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PLate thinkness for rock sliders, .188 or .120


legoms013

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Im going to be building rock sliders in the next month or two out of 2x2 sqaure tube but I need to order the steel now and don't know what wall thickness to get.

.120 seems on the smallish size but is light and more affordable.

.188 seems just a little too thick, and is on the heavy side (105LBs total) and over $80 per 20ft.

what is some of your guys experience with what thickness material you've used.
 


legoms013

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its all just going to be butt welded together with side supports for the very ends.
 
dogboy

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Personally, I would pay more to get the 3/16" (.188) over the 1/8" stuff.

1/8", I believe, is not thick enough to resist dents etc, or to not bend. 3/16" would be much stronger, and more resistant to bending.

80 bucks for 20ft is not bad at all! I remember last January, when I made my rear bumper, I used 2x6 box, and I payed $45 for just over 6 feet.
 

AKBroncoII

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I personally wouldn't use less than 1/4" if you are using just plate. Plate isn't really that strong in the sense you are trying to use it. 3/16" will bend easily also.
 
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I'd use 2x3" tube.

My sliders are made from 1/8" 2x3", to which I also added a length of 1" x 1/8" cold-roll steel strip on the bottom (making it 1/4" thick right at the outer edge). This saves some weight over using straight 3/16" wall tube.
So far it's held up good (the ones on my Ranger without that strip wound up getting dented up a bit).
 
legoms013

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Sorry i worded my question in the title with plate, when really I meant "wall thickness" of the tubing.

Ok so the verdict seems to be go with 3/16" wall thickness tubing and i was thinking 2"x2" to keep things small.

And to AKBronco II i made it sound like i was going to use plate/sheet steel but I'll be using box tubing of some sort.

Ok heres another question: I also want to make a replacement transfer case skid plate for the one from the factory. I have a sheet of 1/4" plate steel i could use but is that overkill? In my mind it wouldnt be, but it would be heavy.
 
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JohnnyU

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Dependent on the design, 0.120" should be more than thick enough. How far apart are your frame supports going to be?
 
legoms013

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I am going to just mimic the design of the factory plate while extending its length and mount the skid plate to the bottom of the frame rails with 2-3 bolts per rail.
 
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