Rocky Road Outfitters Rock Sliders for Ranger

[Scooter]

My thoughts:

The bolting to the floor pan into the Thread Nut inserts. Aligns up well. 6 Fasteners.

Pinch Weld orientation not so good. I do not like trial and error.

It would be a lot of work to get the holes centered into the pinch weld.

The Drilling of the holes with a 90 Degree drill is not easy. You have to cut a 5"/16" Drill in half to have enough room to drill in the confined space.
This creates a thick web drill. I am a Machinist. I can sharpen a drill and thin the web. That's not ideal.
I did try to use a hole centering punch. There is not enough room to use a hammer. Would work best with a pilot drill.
If you drill the hole the low location they put it, you are drilling into the bottom of the pinch weld. Not ideal.
I was doing this on my back without the truck lifted. Very hard to put the drill at the 90 degree angle to pinch weld. Easy to get off center or crooked.

What I would have had to do to make this work on the sliders I have.
You would have to slot the 5/16" holes 1/8" higher to get it in center of pinch weld.
The backing brackets they give you would need 1/8" cut off from the width. They should have used thinner width material. Holes would need to be drilled off center by 1/8" on backing plate brackets. These are loose and not welded, just a rectangle flat piece of metal with two holes to align with welded mounting brackets.
The bolts were too short.

I tried drilling it in one location then gave up.

Mines a Ha ha Mall Crawler. Would of liked the stronger mounting on the pinch welds.
My truck occasionally will be used for camping. It will at least protect the Rocker Panels.

I am giving the Pinch Weld mount a thumbs down. Not Fabricated correctly and holes for pinch weld need to be higher. Mounting brackets smaller width and holes drilled off center.

Sponsored

 

[Scooter]

At the mount the floor pan has these step outs only in this one location. Each side. At Back.

On the front two mounts it does not have this step out. They did not consider this in there Fabrication. They should be set closer. Almost needs a spacer there. Because of this bolts are not long enough.

 

[Scooter]

Type of Sliders

 

[Scooter]

If members are having them made which takes 2 months, I would send them this thread and say these modifications need to be done. The stepped out at the back mounts does not help. Front two brackets need to be brought in. Holes need to be put higher by 1/8" and backing brackets need to be made with 1/8" width thinner brackets, with holes off center by 1/8". There fabrication jig is not correct.

 

[Watchdog62]

If members are having them made which takes 2 months, I would send them this thread and say these modifications need to be done. The stepped out at the back mounts does not help. Front two brackets need to be brought in. Holes need to be put higher by 1/8" and backing brackets need to be made with 1/8" width thinner brackets, with holes off center by 1/8". There fabrication jig is not correct.

Had the exact same sliders on my 2019 fx4 ranger. Took forever to build and ship. My installer was less than happy the amount of drill bits he went through. Once installed they were stout! If I bought them again I would have them welded on.

 

[HighDesertRanger]

Well that is definitely disappointing.

 

[Scooter]

I did not wish to show this photo picture. A mess. Created large Burrs. Hard to remove. I made sure I painted this to seal it. Did this once then stopped.

 

[Scooter]

I do not like the mixing of Metric and Standard.
I put a drop of Red Loctite on M10 Bolts. Did not tighten them with Torque Wrench.
I have learned that from working on motorcycles. No 1/2" drive.
With 3/8" drive I tighten them firmly.

Would have liked the sliders to stick out a bit more. I think its good.
You cannot use them as a step to get into truck. I did notice that i do hit them when getting out of truck. So, good they do not stick out to far. I have to open the back door to have the step useable to get to the roof.

For the Mall Crawler I am hoping lower car doors will hit the slider before the door.

 

[DangerRanger7]

My thoughts:

The bolting to the floor pan into the Thread Nut inserts. Aligns up well. 6 Fasteners.

Pinch Weld orientation not so good. I do not like trial and error.

It would be a lot of work to get the holes centered into the pinch weld.

The Drilling of the holes with a 90 Degree drill is not easy. You have to cut a 5"/16" Drill in half to have enough room to drill in the confined space.
This creates a thick web drill. I am a Machinist. I can sharpen a drill and thin the web. That's not ideal.
I did try to use a hole centering punch. There is not enough room to use a hammer. Would work best with a pilot drill.
If you drill the hole the low location they put it, you are drilling into the bottom of the pinch weld. Not ideal.
I was doing this on my back without the truck lifted. Very hard to put the drill at the 90 degree angle to pinch weld. Easy to get off center or crooked.

What I would have had to do to make this work on the sliders I have.
You would have to slot the 5/16" holes 1/8" higher to get it in center of pinch weld.
The backing brackets they give you would need 1/8" cut off from the width. They should have used thinner width material. Holes would need to be drilled off center by 1/8" on backing plate brackets. These are loose and not welded, just a rectangle flat piece of metal with two holes to align with welded mounting brackets.
The bolts were too short.

I tried drilling it in one location then gave up.

Mines a Ha ha Mall Crawler. Would of liked the stronger mounting on the pinch welds.
My truck occasionally will be used for camping. It will at least protect the Rocker Panels.

I am giving the Pinch Weld mount a thumbs down. Not Fabricated correctly and holes for pinch weld need to be higher. Mounting brackets smaller width and holes drilled off center.

Glad I saw this thread before I pulled the trigger on these

 

[Scooter]

i am a Machinist. I contacted Rocky Road Adventures and told and showed them of how the welding fixture needed to be adjusted to make the Pinch Weld part of it work correctly.
An adjustment of 1/8" up on holes and front two brackets moved in 1/8".

I wanted to improve the Pinch weld system for the next guy. I do not know if they have corrected the misalignment.

I get the feeling and Rock Road said the same thing that most buyers do not use the pinch weld system. To Drill it is a bit of work. I was hoping I could center punch it with a center hole punch in the 5/16' hole. The space is very limited between the frame and pitch weld. You cannot get a punch and a hammer in there.

The 6 mounting hole location into floor pan works well.

If you are truly going to take your truck off road where you should have a winch and recovery boards etc. I would find some better Rock Sliders. For me with the occasional camping, these sliders will do. Better then side steps to protect Rocker Panels. more robust then the generic sliders offered. The idea is that nothing sticks down to catch on something. These sliders create a smooth area under the rocker panels.

I am not sure the ones that bolt to frame and pan would give maximum protection.
The frames a bit of a distance away from the rocker panels. You would still have flex and if you truly overlanded and went through technical sections they may not offer superior protection. The frame mounted ones could also create area's where things get wedge in between.
The Rocky Road Sliders add over 100 lbs to the truck. The frame mounted ones would be even heavier. I do not see an ultimate solution.

You want vulnerable areas under the truck to slide over objects not catch.

 

[Scooter]

I was not too happy the Pinch weld system was off. As you can see i damaged the pinch weld in just one area. Knew when to stop. I expect them to attach correctly to pinch weld.

How many people have access to a 90 degree drill. Plus you have to have equipment around to cut a drill in half. Then its hard to push on drill. The drill once cut down has a thick web. You have to know how to grind a drill. Still not the best to start a 5/16" hole with it. You need a small pilot hole.
Having someone else look that you are drilling in square.

I would have taken more equipment to make it work. A carbide burr with a good pencil grinder or larger. You would have to also have to offset the outer mounting bracket.

Needles to say this mounting procedure is a pain to drill.
Was not too happy the crappy hole my drill produced. I painted that are after damaging it.

Oh Well !

The main thing with them is they take over 10 weeks to build them.
I would also do the more bracing and better steel option add on.

if i knew they adjusted the Pinch Welding fixture i possibly would purchase them again.
Welds were good, powder coat applied well.

On Ranger

It sit's in some what tightly. I think it will protect the door from lower door dings.
I will put a rack on the roof. So, I order the rear step out. You have to open the back door to have it useful to stand on. I am a tall guy so I do not hit it getting out. Its not a step, too shallow.

All and all I have fairly good protection for my application.

 

[Scooter]

 

[DangerRanger7]

I tink I’m gonna go with these

https://rhino4x4.us/products/ford-ranger-2024-t9-rock-slider

 

[RB205]

This is so much more of a pain than my RCI sliders. And I'll trust using any part of these sliders to lift my truck, they're that stout and fully box in the frame in multiple locations.

Sponsored