T100 "Bluebonnet"

[kcowyo]

I love it when I actually make progress on a project...

Me too! Looking good so far. :jumping:

Any suggestions on paint or coating?

Powdercoating costs too much for something that inevitably will wind up taking a hit and the finish getting marred. Spray paint looks a little ghetto to me but it can be good for touch ups.

I would consider a spray/roll on type of bedliner product. Something like Line X would give them a rough finish and make a "grippy" foot step for that bride of yours. She might appreciate that when the sliders are wet or muddy.

You gonna go with weld or bolt on?

 

[HongerVenture]

You gonna go with weld or bolt on?

Fairly certain I'm going with bolt on. If I weld them on the frame I destroy the paint on the inside of the frame thus creating a rust-prone location. In my neck of the woods that is a problem, so I want to keep the paint as intact as possible.

That and if I want to remove them for any reason I can. I can't think of one, but you never know.

What do you think?

 

[p1michaud]

A few words on sliders...

Fairly certain I'm going with bolt on. If I weld them on the frame I destroy the paint on the inside of the frame thus creating a rust-prone location. In my neck of the woods that is a problem, so I want to keep the paint as intact as possible.

That and if I want to remove them for any reason I can. I can't think of one, but you never know.

What do you think?

Having made the mistake welding my sliders on the first time, definitely go the bolt on route! I've just spent well over 40 hrs cutting the existing sliders off the frame without damaging the frame then grinding the remaining metal off the frame then re-polishing to return the frame to before slider welding form. :ar15: Then I re-built them to be bolt on. I can snap some pics if you want.
I'm not sure what you had in mind, but I just re-built my sliders to be bolt on using ******** Foster's Slider sketch on TTORA as a guide. Your T100 should have similar holes in the frame that you could use as tie in points. I made a few changes as follows:
1-I used 4" x 4" gussets where the slider legs weld to the U bracket.
2-I drilled a hole through the frame at the front cross member so that I could bolt from the inside of the frame similar to what Scott did here.
In discussing slider builds on TTORA most guys felt that 3 legs from the frame to the slider was sufficient when using the U bracket design on a Tacoma. For the T100 you may want to go to 4 frame supports. The other important factor was choosing material size, most people suggested using at least a 1.75” OD tubing and min 0.120” thick. Finally make sure you have sufficient cross braces between the inner and outer slider tube. I used 5 not including the two end points in my case. See attached pic I used as a reference.

A few tips for you.
1-Build your U shapped brackets and bolt them to the truck. Then position your sliders where you want them and tack them in place. I would also partially weld them in position because when I finished welding mine when they were off the truck the heat from welding caused some alignment problems when I went to bolt them in place after they were complete.

2-For a good coating get them sand blasted and have them zinc chromate primered by the same facility if possible. This cost me $25 – 35 to have mine done. I then used some roll on bed liner. It has held up great with no need to re-paint in 3 years of extremely salty and rusty environment. See pic here of what my OME coils look like after 21 months of service. If this coating can last 3 years in that same environment without rusting it’s excellent IMO!

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[kcowyo]

Fairly certain I'm going with bolt on. If I weld them on the frame I destroy the paint on the inside of the frame thus creating a rust-prone location. In my neck of the woods that is a problem....

What do you think?

I think bolt-on makes perfect sense, given your location and concerns. p1michaud makes a good case for going bolt-on as well.

 

[p1michaud]

Slider pics

Then I re-built them to be bolt on. I can snap some pics if you want.

To follow up, here are some pics I snapped tonight for you.
Side view:

Mounting points:

Front Cross member mounting bracket detail:

Front Cross member mounting bracket backing plates and bolts:
Top left bolt is 3/8" bottom is 1/2" all hardware is Gr 8.

U shapped bracket and gussets:
Bracket is 3" wide by 5 1/4" tall. Gussets are 4" x 4" x 5.5".

Back side of U shapped bracket (it's about 1/4" to 3/8" short but it works):

Finally this pic shows the location of my BudBuilt bolt in cross member for my belly pan and the location of the U shapped bracket. I would guess that the newly re-designed Demello Bolt on sliders would fit witout interferance as well. You can also see in the pic that the brake lines had to be spaced away to make room for the U bracket. I just made up a spacer that goes under the bolt for the brake line holder (top left hand corner of pic).

Cheer :beer:,
P

 

[HongerVenture]

p1michaud, excellent additional info! Thanks. This is going to come in handy for mounting the sliders. We made some additional progress last weekend. Decided to do the sliders flat rather than at a cant... allows me to keep them closer to the rocker panel.

Here it is mocked up under the rocker of the truck. Both sliders are all tacked up and ready to be fully welded. Now we just need to tack together the mounting.

(apologies for the poor-quality camera phone shot)

I'll most likely be covering these in Herculiner.

Joel

 

[Hoosier 45]

Hi Eric,
I live over north of Terre Haute. Is that a Rose-Hulman sticker I saw in the back window of your truck?

I have just recently bought an '03 DC Tacoma and sliders are first on the list. I will be teaching a machining class at ISU this fall and hope to get some welding time in.

Did you use 1 1/2 square tube? I have some laying around the garage and thought I would use it as steel prices are not getting much cheaper.
Martin

 

[p1michaud]

DIY sliders

p1michaud, excellent additional info! Thanks. This is going to come in handy for mounting the sliders. We made some additional progress last weekend. Decided to do the sliders flat rather than at a cant... allows me to keep them closer to the rocker panel.

Here it is mocked up under the rocker of the truck. Both sliders are all tacked up and ready to be fully welded. Now we just need to tack together the mounting.

Joel,
Looking nice! Not sure if you are done yet, but make sure to add a few additional pieces between the inner and outer tubes that run the length of the truck. I've heard that if you don't put enough support pieces that the outer tube will bend. I've got a total of 5 not counting the end pieces where the pipe is bent and welded to the main beam.
Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[kcowyo]

Looking good Joel!

Big style points for making your own sliders. Can't wait to see the finished product!

:lurk:

 

[flyingwil]

Joel,
Looking nice! Not sure if you are done yet, but make sure to add a few additional pieces between the inner and outer tubes that run the length of the truck. I've heard that if you don't put enough support pieces that the outer tube will bend. I've got a total of 5 not counting the end pieces where the pipe is bent and welded to the main beam.
Cheers :beer:,
P

I was going to say the same thing. Great progress Joel!

 

[Geno_T10098]

Any pictures of how to did the sliders to the frame, i was looking at mine and im trying to get the right angle to mount them. Let me know thanks

 

[SC T100]

Bump for updates...anything new? I have had my T100 for about a year and I like the rear storage build. Beautiful truck btw.

 

[HongerVenture]

Update...

I think this thread needs an update.

Hoosier 45,
That is indeed a Rose-Hulman sticker. Graduated in '02.

p1michaud, kcowyo, and flyingwil,
Sliders are not done. I think you guys already noticed I moved to the UAE a few years back. The sliders are sitting in my buddies garage, waiting on my eventual return to the States.

Geno_T10098,
Attaching these to the frame was going to be the problem, especially given that the frame sits up higher than the bottom of the rocker panel. Let me know if you solve this one.

SC T100,
Thanks for the compliments on the truck.

The only updates are that my dad LOVES the truck. He's had the truck since I moved here... it's on loan. It's well over 200K and my dad has taken it from Kansas to California with no problems. The truck is just bulletproof. My dad has reported that the rear-fenders are starting to bubble with a bit of rust (darn the road salt!!!). That will just expedite my replacement of the bed with a UTE tray upon my return.

 

[jim65wagon]

A Ute tray would look cool!

 

[crisco]

awesome! thanks for the great ideas for my t100.