CUSTOMER REVIEWS
Customer Reviews
I've been on the fence between buying and building my own sliders for my 2000 XJ, so I was quite happy to find a DIY kit from DirtBound. I got them on the Black Friday sale and the kit arrived in late January, so about the expected production & shipping time. The box arrived damaged but the contents were very well packaged with pallet wrap, and everything was fine.
I used my Titanium 125 flux-core welder from Harbor Freight and I'm far from a professional welder, so while the weld's aren't the prettiest I'm sure they'll hold just fine.
The kit did not include detailed instructions as the product listing claims, so I tacked everything together using the diagram in the listing. I then tried a test-fit, and found that there were 1/4 to 3/8in gaps between the pinch-welds and the brackets. In addition, the rear frame mounts seemed to be angled the wrong way, as if they were on the wrong side (I installed the part labeled 2551 on driver's side and 2552 on passenger as indicated on the diagram). The sliders also stuck out a bit more than I wanted since I'm running TJ wheels with stock backspacing. So out came the grinder to cut the tacks for the mounts, then I cut 1/2in off the slider end of each of the mounting arms (this required shorter mounting bolts for the pinch-seam, so I used some .75in long grade-8 bolts instead of the 1.25in bolts that were included with the kit).
This time, I assembled the mounts on the Jeep (including swapping the rear mounting arms to the opposite side), drilled all the holes, then started tacking everything together again. Once that was done I removed the sliders and finished welding everything up. There were some larger gaps to fill between the pinch seam mounts, but everything welded up fine.
I spent quite a bit of time with a grinder and bandfile sander to clean up my welds, then painted the sliders with some self-etching primer and several coats of spray-on tuck-bed liner, which is what I used on my front and rear bumpers. Once that dried I re-installed the sliders.
The bottom of the sliders hang down about 3/4in below the pinch seam, and while the Jeep looks a bit lower I didn't really lose any breakover clearance, since the transmission crossmember and unibody still hang down further. I really like how the step bars angle upwards. I would have preferred a better fit and instructions, but I was able to make it work. Overall I think they look great, they are very solid, and I'm sure they will provide some good protection while I'm out wheeling.
