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.