**4th Gen 4R Slider Prototype // OEM+**

[rickashay]

Hey everyone. Long time t4r member here... built my first 3rd gen back in 2011 with the help of this awesome forum and it's members. Crazy that I've been on here for over a decade, really aging myself here. Sad to see the forums getting less popular but honestly it's still such an amazing resource for information and even customer feedback of a specific user group - and it's WAY more organized than the annoying FB groups. (lol) I've had a couple 4th gen 4Runner builds over the years as well with "RickRunner" being the most elaborate LINK.

With all that being said, I am now in the process of starting a new business that builds 4WD components for our beloved Toyota's. I am a very OCD person and have grown to love and appreciate all aspects of design from architecture to commercial design. It's not my profession (I co-own a media/marketing agency) but something that has been a passion of mine for a long long time. In this, our approach for Tamarack+ (our new business moniker) is NOT to build excessively large, bulky, or heavy components for our trucks. In our experience, so many people overbuild nowadays and in reality it is at the expense of driving dynamics and useability, often even degrading vehicle reliability from factory. Our intention is to build clean, simple, functional products that do a better job of retaining or improving a factory like driving experience while increasing the capability of your vehicle for offroad use, with an acute attention to details and aesthetics.

With some of that background, I wanted to share the 4th gen specific sliders that we have been working on over the past year (prototyping & testing). Our goals were to have a slider that was exceptionally strong - unlike bumpers, we believe that sliders are simply one of the absolutely necessary items for anyone from a weekend warrior to a hardcore offroad enthusiast. The difference with our design is that we still wanted them to be strong, but also sleek, and quite low profile. No one likes rubbing their pant leg on a dirty slider everytime they get in/out of their truck and most people (not all) just don't need 4" and a massive kickout to protect their rig.


IMG_9778.jpg by Tamarack, on Flickr


IMG_9773.jpg by Tamarack, on Flickr


We wanted the strength of a weld-on slider that doesn't bolt through the frame and pinch/sandwich the thin frame material like some sliders on the market. However, we also realized the importance of being able to re-paint or powdercoat them after a harsh Canadian winter or just regular offroad use. We call this design "WOBO" (Weld-On-Bolt-On) for obvious reasons.


IMG_9791.jpg by Tamarack, on Flickr


IMG_9790.jpg by Tamarack, on Flickr

The slider profile is a single bent plate that is fully gusseted internally. We left the backside of the slider body fully open and with an accompanying cutout on the top plate, it allows the user to wash out the inside of the slider at the carwash, with all the debris flowing out the reverse side of the slider. We have a few ideas for how we could tap into the factory running board lights as well to have them be illuminated steps, but that may come later.


IMG_9792.jpg by Tamarack, on Flickr


IMG_9777.jpg by Tamarack, on Flickr


IMG_9776.jpg by Tamarack, on Flickr

We are preparing to launch the Tamarack+ website soon, with parts going live in April/May. Coming from this community and learning so much from it, we'd love your feedback on the design. We have a similar thread going for one of our 3rd gen bumper components and the feedback we've gotten on the product has been a big help in its development. Would love to hear any ideas or thoughts you all might have. Thanks T4R!

Addison

 

[monsterbuilder]

Wow, those look beautiful.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Wish these had been around before I got a weld on set from 4x4 Innovations (though those are a cost-effective, terrific product). While I won't be a customer, I'll say that what you've created ticks every box on my list at the time and the bit about brushing your leg against dirty sliders is real. I really like the low-profile, functional look.

 

[bob3dsf]

Very nice! I'm definitely interested and I'll be keep an eye out for when they become available. I also like you design philosophy for mods, etc. I certainly feel that the 4th gen gets the short straw in the aftermarket arena. The lines on our trucks makes almost everything look out of place.

 

[Runnin on E]

Can you expand on what you did for prototype and testing. I'd like to see any video of these during hard use. What is the steel grade and thickness? Weight?

 

[rickashay]

Wow, those look beautiful.

Thank you. Simple and sleek!

Wish these had been around before I got a weld on set from 4x4 Innovations (though those are a cost-effective, terrific product). While I won't be a customer, I'll say that what you've created ticks every box on my list at the time and the bit about brushing your leg against dirty sliders is real. I really like the low-profile, functional look.

Thanks! Lol dirty slider legs suck! 4x4 Innovations does great work. Honestly lots of great options out there... we just thought with our approach to armor being a little different, it might be a good opportunity.

Very nice! I'm definitely interested and I'll be keep an eye out for when they become available. I also like you design philosophy for mods, etc. I certainly feel that the 4th gen gets the short straw in the aftermarket arena. The lines on our trucks makes almost everything look out of place.

Yah 4th gen's can be tough! Especially in the rear bumper department. lol (we've got some ideas there) Thanks for following along.

Can you expand on what you did for prototype and testing. I'd like to see any video of these during hard use. What is the steel grade and thickness? Weight?

These sliders are a prototype so we are still undergoing testing to ensure they meet the demands of our product objectives. That being said, the truck photo'd has wheeled on some pretty difficult trails (see the nice rash on the passenger side rear bumper) and the sliders performed great. We have also used a hi-lift to jack up either side of this same 4th gen multiple times for tire changes/swaps and to test the mounting points. There is some deflection in the mounts (as expected and the same with all sliders) but that is why the sleeve-like frame design is beneficial - with an upward load the inner male "leg" becomes reinforced by the female frame mount. All steel is 3/16 A1011 Hot Rolled P&O. I'm actually having our engineer run the mounts through a stress test here soon as well and will be happy to share the findings.

I don't have an official weight but I did throw a set of the SL4R on a home scale previously and I recall they were around ~55lbs per side. Which correlates with my CAD measurement showing 51 lbs per side (without hardware) using a steel density of 0.284 lb/in^3.

Although we are not targeting these for hard-core rock crawler customers, we will still be ensuring they are extremely strong and more than capable of protecting the rockers. We are also running these on a 1G Tacoma and 3G 4Runner now for testing. Same design, just length changing based on wheelbase.