I've always wanted a set of rock sliders for my patrol, ever since my first patrol. The re-assurance of the added strength over the standard steps totally rules out any negative impact of the added weight for me.

I sourced some strong 50mm gal pipe with 5mm wall and some 50mm square tube 5mm wall steel years ago to build sliders for my first patrol. I decided to keep the steel when I sold my first patrol having never completed the DIY job.

Now I have my GU IV Patrol I thought I best get around to building a decent set of sliders to protect my expensive little toy. Over a period of a few months I have finally finished and fitted. Here's a bit of a run down of the project.

I used the following materials:

Main slider material
2 x 50mm gal pipe 5mm wall (cant remember how long)
2 x 50mm square tube 5mm wall
4 x support tubes about 190mm long, cut on angle and notched for joint

Support brackets
4 x 50mm square tube, about 190mm long – centre and rear support from slider to chassis bracket.
2 x 50mm x 75mm RHS, about 270mm long – front support from slider to body mount section
4 x 100mm flat bar 5mm x 500mm – wrap around chassis as U-brackets
6 x M10 x 110mm high tensile fine thread bolts.
2 x 8mm plate for gussets cut into 4 triangles

Hoops tacked onto square double checking fitting.


and then welded up


looking good


Checking alignment with makeshift chocks!



Cut and notched supports. Makes for a lot stronger weld and very tidy. I used a holesaw in a drill press and clamps. A real pain but worth the effort.



Making chassis brackets. I heated the steel till cherry red and bent using the vice and a little elbow grease. Turned out really well i think. The middle chassis bracket needs to be bent in the shape you can see as the chassis on the patrol bends here and gains some width.



Brackets attached. I mounted the brackets to the chassis and chocked up the sliders into the correct position and triple checked alignments. Then I tack welded them together before carefully removing the unit as one and welded everything up on the bench. Once cooled I then refitted to the chassis to double, triple, quad ripple check everything was aligned ok.


Gussets attached. These increase strength and rigidity significantly. (I have found since fitting the complete sliders that welding these on did distort the brackets slightly. It has bent the sliders up a little too close to the sill panel. I'll have to come up with a solution.)


Welds tidied up and ready for painting