Rust Behind Rock Slider Plates

[MrSeth]

Hey guy and girls,

I had this issue earlier this year where the front of my sliders actually bend upwards close to the rocker panel- turns out the issue was rust behind the plate that (I suppose) spread out to the welds and compromised them?

Anywho, I cut them off, re ground the frame used some weld through paint and re welded them on. If you are having flex or bending, I recommend looking at the welds! Glad I didn't wheel with them structurally compromised like that.

This go around I did the welding, much more confident as well.

I live in Colorado, but as far as I know, we don't use any crazy chemicals for ice melt- right?

 

[Jetboy]

You're creating a pocket behind the slider plates for water to sit and cause rust. As you weld them in you're also removing all of the paint protection from that area. The combination is pretty much a recipe for rust. Ideally you could make diamond shaped weld on plates so you can weld it completely around the perimeter and seal in the area. You just can't get a good weld up on the top of a square plate with a typical wire feed gun. Otherwise I'd take care of the rust as best you can with a weld through primer like you did and then once they cool - run a bead of sealant along the top of the plate where you can't weld it on.

Personally - I always build mine as bold on sliders. For a few reasons. This is one of them. The other is that if you bend them it's easier to take them off. On newer high strength steel frames - welding causes heat affected zones that are now weak points that are prone to crack over time. The side of the frame rail is basically the web of the beam. So weakening it isn't so critical. I would try not to weld on the top or bottom of the frame tube if you don't need to. That's where the weakened annealed area from the weld would be most likely to cause a crack.

Good luck.