Aaron Gibson

As I did a bit of damage to my truck that some of you may have seen in the offroad section I will soon be building a set of rock sliders for my truck out of 1x2 .120 wall rectangle tubing. I have looked all over the place and never found anyone that makes them for the f150. I will post pictures while in progress and when finished. If there is enough interest from other members maybe I will build multiple sets.

mass-hole

Curious to see what you do with this. I can’t believe no one make sliders with how many F150’s Ford spits out every year.

Aaron Gibson

Thanks, I wasn't sure how much interest there would be given when it comes to rocks people just usually build a jeep or samurai. I have a design in mind I just need to take measurements and write them down. I'm a welder fabricator so it's not like I'm just cobbling together pieces of metal. It's my intent to use my truck as a rolling representative of my work.

Steve83

Looks like there are a few...
And that doesn't even cover the ones from WildHorses, BroncoGraveyard, N-fab, 4WheelParts, RockyRoad, Stage3, RPG...

Aaron Gibson

The problem with most of those are they bolt to the body and run more like a nerf nar than anything else. What I'm going to build runs from the frame out to protect the underside of the body and rocker as well. I have found zero for a single cab size is a more appropriate statement that I should have clarified. The only ones that I would be mildly interested in giving a try are from RPG, but again those are made for extended cabs and supercrew on top of being in the california price range for raptor owners ($$$).

Steve83

Well, unless you're engineering at least one new crossmember in the frame to bear the weight of the truck from an outrigger rock slider, they're not going to work. You can't put the weight of the truck a foot out from the frame, and expect the frame rail NOT to twist. That's why those are bolted to the body - that's where the weight is, and what you're actually trying to protect. But if you're constantly dragging the truck over rocks, nothing is going to protect it from everything.

mass-hole

and the body mounted ones you suggested are better?

Steve83

"Better" is very subjective. They exist. They're available. Look for pics of them installed to see if they're "better" for how you use your truck.

The factory cab steps for '94-96 Fs & Broncos were very weak, and they rust out. So I redesigned them in a way that I consider "better", but they still attach to the body exactly where & how the originals did, and they're strong enough to use as jacking points on a VERY light F150. So it really doesn't take much additional structure, if it's applied to the right locations. I don't think the side of the frame is the right location. And based on what Ford designs & recommends, it looks like Ford doesn't think it's the right location, either.

(phone app link)


The links at the bottom of this caption show Ford publications on the subject of frame specifications & modifications:

(phone app link)

Brian Glendenning

My factory side steps are getting beat up from hard bangs on rocks, so I am very interested in this topic!

Steve83

Remove them before they're destroyed, and replace them with something fabricated that can be repaired or replaced as needed.