I have a quote from a 4x4 shop in town to install rock sliders on my 4runner 2020 (kdss). They quote me 5 hours of labor which seems on the high side to me. These rock sliders don't require drilling of any new holes (that's what the manufacturer claims). I called the shop several times and they stand by these 5 hours, saying that from their experience it's what it takes to install rock sliders on cars, tidy up all cables, etc, etc.

At an hourly rate of $125, this adds up quickly. What do you folks think? Is this reasonable or not? The manufacturer said that this should take 1-2 hours only....

If you’re a bit handy with tools, you should be able to get them done with the help of a buddy and a 6 pack and maybe a pizza. I certainly wouldn’t pay for that much in labor. They are right, it’s a one to two hour job max.

Either way, never go back to that shop cuz they’re ripping you off.


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Oh, and plenty of YT videos out there on install procedures.


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Thanks but I'd rather have a shop do this.

Then start calling other shops. Or…Get ready to write the $600 check and quit your complaining. Sheesh!


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5 hrs is insane!

Not sure what’s harder. Installing sliders or a light bulb.


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It doesn't take much more than 5 hours to make them. In most cases you're just aligning the holes to nuts that are already in the frame rail and putting in small bolts and then tightening the bolts. It's about 10 bolts per side total. Install by a professional shop should be 1-2 hours in most cases. They've probably never installed them on a 5th gen. Some are much more complicated than this. My 3rd gen 4Runner sliders for example were much more involved to install.

Also - Pro tip. Purple Loctite is your best friend! It's the low adhesion version. Blue is also fine for this. But I love purple because it seals the threads and keeps them from rusting and also helps keep them from backing out. I find it works better than antisieze for applications like this. You'll probably have to order on Amazon. But it's my go-to for applications like this. Worth the $7 for a bottle of it.

Me and my 9 year old son put my metal tech sliders on in less than an hour. I jut balanced them on a floor jack and had him tweak the jack position while I got all the bolts installed. No KDSS or anything in the way but I can't imagine 5 hours being reasonable in any scenario.

I need a helper dang it! They better shine up the complete underside of your truck too after they finish in thirty minutes. I can fabricate, bend and weld rock sliders faster than that. For $50-$100 of tube/pipe. I will have to sweat my a$$ off though. Just sit there and watch them 😆 that may cut a few hours off.

Most of them will be really easy.

Some of them use welded nuts inserts that you fish though the frame, those suck and will take longer (AKA shrockworks).

Give yourself 2 to 4 hours. Shop time can vary.

Honestly, this can be done in your driveway by yourself with hand tools, a jack (optional to hold sliders in place if doing solo).

This reminds me of the dealer trying to charge you an hour of labor to change the cabin air filter.

Took me a little over an hour by myself with a floor jack

i totally agree that a truck without KDSS should be 60-90 min. the OP has KDSS and there are hydraulic lines that run along the frame on the driver's side that make slider installs a PAIN. passenger side took me like 30-40 min. the driver said took me over 2 hours, especially because the caliraised bracket requires you to lower the gas tank skid so I was trying to line up the slider while keeping hydraulic lines away from the frame. not fun.

How can it take more than an hour or two?

I just took delivery of a '23 ORP w/KDSS that came from the distributor with nfab's Predator running boards/steps. (And the old black Pro wheels, and a bunch of tacked on stuff thanks to the distributor for Virginia. At least it didn't come with the mandatory blackout letters, cargo cover, charging cords and various other junk. But I digress.)

I wanted the same running boards that came on my '16 Trail Prem - the ones with the pattern that matches the black cover on the rear bumper.

For taking the Predators off and putting on 6 new brackets, installing the full-length metal plates and then the plastic running board covers with the pattern that you see...

They charged me for 2 hours labor for a more complicated install.

They deducted the price of the Predators - $665 - from the cost of the deal and they had also deducted the price of the bug shield. Yay.

Oh, and they removed the bug shield for free.

LAUGH OF THE DAY.

When I went back to pick it up THE PREDATOR BOARDS AND THE BUG SHIELD WERE IN THE BACK. I said, "What's this?"

They said, "We don't want them, go sell them."