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Old 12-12-2022, 08:54 AM   #11
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I am actually in the process of finishing up my sliders now. I drew up the design and had a fabricator buddy do all the hard work of fabbing them up. This last Saturday we finally got around to mocking them up under the van and figuring out the mounting part of it all. I went with a frame mount option as to me I feel like if I am going through the effort of all of the work and cost of sliders I want them to be able to protect the body in the event of any contact as well as provide a step to get into the van.

The main structure of the slider is a 2x3 .188 wall with 1.75" .120 wall DOM for the outer stringer. These are not lightweight but should be able to handle the weight of the van well.















They still aren't done as they still need to be powder coated but they should be done soon.



In addition to this project, another member on here rizzabove (active on Instagram as @faultlinevans) has completed a very similar set of sliders. He has also had a full belly skids fabricated for his van. Here is the link to his photo album on here that shows both projects.

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Old 12-12-2022, 12:18 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aarcaris View Post
I am actually in the process of finishing up my sliders now. I drew up the design and had a fabricator buddy do all the hard work of fabbing them up. This last Saturday we finally got around to mocking them up under the van and figuring out the mounting part of it all. I went with a frame mount option as to me I feel like if I am going through the effort of all of the work and cost of sliders I want them to be able to protect the body in the event of any contact as well as provide a step to get into the van.

The main structure of the slider is a 2x3 .188 wall with 1.75" .120 wall DOM for the outer stringer. These are not lightweight but should be able to handle the weight of the van well.















They still aren't done as they still need to be powder coated but they should be done soon.



In addition to this project, another member on here rizzabove (active on Instagram as @faultlinevans) has completed a very similar set of sliders. He has also had a full belly skids fabricated for his van. Here is the link to his photo album on here that shows both projects.
These look awesome!
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Old 12-12-2022, 05:04 PM   #13
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And Aacaris comes through with some more soft core van porn. Those look great!
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Old 12-13-2022, 05:22 AM   #14
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Sweet! Really got to learn welding [emoji23]

Will you add some dedicated spots for a Hi Lift? Just one spot close to each tire where the lift can‘t slide away? I guess two thicker welds would already be enough.
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Old 12-13-2022, 10:17 AM   #15
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motovan_mn:
Thanks, I am happy with how these are coming together!

Steve C:
Thanks! Trying to keep refining the van and sharing pictures when I can. I think these are going to be a nice addition to the van.

E-350:
Yeah, welding is really invaluable with these rigs. Although I know how to weld I am in no way close to being able to lay a bead like my buddy Casey can! These things look even better in person.

We didn't add any additional welds or details specifically for a Hi-Lift. I was planning on using a tube adapter like this (Link).
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Old 12-13-2022, 05:33 PM   #16
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I like that a whole lot. For anyone that already has Aluminess steps or the like, I ended up having a local fab shop make some brackets for mine to attach them to the frame. The brackets are steel and the Aluminess steps bolt to the brackets. Whether I could jack the whole van up on them I don't know (I'd guess not), but they will do much of the job and where cheaper than starting over if you have Aluminess steps or the like. I can send pictures if needed.
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Old 12-13-2022, 05:56 PM   #17
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just a heads up for those who may not know:

Attach to the frame OR the body but not both. The body to frame flex will in short order destroy anything mounted to both without a flexible coupling. This goes for everything especially propane and fuel tanks!
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Old 12-13-2022, 06:10 PM   #18
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Second what Ray says here. I had a good conversation with one of the guys from Aluminess about this this past summer. Particularly on vans these things can flex around more than you realize.
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Old 12-13-2022, 06:48 PM   #19
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@aarcaris those are sweet looking sliders! Will they bolt to the frame directly or weld a flange to the frame and then bolt the sliders to that?
Would you mind sharing the approximate cost for materials and fab labor?
Would you be willing to share your design specs?
Lastly you mentioned a link to a photo album for full skids but didn't see it.
Did I mention those skids look awesome!
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Old 12-14-2022, 08:34 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CDACamper View Post
@aarcaris those are sweet looking sliders! Will they bolt to the frame directly or weld a flange to the frame and then bolt the sliders to that?
Would you mind sharing the approximate cost for materials and fab labor?
Would you be willing to share your design specs?
Lastly you mentioned a link to a photo album for full skids but didn't see it.
Did I mention those skids look awesome!

They will bolt to the frame directly. We went back and forth on the best way to mount them and debated doing something similar to the way weldtec does theirs (weld and bolt) but figured just bolting would be easier and accomplish the goal. We had to get a bit creative for the forwardmost mount as the frame transitions from open C frame to fully boxed making it much more difficult to mount the hardware to the frame. I'm guessing this is part of the reason some have gone with the weld to frame and bolt to mount method.

I haven't got the final cost of the sliders yet, but they aren't cheap. Having things custom fabbed by a good fabricator comes at a premium, especially with the cost of steel right now. I helped him out a little bit with getting all the mounting stuff positioned and figured out but I am still paying for 99% of the work to be done by someone else. So all that to say I am betting it's going to be somewhere in the ballpark of $2,000-$2,500. If you had all the skill, tools, and time to do it yourself I guess you could probably cut the cost down to $1,200 to $1,500.

Happy to share some design specs. Anything in particular that you would be interested in?

The link to the photo album is embedded here: rizzabove's Ujoint-offroad 4x4 camper home brew
His sliders and skids are about halfway down the current first page.

Thanks for the compliment! I'll share some more pictures once I get them back from powder coating and they are all mounted up.
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