sliders...

[Triathlete]

Richard had mentioned to me that he was going to raise the price. He had not raised them since he made his first pair about 4 years ago...steel prices have gone up a lot since then around here.

[nocturnalVX]

... have you ever actually made contact with the second (round) bar gill???

I have not yet slid into a rock big enough to have needed the top bar's safety factor (I try to avoid them), but I am glad it is there.

Stric9's are weld on, RockyRoad is bolt on. Weld on was really easy, the bolt on I heard was a royal pain, especially the drilling of holes. Course, you might just be able to weld them anyways.

I have heard that you NEVER want to weld into the VehiCROSS frame, because it may weaken and crack. I remember Biju commenting on how his sliders were welded on and he had no issues... "but I haven't been in an accident".

[Triathlete]

I have used the outer bar to slide around rocks on tight turns.
The Stric9 sliders have a large plate and gussets that spread the tension over a greater area.
I would think drilling through the frame would weaken it more unless sleeves were welded into the holes to prevent crushing of the frame under hard contact.
Just a thought!



PS...I don't have no fancy degree in engineering or metalology so take what I say as just my 2 cents

[pbkid]

i too had heard that welding to the VX frame is very very very bad because its a "cold weld" frame (i have no idea what that means)...but i know that if you "hot weld" to it, it severely weakens it...

im planning on bolting mine on...i would rather have to go through the pain of bolting them on then having problems with the frame...

oh and btw...i made contact with a guy at work tonight that is a welder nearby where i live...he seams very very reasonable with prices...
i plan on going to talk to him about skids in the next few days...i will let you all know what he asks for something similar to kenny's...with a few tweaks of my own ....

[Ascinder]

A cold weld (in this case) is one that doesn't have a lot of heat soak into the surrounding metal. The heat soak will anneal the tempered(heat treated) frame and basically revert it to mild steel making it weak. Where the weaker metal transitions to the stronger metal cracks can form due the weak being able to flex against the strong. Essentially it probably means our frames were TIG wleded instead of the more popular production MIG welding. TIG can be more precisely controlled and effects a smaller area of metal, but is far more time consuming than MIG.

[pbkid]

^^^^ so does that mean that if they use a TIG instead of a MIG than its a safe weld job?? and wont affect the strength of the frame??

[Ascinder]

It will, but to a far lesser extent. Depending on who is doing the TIG welding. Our frames are pretty beefy anyways, so it isn't likely to be anywhere near as big of a problem as some would have you believe. Make sure if you do weld it though to avoid vertical welds, always go at an angle. Doing that reduces the chances of it cracking and failing. Just imagine if you land on a rock, and there is a small crack in your vertical weld. The next time you land on a rock, all the shcock forces are able to travel straight up the established crack, right up the weld and cause a failure. With an angled weld, the upward force can't tavel the weld as easily. The method I would recommend is for someone to just come out and make a belly pan with attached sliders. That way it bolts up nicely and if you damaged a slider, it can be worked on with no vehicle down time and you wouldn't have to cut it off of the frame. If you are wheeling hard enough to need sliders, then you are wheeling hard enough to need a better skidplate too