I called and ordered a set of Sliders for my Xterra on Tuesday and they were delivered by UPS on Friday.
Thank you Calmini for the prompt delivery and great customer service.
John Medley

Mine took two months!

Just arrived the other day though, glad the wait is over.

what exactly is a slider? Any pics of this thing in question?

Body Armor that protects the rocker panels, can be used to "slide" over rocks and a hi-lift jack point among others things.

Picture shows Snoopy using the CALMINI ones to successfully navigate a fun rock garden

Or you can use them to pivot your truck around an obstacle if you have ones that protrude far enough away from the body panel. (non-Calmini pictured)

It all depends on the obstacle.

The EOE sliders are 2x4" tubing, CALMINI are 3x2" tubing, others are 2x2".

I'm sure there are plenty of rocks out there that even a 2x6" slider wouldn't get around.

I have had no problems pivoting around many rocks, and prefer the fact that the CALMINI sliders offer an extra inch of ground clearance and don't hang so low and wide, yet I'm still waiting for a cool 2" tubular design like Olympic 4X4 makes for Cherokees, except the Xterra door has too little body below it.

Great picture Toolbox! I have had no problems with the CALMINI sliders. My rocker panels are completely free of expensive dents thanks to CALMINI!

Well not exactly...



but close.

I saw those on your truck during the last run in San Diego at Corral Canyon - they look sharp.

Pretty obvious a custom fabrication, but where did you get them done?

Dirty Parts.

I still think that the EOE sliders stick out too far..

Negatives for EOE:

More levered force on the frame due to the fact that the protrude out farther. (I think there have been some reports of this about tweaked frames)
Gets you dirty when you exit the vehicle (again due to the protrusion - just like the OEM rails)

Positives:

Great place to step to get to the roof
Can use a Highlift Jack on them
Protects from rocks (but don't they all?)
Lets you pivot around trees and rocks that are so far away from the truck they would never touch anyway.


Negatives for Calmini:

Not as easy to use a step for the roof (there is a bit of a ledge and if you don't have Yetti feet you can use it - but hey these are rock sliders not step rails, right?)

Postives:

Closer to the body/frame which reduces stress and levered force on the frame (this comes into play when you actually hit something)
Higher from the ground (less chance to drag them on something)
Can use a Highlift Jack on them
No annoying messy pants leg when you step out of the truck
Can be used to pivot around rocks and such to avoid nasty body damage

For the record I have neither of these designs. But have seen both in action.

Carlton, how do you use a hi-lift on the Calmini slider?

Also, under negatives, you forgot that they don't protect against tall obstacles (like the one in Schlud's pic). Dunno about the trails in your area, but up here we seem to pivot around large trees, stumps, rocks and other obstacles quite often.

We have members in PNWX with the Calminis, and they love them. So do I, for the fact that they don't look so damn ugly. The EOE's (and our own custom sliders, seen here ) do a great job but IMHO they ruin the look of the truck.

Has anybody attached their sliders to the pinch seem also. The Cherokee designs usually attach
to the pinch seem,and actually have a piece of steel the rests under the body of the Jeep to distribute any force from a hit. My Cherokee sliders are like that, and they are way bomb proof. I literally dropped my jeep on the passenger side slider, and it saved me a ton of damage. I just recently built a set for the Xterra, and I used 3x2 tubing with 2x2 tubing for the "legs". I was thinking about attaching them to the pinch seem for extra support????

The Calmini sliders work just like the Fabritron sliders that I have. You open the door and place the jack where you want to lift. I have done this on my sliders more times than I would like to admit.

This is good for the reason that if your jack does shift instead of banging the crap out of your door is simply lays over without any damage to the body. (although I do not believe that this has happened to anyone - be it Calmini, Eoe or Fabratron)

I may not have as many trees as you do, but my sliders (which are tucked in as much as the Calmini sliders) have never failed to protect me from tree stumps (that plus carefull driving and proper tire placement).

It is true that the EOE sliders will allow you to be more careless in your driving when around abnormally large tree stumps and such but I still perfer having the bars closer to the vehicle. ( I think of is sort of like the outriggers on some boats.. when you get good enough with your tire placement/balance/whatever you don't need something sticking out that far to help you around things..)

To each their own.. If you are happy with them and they do what you need then great.

man, that red Xterra on your slider page kicks ass!

Aww... I have seen better.. wink wink nudge nudge

Nice passive agressive dig there Carlton. How about just giving Jens and I credit for knowing what we need on our trucks where we wheel without chalking it up to some lack of driver skill or carelessness.

On my last trip, the Canadian sliderz (that Jens is talking about) proved to be better as they stuck out even more than my set. This is because of the off-camber trail and obstacles we were coming across on the side of a mountain.

I'll go for too much, rather than hope just enough is adequate for where I wheel. I realise that some people need them more for coming down on rocks, and then a higher set might be more applicable. We don't get a lot of rock gardens here. We get big rocks and stumps that have to be negotiated around usually right at a nice off-camber section of a trail.

All of the models available have advantages and disadvantages. It just so happens that nearly all of the trails here in Washington are cut for Wranglers (some even feel like they were cut for Samurais), and they have alot of hazards such as Jens and Schlud described. At the expense of a little rocker clearance, and perhaps a little more potential leverage on the frame rails, we have sliders that suit our terrain better, regardless of driver ability.

Exactly.

Roger Brown's do; the 5' of pinchweld is leveraged via 2"x2" length of box steel & there are angled "ladder rungs" that connect to another 2"x2" box steel which sits higher off the ground than the piece of steel under the pinchweld.
Great design & best value I believe.
Link HERE
Also, check out his modded 4Runner...methinks he knows what he's doing WRT mechanical design.
Just ordered mine

LAXterra...that was meant to be a compliment!!!

Those sliders look better and seem more functional than most I've seen on the market. I figured the only way to get something like that was custom.

I thought it was just me reading it that way. :rolleyes:

I figured that you of all people would have appreciated that after your years of doing it here on XOC and the other Xterra boards :p

Not really, they don't attach to the pinch weld, the tubing just sits underneath it.

In an impact, that can damage the seam.

You've got the wrong Ian.

Do I?

True, True, I misread the post a bit…it is the closest thing available, though.
To elaborate a bit, the likelihood of incurring damage would depend on A. how hard the truck falls on the slider--how high of a drop, etc--and B. the static gap between the tubing & pinchweld. I believe this gap is quite small as I queried him on this aspect of the sliders & he replied that the frame mount is mostly for holding the sliders on the truck and that the pinchweld is supposed to be the primary load-bearing surface.
If there is no gap at all, the force is transferred almost instantly, I think, to the body mounts.
Even with a small gap--say < 1/4"--my impression is that it would take quite a drop to damage the body in this way....

I heard of Calmini sliders bending at GOX and on some other occasions. Is that true, or just rumors that were passed around??

Rich

Just to clear things up, Don't take that as me trying to bash on Calmini. These are rumors I heard a while back, and I don't remember any answers to them. I have a Calmini product(Idler Arm Brace) I think it's great, except for that god awful Blue color Why can't they powdercoat these things yellow?

The was my reaction to Dirty Parts... not to your question.
Long story... tell you about it on the next SCCXcursion.

Rich, That was not a rummor
I was standing right there, when that happened

I have the CALMINI sliders. Mine have never bent. They may flex a tiny bit but never bend. I have slammed them down on many boulders and they have held up like a champ.

I have the 4crawler sliders. Last week I jumped the golden gate bridge and landed on a rock. Just a few scratches on the left slider.

I think that's what you'd have to do to damage the pinch seam w/ those.

Um, the body of the Xterra, and that weld were never designed to be a load bearing surface of any kind.

Has he tested this ?

A good hit could break some body mounts.

When was the last time you landed your Xterra on a rock that hard Ian?

The 4Crawler slider is bolted to the frame at the three standard points (like any other slider out there) so most of the weight of the vehicle will be placed on the frame. As the load increases and the steel defects up, the slider will hit the pinch seam and use the body to help lift the rest of the weight.

I don't know about you, but I'm not looking for rocks to land my air-borne vehicle on.

Originally posted by xoc:

Quote:

Um, the body of the Xterra, and that weld were never designed to be a load bearing surface of any kind.

Has he tested this ?

A good hit could break some body mounts.

Ahh...I think a little misunderstanding here: what I meant was that *in his design* the pinchweld is meant to be the primary load-bearing surface. I personally think it goes without saying that Nissan never meant for this to be a load bearing surface so I didn't think to be more specific ...but it's probably a good idea to clarify so some don't get the wrong idea.
As for testing...his 4Runner (I know a 4Runner isn't an Xterra!) has the same design & he has most definitely tested that.
One more thing though, I took a look at the body mounts on my Xterra & it looks like there are body mount brackets bolted on with 2 horizontally-oriented bolts--thus there will be shear forces on these bolts when the slider is stressed. Just something to consider but then again there're caveats with just about any design....

Several times.
Dropping just a few inches onto a rock causes far more stress than jacking the truck up with a Hi-Lift, or sliding over a rock. It's dynamic versus static.

It's simple physics.

Right, dropping a few inches onto a rock is more than sliding over it. But, any slider is going to deflect a bit at that height. And again, the 4Crawler slider is not being bolted to just the body. It is bolted to the frame like any other slider out there, but also uses the body to help lift the rest of the weight. I really don't think a 2" drop is going to "pop" a body mount. Roger has used this design for body on frame toyotas for years and has yet to have issues. I would also like to say that I have used my sliderz quite a bit recently without problems.

You forgot to mention that this, too, is "simple physics"

I have the 4crawler sliderz and have been testing them out lately. They are awesome. The way they work w/ the pinch weld is great! I can't ever imagine a problem w/ busting a mount....
They seemed to be the obvious choice for sliderz. These things are BUILT and tested.
Of course the pinch weld was never meant to hold loads like this, but it WORKS.

I have a pair of super strong sliders, similar in design to the EOE ones, but the backing plate (part that bolts to the Xterra frame) is 3/8" thick (very thick). I recently smacked a slider on a rock, not exactly sure when... but I whacked it pretty hard.

The pinch seam didn't do shit. It folded like a fancy pie crust. When I inspected the frame, the actual frame had taken the brunt of the abuse. it stretched the frame out a little (to take the stress of the twisting motion the slider had caused).

Did I do it on purpose? no. Did I even realize I did it at the time? no. I magine the bending of the frame lessened the severity of the impact... I believe the slider moved upward about 1.2" at the pinch seam. It then flexed back about .8", so it's slightly askew now. But imagine if it HADN'T been there....

Sliders don't completely protect against damage, unless you aren't doing the kind of trails that really require them. A LOT.

Matt

Matt.. do your sliders stick out as far as the EOE ones.. I forget..

That is one of the things that I fear in a large impact. The farther out the sliders are from the frame.. the more levered force they can apply to the frame thus increasing the possibility of frame damage.

yeah, they stick out about as far as I recall.

I think the dual ladder type are the best design, the dual tier has a lot of give in the design, without putting as much stress on the frame.

If your slider design is similar to EOE's, than you cannot apply your pinchweld experience to the 4Crawler sliders. Do you understand that these sliders have a 2"x2" steel tube just below the pinchweld & running the entire 5' length of it? I'm guessing that your pinchweld probably folded where one of the 3 mounting bars bent up into it? That's similar to banging on the pinchweld with a sledgehammer; lots of pressure (force/area) being generated there. When the 4Crawler sliders flex up, the entire 5' length of the weld is available for support due to the steel tube running the entire length of it. So, for first order approximation, if your bar that smashed the pinchweld is 2" wide, divide that into 60", & you get 30x; my point is whatever force you hit the rock with, 4crawler bars in theory would require 30x that force for similar pinchweld damage to occur (of course, it'd be the entire pinchweld that would end up folded "like a pancake").

I bashed the crap out of my 4crawler sliders on a "midnight run" last night.
NO pinchwed damage at all.
These seem to be the best bars out there. All the others seem like cheap E-Bay deals to me.
We took routes that even Jeeps and Military 4x4s wimped out on. The sliders were against the pinch weld 3 times, and NEVER dented or flexed them out of shape.
Dont knock em till ya bash em!

They will be great untill you break a body mount from being stressed from an impact

I am so thankfull that i have EOE sliders and not Calmini, and here is why:

I slid off a rock this weekened , sideways , and tree stop me from moving, my rock slider was right against the tree, and my door had about 1 inch clerance between it, and the tree ( there will be some pictures posted soon )

if i would have calmini sliders , by the time they would reach the tree i would have a bent door, missing side window, probably dented roof

With the way that you pic lines



You need all the side protection you can get! :p

Shit happens

Hey Carlton- Unless you were there, I'd shut the hell up. You didn't know the circumstances of the accident. And BTW- where were you for ECXC to show us your superior driving skills?

I heard Oleg himself tell the sorted story of how he came about being on his side. Boiled down.. he went to far to the right and hit the throttle to hard.. sound about right Oleg?

As for why I was not at ECXC.. I am saving my gas money for GOX which is less than two months away. As for showing my "superior driving skills", I won't even grace you with a response.

CM: not exactly

BTW could you please point me to a person who gave you a permision to take a picture from their site, and put it on your site, and use in the future
Thanks !

(if you dont have that permision , please delete the picture from your site ! )
Thanks

That good enough for you?

don't need all the legal bull shit. you could of at least asked me to use the shot.

don't be such a prick

I did not know who took the shot so how could I have asked your permission to use it?

Not being a prick.. just answering Oleg's question.

Yeah. ANYWAY... And BTW- you won't "grace" me with an answer huh? Don't do me any favors f*cko...

No problem Jerky..

Carlton, chill out.

It's my job to be an asshole.

You know Carlton...your right about Oleg needing the side protection that EOE sliders give. If it weren't for the EOE sliders, Oleg would have encountered much, MUCH more damage than he did. You can't see from that picture, but the driver side of his X is being supported mostly by the EOE slider. The passenger side slider was used to upright his X (the chain is attached to my truck) The passenger side EOE slider also made a good grab point for Oleg to climb up out of his truck...right Oleg

I admit that there are some days that I would not mind my sliders being out farther from the body (like the day that I wanted to strap from the side)

That must have been an interesting recovery.. How gentle was the truck brought back up?

I probably could have gently pushed the truck over by hand. When I put my truck in reverse, all I did was let go of the brake, and it went on all 4's again. Oleg tipped it over very gently too....there was a second or 2 that I thought he was going to tip back to the right and land on all 4 wheels...but there must have been a strong wind that finished him off haha

Sounds like if he had had more ballast in the passenger seat he would not have layed the truck over..

Truck went back up very smoothly. We had 3 trucks strapped onto him- One to prevent sliding down the hill, one to right him and one to prevent him from rolling over on his passenger side.

I got the grey ones even whan I asked for the black ones. oh,well they're on and look fine.

That should be a pick of the month shot!!

No it should not

Why not? It would not be the first rolled Xterra for the XOTW shot..

Carlton Calmini was i talking to you ?
mind your bussines

Sorry Comrade... I must have thought this was an open forum or something. I will refrain from badgering you further.

Somehow I find that EXRTREMELY hard to believe... :rolleyes:

I do have other hobbies you know..

What you do to farm animals w/ thigh-highs is none of my business.

Just because you came up with that thought Nick, makes me believe you have some serious issues!!!!!!!!

Please stop the name calling....leave it for the ALR.

Yup, got my Calmini rocker skids today. Install was a brease, every thing lined up just right even with my bumped up frame and all. Thanks Calmini!

Why not oleg

Like Carlton said its not the worst pic out there. Just unique which is what the XOTM pics are for. If they wanted driveway shots just go to the pics forums.