As I am anxious about the delivery of my Trialmaster tomorrow, I am also contemplating and planning the build. Please feel free to subscribe to my build thread for ideas and the like.
First, as I mentioned I am taking delivery tomorrow of my slate blue Trialmaster with oxford white top. Mods currently planned are the White KNuckle Off Road Sliders. I ultimately went with White Jnuckle as they are a proven commodity for me since I have had them on my Land Cruiser for several years. They are solid, hold up well, and also have an adequate step that my wife doesn't gripe about very much.
I did quite a bit of research on the sliders and was trying to find something that I felt confident would support the weight of the vehicle when crashing over a rock. I reached out to Buzz Overland in the UK. Alex was the first to field my request to order the sliders and advised me of the US Distributor, OK4WD. He was super nice and responded quickly. Later, I requested some detail as to the construction and attachment of the sliders to the vehicle. I was curious and a little concerned asd the pictures I could find did not provide much detail as to the attachment and support of the sliders. Ryan, also a partner at Buzz, jumped in with the following comments and photos. WOW! What perfect detail and response to my question. Take a look at the details and the photos. If you ever had any question on the strength of these sliders, I am sure there wont be any further confusion.
Hi John,
Our Rock sliders use the same mounting points as the factory rock sliders. So the front and rear plates bolt onto a pad specifically designed to support the weight of the vehicle. The central bracket bolts directly to the chassis rail in the same place the factory sliders do.
All three of the brackets on our sliders also have a central rib welded into them (you can see the slots in the centre of the arm in the photo below, this is welded on the top and bottom of the bracket) to provide further rigidity to any impacts to the underside. You can see this in the photos below along with the welds. On the base plate we run approx. 3” of weld in a hit and miss configuration, so definitely not spot welds. We do this to reduce the amount distortion on the baseplate. Everything else is fully welded including where the bracket attaches to the slider body.
In terms of the welding of the upper portion of the steps, are you referring to the slider body? If so, these are fully welded. I don’t have any photos of the top of the slider to hand. In the photo below you can see along the length of the slider body which you’ll be able to see is fully TIG welded.
If you have any other questions or would like any more photos please do let me know.
Cheers,
Ryan Thomson
Needless to say, I am super impressed with these sliders and have already placed my order. Additionally, I am working on placing my order for the Bull Bar (factory) from Expedition HQ's in Australia. Shipping is madly expensive but I honestly think it is worth it. Expedition HQ also has some very sun screens for the safari windows I have ordered.
So far, this is the plan in the immediate future. There will be more, so stay tuned.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT ANY AND ALL MODIFICATIONS I MAKE MAY OR MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR VEHICLE.
First, as I mentioned I am taking delivery tomorrow of my slate blue Trialmaster with oxford white top. Mods currently planned are the White KNuckle Off Road Sliders. I ultimately went with White Jnuckle as they are a proven commodity for me since I have had them on my Land Cruiser for several years. They are solid, hold up well, and also have an adequate step that my wife doesn't gripe about very much.
I did quite a bit of research on the sliders and was trying to find something that I felt confident would support the weight of the vehicle when crashing over a rock. I reached out to Buzz Overland in the UK. Alex was the first to field my request to order the sliders and advised me of the US Distributor, OK4WD. He was super nice and responded quickly. Later, I requested some detail as to the construction and attachment of the sliders to the vehicle. I was curious and a little concerned asd the pictures I could find did not provide much detail as to the attachment and support of the sliders. Ryan, also a partner at Buzz, jumped in with the following comments and photos. WOW! What perfect detail and response to my question. Take a look at the details and the photos. If you ever had any question on the strength of these sliders, I am sure there wont be any further confusion.
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Our Rock sliders use the same mounting points as the factory rock sliders. So the front and rear plates bolt onto a pad specifically designed to support the weight of the vehicle. The central bracket bolts directly to the chassis rail in the same place the factory sliders do.
All three of the brackets on our sliders also have a central rib welded into them (you can see the slots in the centre of the arm in the photo below, this is welded on the top and bottom of the bracket) to provide further rigidity to any impacts to the underside. You can see this in the photos below along with the welds. On the base plate we run approx. 3” of weld in a hit and miss configuration, so definitely not spot welds. We do this to reduce the amount distortion on the baseplate. Everything else is fully welded including where the bracket attaches to the slider body.
In terms of the welding of the upper portion of the steps, are you referring to the slider body? If so, these are fully welded. I don’t have any photos of the top of the slider to hand. In the photo below you can see along the length of the slider body which you’ll be able to see is fully TIG welded.
If you have any other questions or would like any more photos please do let me know.
Cheers,
Ryan Thomson
Needless to say, I am super impressed with these sliders and have already placed my order. Additionally, I am working on placing my order for the Bull Bar (factory) from Expedition HQ's in Australia. Shipping is madly expensive but I honestly think it is worth it. Expedition HQ also has some very sun screens for the safari windows I have ordered.
So far, this is the plan in the immediate future. There will be more, so stay tuned.
PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT ANY AND ALL MODIFICATIONS I MAKE MAY OR MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR VEHICLE.
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