I'm thinking about buying a set of Ace weld on sliders for my four-door JK. I would like to hear from someone that has them and what your experiences have been. Has anyone dropped the full weight of the jeep on them hard? Also how does the angle of the weld on rails compared to the bolt on rails. Can you still use the ruby rails with the Ace weld ons? Can the ruby rails still be removed after the weld ons are in place?

 

I have been looking at these as well. Can't wait to see the feed back.

 

Ace: Mild steel tubing 2" tube with 0.134 wall thickness. $410

EVO: Manufactured from 3/16-inch laser-cut steel plate, 1.75OD x .120 Wall DOM Tubing. $470

VKS Fab: CNC Plasma Cut A36 Steel & 1.75 x .120 DOM Tubing. $400

Build your own out of 1.75" x 0.120" wall DOM with 1/4" plate steel. About $250 in materials.


You can get the Ace, EVO, and VKS without the legs welded on if you want to dial in the angles from and away from the body.


I would not recommend sliders that use mild steel tubing for hard core rock crawlers. Mild steel dents too easily with impacts--even with 0.134" thickness.

DOM will dent, but it takes a harder impact.

 

i was all set to go this way and chickened out at the weld on part and went with the bolt on, the bolt ons take a beating with no problems yet...

matthew

 

Thanks for your input Planman. Right now I'm leaning towards the VKS. Getting them with the legs off might be a good idea, as I need these to be a good step for my pregers wife as well as protect my rockers.

 

Thank you.

The VKS are a good deal.

I ended up building my own to get a custom look.

If I didn't have a friend with a tube bender, I would have bought the VKS.

The stock body mounts are so soft that any slider that bolts to the body mounts or that bolts to the mounts and the tub will result in tub damage with hard hits.

Weld on to the frame is the best solution for guys who have any chance of a hard hit or drop in the rocks.

 

The VKS look like an almost exact copy of the evo rails.

 

So I ended up going with the VKS sliders. I had them shipped with the legs off so we could adjust the angle of the rails to make a better step. My wife is a little short and 8 months pregnant, so I wanna make it easier for her to get in. More importantly, she has to be able to get the baby in. Hopefully the rain stops long enough for me to get them painted this week, and then we can get them mounted.

 

I used 1 1/2" DIA (1.9" OD) .145 wall pipe for the sliders and .20 wall with 1/4" PL for the frame tie in's on my home made sliders. I'm not a hard core rock crawler but they held up great this year on the Con, Swamp Lake Coyote Lake and a bunch of other local trails. They are galled pretty good on the bottom but have no dents from the few times I've bounced on them. I did take care to make sure the seams were clocked away from where they would be abraded or hit and I also added an extra frame tie in (4 instead of 3) per side. I also did a lot more internal pipe braces than the aftermarket ones I've seen.

 

Can anyone with the Ace weld-ons comment on how well they double as a step? I've been going back on forth between the Ace body mount bolt on vs. the weld on. I prefer the weld on but I have a short girlfriend.