Smittybilt rock slider question

Ruffian

Ruffian

New member
Greetings all.
Attended one of my two 4WD club meetings this past Thursday. At the end of the meeting, members are allowed to announce what parts they are selling/shopping for. I asked for rock sliders & the lift that I know I need to safely continue to off road within the CA mountains. I had two offers for the rock sliders. One was the name and number of a local guy who does his own fabrication, and several members run with his metal attached to their 2nd & 3rd Gen 4Runners. (I'm the only one with a 4th Gen.)

The 2nd offer I got from a member was $40 for a set of Smittybilt rock sliders that he's had laying around for a while. He got them for his 3rd Gen 4Runner, but never put them on as he decided to go with something different. They are bolt on and brand new, never off roaded with. He says he may need to do some altering to them to make them fit the 4th Gen., but since he's never been under a 4th Gen., he wasn't sure. But he is able to do what ever welding/altering that may need to be done. No worries if they don't fit, no pressure. I can move on. I'm thinking for $40, it's worth a drive over. Yeah if they are gonna work, I'll toss in another $20-$40 for his welding gas & effort.

So I wanted to ask the other 4 wheeling members here...experiences with Smittybilt metal on either their own rigs or what you've seen on other rigs. Thanks for your time!
Happy Trails,
M.
May2008NorthStrawberryT4RRun017-1.jpg~original
 
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I could be totally wrong, but $40 Smittybilts sound more like nerf bars (similar to what's on 2006+ Sport Edition steps) rather than sliders, just because they're so cheap. Maybe if they could send you pics, it would be much easier to determine of their nerf bars or sliders.
 
Yeah that was my concern. No nerf bars!
He did say it was a rock slider, and he's a knowledgeable off roader. So sounds like I'll have to go see them. Since Smittybilt is pretty well known, was hoping someone knew about them. I went to their website and honestly wasn't impressed. But I'm not into Jeeps. Was thinking maybe they don't make rock sliders anymore or something.
 
Thanks! She looks quite a bit different now with 33's and spacers. Still haven't fabbed rocksliders but with all the other expenses, just hasn't been important enough.



Feb262011022.jpg~original
 
I have heard complaints about smitty built and issues with their powder coating. I have also hear people have issue with how they fit, but since you are putting them on a different vehicle than originally designed for that would probably b an issue regardless of who made them.
 
This is an old thread. Yeah I totally gave up on manufactured sliders, and have been working with some local metal fabrication shops to designed and weld on my own. Again...finances have put all rock armor on the back burner.
 
Smiltybuilt (****ybuilt) they bend i gave away a set and my buddy used them for awhile, then when he gave up on having to unbend them to open his door's everytrip he threw them in the trash can.
 
4runner_kid said:
Smiltybuilt (****ybuilt) they bend i gave away a set and my buddy used them for awhile, then when he gave up on having to unbend them to open his door's everytrip he threw them in the trash can.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah that's why I don't want them. Custom fab is the way to go.
 
If Smittybilt parts suck, its because I didn't design them! My story...***closes eyes and thinks back over 10 years ago***

I was about 17 or 18, just finished my Junior year of high school. I finished my second year of computer aided drafting classes, and had won an award for some of my designs (mostly fighter jet renderings or Star Wars ships). A family friend was a manager at Smittybilts Corona office, and offered me some temp work filiing papers etc. so I could meet their head designer (or engineer or whatever). I stunk at figuring their filing system, but got a "interview" with their designer, and showed him some of my work and awards. Much to my surprise, he didn't believe that I did them. He thought I copied them from somewhere. I was disappointed to say the least. The version of AutoCAD I used in school was a Windows 3.1 version, and the guy at Smittybilt of course had the most up to date version, and was very different (I think the commands and interface changed a lot) which made it difficult to replicate my designs. So, I missed out on an internship there and never did computer aided drafting again.

Kinda funny, but that's my experience with Smittybilt.
 
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I see in your sig that you now have Shrockworks sliders. Are you happy with them? Tested them out yet? etc
And then what about skid plates? Thanks!
Melinda

TheSentinel said:
If Smittybilt parts suck, its because I didn't design them! My story...***closes eyes and thinks back over 10 years ago***

I was about 17 or 18, just finished my Junior year of high school. I finished my second year of computer aided drafting classes, and had won an award for some of my designs (mostly fighter jet renderings or Star Wars ships). A family friend was a manager at Smittybilts Corona office, and offered me some temp work filiing papers etc. so I could meet their head designer (or engineer or whatever). I stunk at figuring their filing system, but got a "interview" with their designer, and showed him some of my work and awards. Much to my surprise, he didn't believe that I did them. He though I copied them from somewhere. I was disappointed to say the least. The version of AutoCAD I used in school was a Windows 3.1 version, and the guy at Smittybilt of course had the most up to date version, and was very different (I think the commands and interface changed a lot) which made it difficult to replicate my designs. So, I missed out on an internship there and never did computer aided drafting again.

Kinda funny, but that's my experience with Smittybilt.
Click to expand...
 
Ruffian said:
I see in your sig that you now have Shrockworks sliders. Are you happy with them? Tested them out yet? etc
And then what about skid plates? Thanks!
Melinda
Click to expand...

Yes, I am happy with them. While they were kind of tough to install by myself, I believe it was well worth the effort. I can assure you, after a trip to the body shop before, I wouldn't leave dry pavement without side body protection. Besides, nothing would piss me off more than someone opening their door into my nice new black truck. As far as skid plates, the 5th Gen Trail edition comes with some metal skid protection for the gas tank etc. I know Harper has Budbuilt skid plates on, and it looks great. My truck is in the below thread for Bee's Canyon. Though we didn't do any black diamond trails (hard ones), I'm sure if we did the Shrockworks sliders would have gladly taken whatever punishment they were dealt.
 
Those are sweet! I'd love to do something like that, however I don't have your talent. I really want to keep the running board light effect as that is very handy getting in and out of the vehicle at night. I was thinking if I had to do a custom wiring job on a set of sliders, I'd like the added benefit of being able to turn on those lights via a switch for help at night off roading, or poor light conditions. Very cool sir!! I'd hit you up to see if you could build me a set, but probably wouldn't be a good idea if we didn't live near each other.
 
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