Powerboost Rock Sliders

[amschind]

Maybe a niche thread, but RCI already told me to pound sand and that their stock rock sliders won't fit a PB frame. Rocky Road Outfitters were a lot more helpful, and actually volunteered to make me a set if I can road trip over there and give them the truck for a few days. They are out in Heber, Utah (basically Salt Lake City), which is a 15 hour drive from the closest that I ever get to them. I am curious if anyone with a Powerboost who happens to live near there AND wants rock sliders might be interested in making that journey. It sounds like they are willing to offer a discount to the guy who volunteers his truck as the guinea pig, but 4 days of travel is A LOT of lost income/time for me and it would be way cheaper just to pay full price and shipping.

My hope is that someone here gets a cheap set of rock sliders and the rest of us with PBs who want them have an option to buy them.

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[notabot]

Hey Doc,

I am always the guy that frowns when others start "idea bashing" but in this one case, I have to ask. What are you going to do with your PB in the rocks? I'm not seeing how our LOOOOONG PB with expensive stuff in harms way, even though it is tucked up on the undercarriage, will stay together. Entrance and departure angles will suck too!

To be marginally helpful, get the truck to any local Custom 4x4 shop and they can build rock sliders. Every instance of effective sliders I've seen is all about material selection and then proper attachment to a suitable hard point on the frame of the vehicle. Hope this little blurb helps a little...

 

[amschind]

Hey Doc,

I am always the guy that frowns when others start "idea bashing" but in this one case, I have to ask. What are you going to do with your PB in the rocks? I'm not seeing how our LOOOOONG PB with expensive stuff in harms way, even though it is tucked up on the undercarriage, will stay together. Entrance and departure angles will suck too!

To be marginally helpful, get the truck to any local Custom 4x4 shop and they can build rock sliders. Every instance of effective sliders I've seen is all about material selection and then proper attachment to a suitable hard point on the frame of the vehicle. Hope this little blurb helps a little...

Great question: I will never deliberately take this truck near rocks. I've never had the desire to go to Moab (though if I make this drive, it will take me through Moab....some irony there?), but my property was mined for iron ore and has rocks and dropoffs that are unusual for East Texas. Further, packed East Texas clay or a pine tree can do plenty of damage to an aluminum body panel. One of the first things that I did when I got my truck home was remove the steps once I realized that they were bolted to studs in the aluminum body.....to me they were just big steel lever arms waiting to rip those studs out and create ugly bent holes in the aluminum.

A set of rock sliders and skid plates won't turn a SCREW F150 into a Sniper or even a Raptor. My aim is to be able to drive around my property before I have good roads without worrying that I'll do $5000+ of body damage with one wrong move. From my perspective, $1200 for sliders+$1800 for skid plates is cheap insurance. As to your point about a local shop, that's an awesome idea. Even if they double the cost, it still saves me money.

 

[notabot]

Great question: I will never deliberately take this truck near rocks. I've never had the desire to go to Moab (though if I make this drive, it will take me through Moab....some irony there?), but my property was mined for iron ore and has rocks and dropoffs that are unusual for East Texas. Further, packed East Texas clay or a pine tree can do plenty of damage to an aluminum body panel. One of the first things that I did when I got my truck home was remove the steps once I realized that they were bolted to studs in the aluminum body.....to me they were just big steel lever arms waiting to rip those studs out and create ugly bent holes in the aluminum.

A set of rock sliders and skid plates won't turn a SCREW F150 into a Sniper or even a Raptor. My aim is to be able to drive around my property before I have good roads without worrying that I'll do $5000+ of body damage with one wrong move. From my perspective, $1200 for sliders+$1800 for skid plates is cheap insurance. As to your point about a local shop, that's an awesome idea. Even if they double the cost, it still saves me money.

Understand your logic completely. Sure hope you can find a local fabricator to make custom running boards suited for your particular purpose.

With the above said, my strong suggestion is to get something that will bolt to the frame. Based on what I've read and NOT personal experience, tig/mig/stick welding to the frame of these trucks can create stray currents which will destroy electronics. I was going to weld a square receiver tube to the front of my truck and replace 1 tow hook so I can mount a ball hitch to move my camper and boat around my yard. After reading what I read, I will not be welding to anything I cannot remove from the vehicle.

 

[amschind]

Understand your logic completely. Sure hope you can find a local fabricator to make custom running boards suited for your particular purpose.

With the above said, my strong suggestion is to get something that will bolt to the frame. Based on what I've read and NOT personal experience, tig/mig/stick welding to the frame of these trucks can create stray currents which will destroy electronics. I was going to weld a square receiver tube to the front of my truck and replace 1 tow hook so I can mount a ball hitch to move my camper and boat around my yard. After reading what I read, I will not be welding to anything I cannot remove from the vehicle.

YES. More than just stray currents, welding to frames is not simple. The late Tom Eager, a legendary materials scientist at MIT who was just a great guy (and ironically very humble) published most of his lectures. He taught in stories, and spoke at length out the dangers of assuming that the properties of a member are the same before and after you have welded stuff to it. There still are a number of compressed air tanks on work trucks where some idiot (company) didn't use a doubler to weld on the attachment points....they just welded brackets to the pressure vessel. A 500 gallon compressed air tank that suddenly lets go can and has ripped people in half.

 

[hotrodmex]

Rocky Road Outfitters were a lot more helpful, and actually volunteered to make me a set if I can road trip over there and give them the truck for a few days

Rocky Road sliders attach to the factory step mounts at the body seam under the doors. I'm not sure there is much different there on a PB truck. Maybe instead of a drive you can be assured with some measurements and making sure any PB specific junk isn't mounted out that far.

White Knuckle Off-Road also makes sliders. They sandwich the frame between mount plates, so there would likely be the need to PB-specific fitment there.

 

[amschind]

Rocky Road sliders attach to the factory step mounts at the body seam under the doors. I'm not sure there is much different there on a PB truck. Maybe instead of a drive you can be assured with some measurements and making sure any PB specific junk isn't mounted out that far.

White Knuckle Off-Road also makes sliders. They sandwich the frame between mount plates, so there would likely be the need to PB-specific fitment there.

Most steps are the exact same variety of garbage (that may be unfair...."wholly unsuited to offroad use" is better) as the stock steps. And yes, the frame mount is a PB specific fit which nobody makes. RCI and White knuckle make real frame mount rock sliders, but neither one fits a PB frame. Rock Road are frame mounted, by they don't have a PB pattern. They said they are willing to do a set if I or someone else with a PB drives to their shop near Salt Lake City, but I'm holding out before making that road trip.

 

[hotrodmex]

Rock Road are frame mounted

The kits are mounting to heavily reinforced structural collision panels on the vehicle, and the mount system is stronger than any simple frame mount setup on the market.

For their F150 application they are not. They used to have pics of the sliders uninstalled, but they recently updated their website from the previous Y2K aesthetic.



Also from this forum, DHBPhoto showing the install.

 

[hotrodmex]

Will new holes need to be drilled? Altering the frame is concerning. Utilizing existing holes designed for attaching things sounds right.

The RCI uses existing holes and fastener points. The White Knuckle clamps around the frame. The Rocky Road use the factory step studs.

 

[Samson16]

The RCI uses existing holes and fastener points. The White Knuckle clamps around the frame. The Rocky Road use the factory step studs.

Copy that

 

[Dingus_Driver]

Most steps are the exact same variety of garbage (that may be unfair...."wholly unsuited to offroad use" is better) as the stock steps. And yes, the frame mount is a PB specific fit which nobody makes. RCI and White knuckle make real frame mount rock sliders, but neither one fits a PB frame. Rock Road are frame mounted, by they don't have a PB pattern. They said they are willing to do a set if I or someone else with a PB drives to their shop near Salt Lake City, but I'm holding out before making that road trip.

Bit late to this but OP did you manage to find someone local for the fitment or did the vendor manage to get their hands on one locally to measure?

 

[RaacerX]

Bumping this.

Seems to me the only difference from a true set of rock sliders on this F150 compared to a set of offroad "steps", is that the sliders are basically normall beefy steps, tied together with a cross bar.

I've built many sliders for other vehicles, but I've always bolted and welded them. Since I don't intend to keep my F150 for more than a few years (there will be something better by then), I don't want to weld the chassis (although there's nothing wrong or scary about welding on a vehicle, given you follow proper procedures for grounding).

Looks like there are some additional points of attachment possible on the PB underbody.

Is the 2024 F150 Powerboost chassis any different from the 2023?

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