RCI slider installation

So I am supposedly getting my sliders delivered on Monday. I am leaving on a trip early Thursday and need to get them installed before I go. It will be just me dealing with the installation.

My questions are, for those of you that have done it by yourselves, how hard was it? How long did it take? And if you had to do it over again, would you have it done at a shop instead?

Also, any tips/advice would also be appreciated in advance. Thank you.

 

It's esey if you have a couple of floor jacks leave bolt loos till you like the fitting of them then tork them down
I think I put a jack on the bottom with a load on them to make Sure it was tight to the trucks Frame

 

I did it on a lift and still managed to bend some washers overtightening some bolts. I also ended up cutting one in half for the rear drivers side since otherwise it didn't sit flush against the frame. Otherwise wasn't too much harder than expected. In some ways it might've been easier with floor jacks than on the 4 post lift.

 

Inventory your hardware as soon as you get them. They forgot the brackets in my order. Still able to install them, but not much support up front.

I installed them myself in 2 hours with two Jack stands and a couple milk crates. You can prep the truck beforehand to make the install go faster. I washed the frame very well and coated it with metal protector to keep the rust potential to a minimum.

 

Should add I also sprayed the frame and sliders with Fluid Film as I installed, particularly the areas where they'd meet.

 

When I installed mine by myself I used a long 2x4 under the slider on a floor jack to stabilize it. Lined up/got started an easy accessible end bolt then lined up the next bolt with the jack on the opposite end. The harder part for me was getting those front bolts in due the location inside the box portion of the frame.

 

All the suggestions above are good allow at least 1 hour per side since you will be taking a couple things off before installing. Also if you don’t have a normal sized hand and wrist find some help with a real skinny hand and wrist. Since on both sides you need to bolt up a couple of places where you have to slide your arm almost up to your elbow in the frame. 2-4 floor jacks and some wood are a must before starting saves you a bunch of pain. Fluid filming or whatever you decide to use is a good idea before you slide the metal together.

 

Do the drivers side first. Hope you have small hands and arms. The most forward mounting hardware is a bitch. (Box frame area) It’s all doable. It just takes patience.

I would suggest looking at where the rear brake lines and mounting hardware overlap. All the post I’ve read just said to bend them out of the way. I would suggest to mount the bolt the opposite direction so the threads are not a friction point for the brake lines. I did that and put a little piece of rubber material between the bolt head and the brake lines.

Mounting these is not that difficult overall. There should be a few moments that you might need to get creative trying to get washers, bolts, and nuts in place. If you have some tape handy, you can tape the stubborn bolts in place to make it easier to get the rest of the hardware in place.

You got this and you will build some confidence doing it yourself.

 

Thanks for all the replies. A lot of good suggestions that I'll be putting to use. Hopefully it all goes well and on schedule.

 

I’d look for another set of hands, that’ll make it less aggravating. Grab some beer and order a pizza, make it more fun than not.

 

Your timeline is too tight to risk futzing around without help. Bolt-fittings follow Murphy's Law too often.

Another person would be both a extra pair of hands AND someone to calm you down when one bolt is troublesome and can help remind you that you have already installed 18 of the 24 bolts. Pizza and beer is a small price to pay for that perspective.

 

Monday afternoon makes it kind of hard for friends to commit - work interferes too often. But I will try them again Monday morning.

At least today I did a little of the prep - I was able to get all of the bolts I need to get to loosened. No impact wrench needed.

 

It took two of us 4 hours. How can I say it . . . it's all straight forward it's just a giant PITA getting everything lined up and getting in hard to reach places.
Definitely a couple of jack stands and something to rest the sliders on is helpful. But having someone hold them in place while you are getting the first few bolts in. Yeah, really I don't think I would attempt it by myself.

 

If I had a larger time window it'd be much easier to get the installation arranged. As of now though, it looks like I'm going to be flying solo.

 

I would have taken it to a shop but was quoted $200 to install which seemed steep but they would of course put it up on a lift and have a couple of helpers and could probably knock it out in an hour.

I would just wait until you get back and get help. Or maybe find a shop that won't rip you off - I don't know say $100 certainly not more.

 

I will add to use BLUE locktite on the bolts when you tighten them down. I didn't do that and after a fun day 4-wheeling I happened to push against a slider and it moved. I got under there and several of the nuts had backed off a bit, luckily didn't lose any. So I re-torqued them and added blue to all of them. Haven't had a problem since.

 

I was thinking of doing just that. Thanks for the reminder.

 

You should have no issues getting these installed in a few hours. I installed mine by myself with no Jack stands or floor Jack. I used a bin that almost matched the height of the frame perfectly and allowed me to slide the slider in place and only had to lift up a little to bolt the first bolt in. It’s really not that hard of an install. Hardest part is wedging your arm in the frame to mount the forward most bolt. I will agree with other posters make sure to inventory all your hardware. They forgot to supply me with the hardware that sits in the cross member to mount the forward frame supports and took them a few days to arrive after contacting them. But other than that they have been solid. Good luck with the install!

 

Hopefully my install goes as well as yours sounds like it did. And from what I've been reading, the front most bolt does seem to raise the blood pressure the most.

 

I’ve done it twice now on 2 2022 OR. The bolt on the driver side electric box is tricky. I used jack stands and a jack. I got them to height with the jack and slide the stands to get them in place. Had a buddy help. It went pretty smoothly. I trimmed the frame caps with a Dremel. Mine are 20 degrees on a short bed for reference.