even call it that) with a hacksaw and file takes its toll on your hands and self esteem. I also spent a lot of time laying under the truck going 'Hmmm, I wonder where that goes' or 'What does that thing do'. Haha...it was educational...or something.

The only real issue with fitting sliders to these trucks are the brake lines that run down the inside of the drivers side frame rail. I really wanted to figure out a way to space them off the rail to make room for the backing plates/nuts/and bolts without bending them but it looks like they'll need a bit of a tweak in a place or two. Spacing them off the frame rail puts a pretty good bind on them and brings them close to other parts of the truck. So, a few tweaks in one area...a little bit of spacing away from the frame in other areas and I think I can find a happy medium.

Also, I should have my full set of Relentless skids this week! I'm going to integrate the transfer case skid plate mounting brackets into my rock rail brackets so it will be nice to have everything at the same time and make a nice clean one-time shot at that.