'89 K5 The Bulldozer

[Tnsejed]

I was just measuring for material and I need 7ft per side. 1/4 vs 3/16 will be a big difference.

Yeah it adds up. I run about 60" length but go long towards the rear tire for a footstep. With my old sliders I had 2x3". I knew cutting them off I was going to have to go wider just due to having to cut them off and gain access.

The 2x3 was a good size and was much lighter than 2x5. The other benefit is the 2x3 took quite a bit of abuse. 2x5 I see as way easier to dent in the bottom, hence the tube reinforcement I did. 2x5 however allows you to put the tube to frame connections at a steeper angle, getting them further out of the way of rocks. With the old tubes I never really got hung up on those tubes, they got scratched, but never stopped me.

It's an interesting exercise. Some guys plate the whole boatside area, some don't. Some go full flat belly and I went the other direction. I went for as much clearance as possible knowing that could help keep the weight down too. I rarely ever hit my ar400 skid plate.

There's no right or wrong way and each can have pros and cons.

 

[mrk5]

Is AR400 cheaper than AR500? I've been thinking about using some to redo my skid plate setup.

 

[Tnsejed]

Is AR400 cheaper than AR500? I've been thinking about using some to redo my skid plate setup.

I've never directly compared costs, but ar400 is used extensively in the mining industry, although so is ar500. AR400 is lower hardness but offers a more forgiving welding experience. HAZ cracking can be managed easier in the little AR plate welding experience I have. With that said I have had issues in the past with that. Ductility is a bit better and ultimate yield is fine. The goal here is less possibility of cracking under stress. I'd rather have the plate bend a bit before cracking.

It slides nice and I have had great wear resistance against rocks with it, also it has not cracked, even around the weld areas. It almost looks mildly unused under my truck even though I've set the entire weight of the rig against granite on it.

 

[Tnsejed]

Started working on the sliders. I've definitely lifted more than the surgeon alloted weight limit of 15lbs, but I've been taking it easy for the most part. Doing it slowly and using the floorjacks for just about everything. Worst part is getting up from the creeper.

Aside from that its going well.

Original sliders coming out.

 

[Tnsejed]

New sliders being fabbed.

 

[rderosier]

Started redoing the sliders. Going to cut the old ones off, including all the tie-ins, and then mount these. added some tube inserts to the middle sections where the old ones were giving way. I suppose the old ones don't owe me anything as they took a ton of abuse.

It's ready to get the old ones off but I had surgery last week and now I'm healing.

View attachment 493045

New sliders being fabbed.

View attachment 493839

Repost, I think he's a bot

 

[skunked]

Just as an FYI, I run 2x4 0.25" sliders and they've held up well. I hit them pretty hard and often and I don't think they're dented anywhere.

 

[doubletrouble]

Repost, I think he's a bot

It’s the pain meds.

 

[Tnsejed]

Got the new sliders in and ready for some spray bomb action.

 

[doubletrouble]

Looks good.

 

[miniwally]

Looks beefy, I do wonder if you will come to hate that angle tube going from the mid-span of the slider to the seat frame. There could be some direct transfer of hits that would otherwise be buffered a bit with that not there. Your back will get let you know how it feels about that tube in due time.

 

[Tnsejed]

Looks beefy, I do wonder if you will come to hate that angle tube going from the mid-span of the slider to the seat frame. There could be some direct transfer of hits that would otherwise be buffered a bit with that not there. Your back will get let you know how it feels about that tube in due time.

I thought about that a few times and you might be right. All the other tubes were already on the truck and hit the crossmembers or rear link nodes, so those should feel the same.

That tube you're talking about hits the node shown below. You're right though that each one of those other tubes has so much more length to the force transfer, whereas this one is just straight up slider to seat frame area.

The second I feel it way too hard is the day i'm cutting that tube out.

 

[Tnsejed]

That's enough of the repair garbage. Now its time for cool stuff. New spring package on the back I want to try. Both different springs. Heavier extended force to push the axle down, but lighter total force under compression. When I ditched all the spare part weight in the back it really needed lighter rates, hence the old preload. We'll see how this feels. I've wanted a change in the rear for some time now, probably valving as well but one thing at a time.

 

[doubletrouble]

Glad we were part of your final testing before the change. You made it into our exclusive calendar.

 

[Tnsejed]

Went out on Saturday and had a quite eventful day. Bulkhead connector decided it was finally time to start acting up. Good news is when the oil pressure warning light went off it wasn't actually oil pressure. Sent intermittent power to lots of interior and gauge electronics, including the locker relay coil pin power. So we turned around, but not before getting in about 30 more miles.

Of interest is the one eibach lower spring in the new rear spring package is either a bad spring or I'm dancing on the slenderness ratio limit. I actually have not had one though at a 150lb rate that bowed like this. It was always word of mouth that led me to believe that below 125 was danger zone. Passenger side is perfect, driver side will wear through the lower coilover cap in short order. I've seen plenty of rigs with that problem but usually its like <100inlb rates on buggies.

So we'll see what eibach says if they want to switch it out. I also have another idea to try. I may just buy another spring too, but I hate playing part roulette. The rear felt really good on the trail so I want to push forward.

 

[rderosier]

Went out on Saturday and had a quite eventful day. Bulkhead connector decided it was finally time to start acting up. Good news is when the oil pressure warning light went off it wasn't actually oil pressure. Sent intermittent power to lots of interior and gauge electronics, including the locker relay coil pin power. So we turned around, but not before getting in about 30 more miles.

Of interest is the one eibach lower spring in the new rear spring package is either a bad spring or I'm dancing on the slenderness ratio limit. I actually have not had one though at a 150lb rate that bowed like this. It was always word of mouth that led me to believe that below 125 was danger zone. Passenger side is perfect, driver side will wear through the lower coilover cap in short order. I've seen plenty of rigs with that problem but usually its like <100inlb rates on buggies.

So we'll see what eibach says if they want to switch it out. I also have another idea to try. I may just buy another spring too, but I hate playing part roulette. The rear felt really good on the trail so I want to push forward.

Wack

 

[Tnsejed]

Eibach is sending me out a new coil. The bow is there without any weight. We will see.

Anyways I've got an idea. I took some used sliders and parted off a chunk to fit inside a second long-side slider. I'm gonna try and run two long sides. I run long up on these as my uppers on both ends are soft enough they smoke the crossover nuts quickly without it.

Block height spacing to the crossovers, as well as lower spring, for two long sides is fine. So I won't crush anything.

Unfortunately the old interior slider sets are thrashed. So I've got more coming.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I need to get a set of those AGM sliders, my kings are worn out after 10 years.

 

[Tnsejed]

I need to get a set of those AGM sliders, my kings are worn out after 10 years.

They're pretty cool. Navid is the guy I have spoken with and he's pretty cool. The only thing I've found with them is between the insert and outer aluminum can get packed with silt bed dust and they stop spinning. So I clean them every winter.

 

[Tnsejed]

Guess it's time for output seals. Just a heads up but there's a bunch of gear oil on Jaws 2 at Blanca peak. Lol. One of these days I'd love to ditch my cable shifter setup, but that's maybe for a time when I actually have time to design a linkage.