Great video! Not sure if you've heard of us, but we make Toyota bumpers that tackle this issue by using steel & aluminum. Not to be too sales pitchy, but we use an aluminum outer shell with a separate steel winch cradle, which bolts directly to the frame and has steel recovery points. Lightweight and strong in just the right areas, at only 80lbs. Our rear swing outs follow a similar concept with a steel bumper and aluminum swing doors. Not many people are educated on the steel vs. aluminum debate, so appreciate your video. Also, aluminum sliders are just hilarious lol. Cheers!
Apparently you don't have bumpers for 1st or 2nd gen Tacomas. Is there some custom order form for that, or you guys are just lame? 😊 There are more 2nd gen Tacoma owners who go "backwoods" than 3rd gen.. maybe a significant chunk of the market for a company not just looking for mall crawlers and soccer moms...
My dad was a professional welder for 35 years. Worked on the pipelines in Ontario. He said aluminum was harder to work with meaning it requires more skill. After we moved to British Columbia, he got into dump trucks. We had one truck with a steel box, the other had an aluminum box. Over time, both boxes would crack, but the aluminum box requires much more repair. It just couldn't take the constant pounding and all the cracks he welded kept on cracking again.
2017 4runner. I have a mix of steel & aluminum. I live in a nearly rust free environment. But occasional road trips to other places. Aluminum skid plates mostly for debris flung up from the road/trail. If the skids begin to drag on obstacles, I'll try a different line. Steel rock sliders for the reasons mentioned in the video. About to install steel bumpers. Not so much for offroading, but because I occasionally go into town (I live remotely in the desert). Primarily protection from other drivers.
I have both steel and aluminum skid plates on my side by side when is aluminum ones are done being shredded away we're going to replace them with full Steel just food for thought for everybody
I’m doing the same. In fact, my new steel front skid is sitting in my living room waiting to replace my aluminum one that met a giant rock on a trail and smashed the holy hell out of it! 😂
For bumpers and sliders I'm going with steel, I've been on the fence with the skids but the more research I do the more I'm thinking that steel is the way to go for me. I live in Oregon and we don't salt the roads so rust is not a big problem.
My Tacoma has an Aluminum front bumper, Aluminum skid plates, steel rock sliders and a steel rear bumper. The skids are from Mob Town offroad and have taken quite a few hard hits without an issue. They are gouged and a bit dented but they are doing what they're supposed to do. I'm happy with my set up for the style traveI do.
So, I've heard the same points as outlined in this video. I have a full steel skid plate package, but my sliders are aluminum. They're from Greenlane Offroad. I've been doing some rock crawling, fucked up my line and ended up super off-camber with the full weight of my 4runner on the passenger slider. There's a dent on the slider not from the boulder I was leaning against, but I was able to just skinny pedal it and it slid right across the boulder. Nothing bent, angle's still perfect, nothing cracked, just the dent from where I hit and landed. That being said, I know they won't last forever, so depending on how long they hold up to my abuse, I'll decide whether to go with steel next time or aluminum again, but so far, I've been pretty impressed. Could be Greenlane just makes better aluminum products, or luck, but it's been 3 years of abuse and they're still in wicked condition.
10 months in from this, how are the sliders fairing? Most of my stuff isn’t that rocky so I’m leaning greenlane. However I’m also newer to the hobby and balancing how "extreme" I really need to build for with weight savings for daily driver.
I've been thinking about steel for front bumper, sliders, and rear bumper and aluminum for everything else. I'm not planning on "sending it", just some overlanding type stuff bc the rig is my daily.
In addition to what overland outfitters have said, how much abuse does your current plastic bumper get? I’ve been running a high clearance cut on my 4th gen 4runner with minor scrapes and scuffs that don’t bother me, however a recent accident has me replacing it. I don’t want to have to swap out for larger coil springs and I’m not looking to start beating up my new aluminum bumper more than my plastic one, it just doesn’t make sense to buy a new plastic one and then have to go through the effort of cutting it again. So I’m the end I’m buying an aluminum demello off road bumper (55lbs) for high clearance over a steel (130-160lb) full coverage bumper. I just want the extra clearance as well as the aftermarket mounts for lightbar, pod lights, and if necessary, the recovery points, however I’ve never needed to be recovered wheeling in the desert and my driving habits will remain the same
Gonna go with aluminum sliders from greenlane off-road basically as steps and easier access to back of the truck bed. Want lightweight cause I don’t do crazy off-roading. Quality video though 👌
Sliders is the one thing that there is zero debate that they should be steel IF you are using them as sliders. If you want to look, aluminum is fine and Greenlane is a great company. I have their ladder on my 4Runner and I’d never even look to buy any other brand
The way i look at it is.. yes aluminum is light, but when it comes to the important parts of a truck. It has always been steel and it is still far stronger... Steel is used in frames, engines (for all the actual important parts), Axles, bearings etc...If aluminum was better they would use it.. They did try it on axle housings and it didnt last long.. they dont use it.. people say, well my links are now aluminum.. Ok, well put the exact same dimension of aluminum to steel.. if your comparing an aluminum solid rod with threads on the ends to a Steel tube of .25" x 2", its not a fair comparison.. apples to apples. do a 2" tube of aluminum to a 2" steel tube. and see what happens.. you need far more aluminum to reach the same strength as steel.... aluminum engines need steel sleeves, gears are steel, egnine/ transmission/ transfercase/ axles internal parts are all steal.
I live in Yukon and use an ARB on the front of my 07 Taco.. The weight is a killer. Recently was stuck a long way out due to a sheared off Billy front shock. Totally sucked. But the ARB over my front mounted 85s KO2s will pull through huge amounts of snow. Traction traction traction
I also live in Rust country. Northern Minnesota 01 ext cab and my frame is junk . Ive patched it many times . Its holding together. But im a welder by trade and thinking of building a new frame . So may as well step it up right .lol do you know of any tube chassis kits sold for gen 1's ? I think it could be a fun winter project. Thanks for all the great content!
The rational for 'armour' is for strong protection. Really don't see aluminum providing that attribute as armour. The weight saving is considerable but offset by price. Steel is the way to go if your truck needs to be armoured. My 2 cents.
@@OverlandOutfitters Thanks Braeden for the quick replay. Do you recommend any particular company for steel skid plates. I just got a 2015 Nissan Xterra that has Expedition One - 3/16" STEEL front bumper, radiator skid and engine skid. I still need skids for the Transmission and gas tank and maybe rear Diff. Expedition One stopped making skid plates for this Vehicle. Any advice would be appreciated and per your video I will "stick" with STEEL.
Shame he doesn't know what he is talking about. Some aluminium alloys are more than twice as strong as steel by volume, and since aluminium is 1/3 the weight it can also be used thicker. So you have the choice of using aluminium alloys to save weight, or make things stronger, or find a middle ground where you save weight and gain strength. Another thing he doesn't mention is that the stronger the grade of aluminium alloy the harder it is, and therefore the more abrasion resistant it is, plus, since you can run thicker without being heavier losing some material to abrasion doesn't matter.
