FOR ABENDX

[Desert Dog]

Brad, per your request, here is a review of my Purejeep sliders. It sucks that we actually wheel hard enough to break what some companies claim is a bulletproof product. We have both destroyed sliders, and yours were from a very expensive and prominent manufacturer. After seeing some of their products getting destroyed or doing body damage to the thin JK sheet metal, its nice to see some companies admit that their sliders are not intended for hard-core wheeling. Im also like you and don't like the loss off clearance with frame mounted sliders. Purejeep stands by their sliders are perfectly suitable for our style of wheeling and I have abused the hell out of mine with reckless abandon. In almost a year of use, these are my thoughts;

PUREJEEP JK SLIDERS: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

[attachment=2]PJ1.JPG[/attachment]
THE GOOD: Way tougher than anything Jeep put on the Jeep. Made of 3/16 steel and heavy wall tubing. These have the best ground clearance of any slider for the JK on the market. They attach to the bottom tub with 2 bolts, bolts all the way through the pinch seems front and back, 5 bolts through the body using crush sleeves, and 2 nutserts. So a total of 9 attachment points per slider for the 2-door.

[attachment=1]pj2.JPG[/attachment]
THE BAD: Install was a biatch. I spend over an hour trying to figure out the alignment tool only to find out that the alignment tool doesn't line up. Every other owner of these sliders that I spoke with had the same problem. So I eyeballed the drill angle on the door bolts and it came out good. One side took over 4 hours to do, and the other side about 1 hour once I figured all the tricks out.

[attachment=0]pj3.JPG[/attachment]
THE UGLY: with lots of side impacts on the step bar, the body armor is starting to cut into the sheet metal a little on the pasenger side. IMHO, Purejeep should include a rubber gasket to place between the body armor and the sheet metal. Also, when I called PJ twice to get the scoop on the alignment tool, the person on the phone was very rude. His final conclusion was that no one has ever had a problem with the alignment tool and I just needed to figure out how to use it .

[munepit]

Great writeup,nice pics also!

[TheBigDogg]

DITTO!!!

[abendx]

And to think.... I was afraid to open this in fear of some Obama inspired picture on the lines of Detroit giving it to ARB. [img]http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-sexy-smileys-939.gif[/img]

Thanks for the review... I thought you might have been ignoring me... I asked a week ago.

Looks like the Pure Jeep Sliders are on my short list.

I finally talked to PSC today about this problem I have. Their answer kind of sucked.... on the lines of "your wheeling style will not hold up to any sliders." They confided in me that they are on their fourth iteration of design changes to these sliders.... I guess they are having some issues. But, they are good people... I am going to go in and they are going to replace my set with the newest version and maybe add some of the refinements that are going on their next version (namely, body mount tabs). I will take them up on this to get past my current issue of not being able to use a door any longer on the drivers side. I think their products are really nice... easily look better than most of the competition, and would probably be perfect for almost anyone that actually wheels their Jeep... but, not everyone (read: Infectious Offroad Membership ).

Poly told me that my wheeling style would not hold up to any "body attached" sliders. [b][color=#BF0000]HUGE[/color][/b] props to them for not selling me a slider and telling me what to get that will work. Poly drives me nuts very often.... they are an interesting company, yet they have top notch products and are very upfront about everything. I guess they have in development, something that will attach to the frame... apparently they too are having some design issues with body mounted sliders such as their boatsides. Again... probably perfect for most anyone that doesn't wheel with Infectious.

But.... I would say that you (Chris) and me have similar tastes in what we find fun. We might be in that smaller group? You are right.... this "bomb proof" line that many manufactures claim, then blame the end user when it doesn't hold up to their claims is a bunch of bull. They should all send Infectious free shit so that we can field test their wares.

So.... on the short list.

1. EVO frame mounted sliders w/River Raider tub mounted rocker guards (to cover up the HUGE amount of damage caused by the PSC Rocker Knockers, they aren't needed with a frame mounted slider, but the coverage is the best out there and I need to hide lots of body damage caused by the PSC sliders).
2. Pure Jeep sliders.... body mounted, which is somewhat concerning, yet they hold up to Chris, which means they should easily hold up to me.
3. Full exo cage.
4. Stop wheeling.

Okay.... #3 is a joke. #1 is what I am leaning towards, only because I am about ready to pull the trigger on the River Raider full corners, which would fit perfectly with their rocker guards... 3/16s steal from the front flare all the way to the tailgate and a frame mounted slider which should actually be "bomb proof." Only bad thing about frame mounted is the loss of clearance. #2 would not screw with clearance and actually give me a little more than I currently have. Too many people might be happy with option #4 and I really enjoy making people mad.... so it is off the table.

Thanks again Chris!

Pics of the damage, for those that have not seen it.

The slider has bent up so bad a door can't be used any longer.
[img]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_anaeIz6nuYk/TH7yUjbOk2I/AAAAAAAAMOc/FWEgQJ65a5A/door1.jpg[/img]

The slider has dented the tub at least 1/2" deep. This is true at all four corners of the slider and tub.
[img]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_anaeIz6nuYk/TH7yaM3FLtI/AAAAAAAAMO8/PU4dmywFF0c/door3.jpg[/img]

[Desert Dog]

Yep, I'm starting to realize that:

1) many companies sell the look of the product, rather than function (those PSC sliders look f'in awesome).
2) most company owners don't have the time to wheel hard often, so use employees, family members, friends, and mall crawler reps to test their products. If the feedback is good from these reps; then in their mind, they have created an "indestructible" product. Now you even have some of these worms claiming that aluminum armor will hold up better than steel armor.
3) most company reps, family of the owner, and sponsored persons do not wheel as hard as we do. Companies are making the mistake of using their sponsored rigs as "show Jeeps" in event parking lots, rather than setting an example at the hammers on weekends. Every off-road company nowdays seems to be building a "SEMA Jeep" rather than a "test vehicle". Leave that shit to Smittybuilt, Rugged Ridge, and Rancho. I want to see a company come down off a waterfall onto a rock, then do it a couple more times and then show me the result. I don't care about your meticulously shiny part on a stage at SEMA, I want to see your stuff with all the paint beat off of it.
4) Customer service has generally gone to shit. Most company reps that answer the phone or stand by their jeeps at events have no idea what they are talking about - and will later deny what they said to you anyway. Customers have become an inconvenience because they expect the product to perform as claimed by the manufacturer. How many times does a product have to experience the same failures before they stop blaming it on the user?

Its really cool that poly stepped up and told you the truth.

I really hope my PJ sliders hold up because I don't want to loose all that clearance by going to a frame-mounted set-up. I see the guys with the frame mounts getting hung up on everything.

[abendx]

Totally agree with you... the manufactures' don't wheel their junk down much more than a fire road and the Jeeps are built for showing at SEMA (there are a handful of exceptions). Most of their customers are guys that do just about the same with their Jeeps... fire roads and mall showings. Everyone has their level of comfort and I respect the chrome laden mall crawl champion of Bako, just as much as the dinged up ride that has just run The Hammers. Different strokes and whatnot.

While I think looks of a product are pretty important and I want my ride pimped out as much as the next guy... it is just wrong for them to promote there stuff as tough as nails, built for this or that, or whatever... problem is that you go look at a forum (JKO or JK-F are perfect examples) and you have an army of know nothings proping up their flavor of the day, using the same tough as nails line the manufacture has fed them. Problem is that 99.999% of these folks have never wheeled their junk like we do. Funny thing is that the manufactures' market their junk to us.... or at least claim it will hold up to the most aggressive style of wheeling (which really... [i]we[/i] rarely even broach).

Don't get me started on CS.... most if not all of them suck balls when it comes to this.