Prep and Sanding.

March 27, 2016

White Knuckle Rock Slider Install, Part 1 of 3
In mid-February I placed an order with White Knuckle Off-Road for a set of their DOM Rock Sliders. I got a deal on the price partially due to the fact that I actually ordered two pairs of sliders (one for me, one for my cousin). They estimated a 4-6 week lead time, but by the end of the 4th week I got an email on a Thursday that the sliders were ready. My cousin volunteered to drive up to Apple Valley, CA (about an hour and 15 minutes, one way) to pick up our order the next day, so he saved me a road trip (LOL)

Woohoo!
Fresh from being picked up directly from White Knuckle.

The first thing I noticed was the weight – I knew they were 60 pounds each, but actually holding them up in the air they feel a lot heavier. Second, the construction was excellent. All of the welds looked great, everything was straight and true, and the raw materials used were excellent (I opted for the stronger DOM tubing). The brackets are pretty beefy. Also, the angled end “caps” are well done. You can tell by examining the construction that White Knuckle didn’t shortcut anything when putting these together. So far, so good I’d say.

Excellent welding.
More excellent welding.

First thing to do was prep and paint. Before I started I picked up some stuff at the hardware store:

I almost used all of this.

I began by hand sanding the sliders for a clean surface using a 3M 220-grit sanding sponge. I sanded everything (even the brackets) just to make sure that the paint would have bare metal to stick to. After finishing the sanding (which took about 45 minutes) I wiped everything down with a clean lint-free towel and some denatured alcohol.

Hand sanding, left side halfway done, right side comes next.

Next I setup a tarp in the backyard as a floor, a pair of sawhorses, and started priming the sliders. I ended up needing 2 cans of Rust-Oleum self-etching primer.

Green primer this time.

I let the primer dry in the sun for about two hours before I started painting. Contrary to some requests, I did not paint them red (LOL), I went with Rust-Oleum satin black to match what I used for the White Rhino light bar. Side note: I didn’t finish painting in one day, and the next day the weather forecast said it was going to rain, so I had to haul all of this stuff back into the garage. Then it rained the next day. Then two days later I had to setup all the stuff back in the backyard again. That wasn’t fun.

Actual painting in progress.
Final coat, still wet so it looks glossier than it really is.

I took my time painting the sliders, the prep and paint took 5 days total (minus 1 day of rain) and then another full day of sitting out in the sun to make sure the paint was dry before the next step, which was installation. CONTINUE TO PART 2.