Rock Slider Recommendations for... kids and door dings?

As lame as that is, those are my top two use-cases, followed by actually having time to go hit some trails. Last time I was out near Flagpole Knob, I turned back because I thought I'd get my OE tubular steps hung up on rocks.

In everyday life, I'd love something that would:
+ make life easier for my wife when she's loading our 1-yo and 2-yo into their car seats
(Read as kick-out at rear, tread plates)
+ keep people's effing doors off my truck!
(Reasonably wide up front, too?)

I've always had an eye for the RCI sliders and love that they are bolt-on, but not sure how they do protecting from door dings??

Sincerely,
Official Dad-Wagon Driver

Rando photo for your pleasure

 

Truck looks sweet! I am also looking at the RCI for the bolt on application and seem great for the same reasons as you stated. Curious what others recommend also.

 

RCI. Kids, dogs, wife, door dings, trails.

 

Not a Tundra, but i installed a set of rock sliders on my friend’s 2012 Tacoma. The type of off-roading that he did (search and rescue), didn’t require rock sliders, but he wanted them anyhow. They were the absolute stupidest thing function wise...for his particular truck. His truck didn’t have a lift, so it wasn’t tall by any means, but since the rock sliders kicked out so far, you had to have REALLY long legs to step around and over the top of the bar. Me being 6’ tall, i was still too short to gracefully bypass the slider tube...which means that i would ALWAYS get road film or mud on my jeans or shorts. It also made it very difficult and awkward to load anything inside the truck because whatever you wanted to set inside the truck (such as larger packages), you have to fulcrum your back to reach inside the truck. The sliders also sucked as a functioning step bar because they were too high.

No, this is not a rant, but just an honest review of rock sliders that are installed on vehicles that won’t and don’t ever see any type of the terrain that will require them. Yes, i’ve installed a few different rock sliders on different jeeps that i’ve owned, but jeeps those spent a genuine 50% getting pummeled on in the rocks and other unsavory types of terrain.

I will say that rock sliders do look cool on most trucks, but i found that for street driven trucks that the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. Oh, and even though his Tacoma sliders stuck out pretty far, the only vehicles that his truck was protected from door dings by, were by cars that were lower than him. It won’t protect the doors from anything the same height or taller.

 

Do you feel like the portion in front of the rear kickout stands out enough to protect the door?

How well does the front half work as a step? Tread plate assumed.

 

Look at CBI Offroad, that's what I'm running. I picked them specifically for the broad step, bolt-on install (no drilling) and a bit of poke to stop the door ding. I am very happy with them thus far, although I wish the step top plate covered the entire step. You don't need the rear bump-out if the entire length is the same width.

There are pictures in my garage thread including how far they poke out...

 

Cut to size. Results may vary.

 

x2 or 3 or whatever we're up to on the RCIs....

In comparison to most vehicles (other than another lifted truck or such), you'll get very good protection from dings from other vehicle doors, shopping carts, etc... I've had no issues since installing mine

Tread plates are probably something you'll want if you're wanting little ones to have a clean step up at some point. I have no top plate on mine, and the wife still uses them as steps when getting in and out of the truck w/no issues.

Here are a couple of photos to give you an idea of what the coverage looks like...




A couple things to note:

The 'kickout' sits at the back of the rear door and behind the door, so it's more helpful in dealing w/cargo in the bed and as an angle of deflection if being used off-road as an actual 'slider'...

The sliders have a VERY slight upward angle which increases protection from dings and again offers a deflective angle off-road...

When the doors are closed it appears that inner main tube/bar is tucked under the vehicle. However, when the door is open and from the following angle, you can see that the full width of the main inner bar and the outer tubes are available to use a step.

As a caution, if you're somewhere w/freezing temps during the winter, without the top plates the powder coating on these things are super slick. If I lived somewhere that saw temps below freezing for any duration, I would've opted for top plates (I think you're already headed that direction in your thinking)...

 

That's certainly a way of looking at it. If you don't get treadplates, your point is quite valid. Treadplates are a must, especially given the height of my truck. My wife has a tough time negotiating the tube step while loading the little ones as it doesn't e tend as far to the rear as sliders would. A good point also is made by the height of doors comment. That is a good bit of the attraction to me. With a 2-3" lift and 285/75s, the height of the truck is a good bit higher than average.

 

Yes and well.

 

Just a suggestion in case this helps -- spray the bottom of those RCIs with a rust protection spray if you get the top plate. RCI's powder coating is supposedly better than it used to be, but would suggest keeping an eye on it.

 

That doesn't surprise me, given the geometries. It almost seems like a bolt-on treadplate solution would be better in this respect.

 

Actually a member here told me today that they upgraded the design, and it’s now a bolt on top plate. Also the top plate doesn’t extend to the tip/tail now. There’s a gap on each end, so that helps with the debris that would get jammed in there. Good refinements!

 

This is correct.

 

That's what they are doing now....

 

I'm not sure why, but leaving those little holes on the cross bars drove me nuts; part of my hardware pack included a ton of button head type screws and nuts, so I ended up plugging the holes w/them.

 

The intent is to put the top plate on that side too. Which is why I only photo one side. The other has one on already. I was too lazy this weekend to do it.

 

Those little mounting holes look like a good way to have water and debris enter the tubing... I hope you can seal them tightly. Definitely a good place to spray corrosion inhibitor.

 

I have Cali Raised sliders with the top plate. Been very happy with them as a step for the life and kids. No door dings as most car doors will hi them before they hit the side of my truck. 100% bolt on.

 

those crossmembers with the holes are c-channel exposed on the bottom and welded to the outside of the tubes, so there's no way for anything to enter those holes and get into the main tube ... if I'm understanding what you're saying correctly

 

The tubing is not square framed. It's completely open on the bottom of those cross bars...

Edit: I should've scrolled down a post before responding

 

Ok, copy that. My concern was that water could enter the (what looked like to my pre-4am brain) square tube crossmembers, not the main round tube.

 

I'll be joining the RCI club soon as they ship. Some of the members here have posted some great pics of them. My uses are very similar to yours, but I've also found myself even in a stock truck getting pretty dang close to the rockers on some of the forest roads around here.

For those of you that've installed RCI - any tips on dealing with the driver side bolts near the gas tank? I'm half tempted to just wait until the thing is empty and loosen it enough to shove it over as there's no way my meat hooks are fitting between it and the frame.

 

93585

Here's what I did for those 2 driver's side PITAs...



Took (2) of the large washers and (2) nuts down to a local welding shop and had them weld the nuts to washers; then weld a thin welding rod to each of those setups.... cost me $20 and save me a shit ton of time, frustration and busted knuckles trying to stuff my hand in that tiny ass channel.

I was able to easily slide the set up into the frame channel and secure the bolts w/o too much heartache

 

Recently installed CBI sliders for the same reasons and love them so far. They come with the welded stick nuts for the hard to reach bolts.

 

I ordered mine from https://bigcountrycustoms.com/product/2nd-gen-toyota-tundra-overland-rock-sliders-bare-metal/ in Canada but they ship anywhere.

 

For you guys with RCIs, would you mind holding a level against the outer rails and measuring to the door?

 

If someone else doesn't get this for you sooner, I'll get that measurement for you later this evening....

 

Sorry about the rainbow backgrounds in my posts (freakin' MODs are messing w/me again)

Anyhow, that measurement is just at 1"; interestingly though that bump out is not the part of the door that sticks out the furthest... About half way up between that bump out and the door handle, the measurement from the outer point of the slider and the door is about 1/4" (just FYI)