Mod 17: RCI Metalworks Sliders

And to round out the rest of the protection on the rig, I decided to pick up some sliders from (you guessed it) RCI Metalworks. I had a set of their sliders on my previous 4th Gen 4Runner and was really happy with how their fitment on the body and durability after a few good slams!

This time I went with the 20 degree angled sliders with no top tread plate, a rear kickout, and a black powder coat. It took almost 6 weeks to get them, but it was worth the wait. I have heard some packaging/shipping horror stories from other manufacturers, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that RCI does a damn good job at wrapping these suckers up for safe shipping. Unwrapping them revealed a pristine black powder coat, a small bag of all of the bolts you will need, and the usual RCI Metalworks sticker.

If you are going to try to install these by yourself, I highly recommend using a car jack with a 2x4. I was able to lay the slider across the 2x4 and slowly raise it in to place with the jack making one person installation relatively easy. Then I just started to thread the bolts in one by one with a bit of anti-seize on them. I live in the Northeast so salt is an absolute killer to anything made of steel. I have seen my fair share of seized bolts in the past and I wanted to be extra sure that my sliders didn’t have any issues with that. After I got the bolts started by hand, I used my Milwaukee ratchet to start tightening them down a bit.

It took a while to get everything snugged down, but once the sliders were on, they were ON. I double and triple checked all of the bolts to make sure I didn’t miss any (cause there are quite a few!) And then I did what any reasonable person would do; I jumped up and down on them a number of times, shook the car with them, and jacked each side up by just the slider to test their strength. And I am happy to report that it passed these tests with flying colors.

In the future, I plan on giving the frame plate and legs a light coating of fluid film to protect them from the salt. Overall the fit and finish of the RCI Metalworks sliders is absolutely awesome and I cannot wait to take them out on to the trails. The added protection on the most vulnerable part of our 4Runners makes wheeling with confidence that much easier.