Blitzinger
Well-Known Member
Beyond the fit issues you had with the slide, how has it held up over the long term? Rust? Issues due to dust/dirt/snow/rain/etc? I’m wondering if they’ve improved since then. I saw an interesting set up - someone put a slide master in the gladiator and then an ez-slide on top of that! In case you’re wondering what the e-z slide is, you can mount your fridge on it, it takes up same space as your fridge slide, and when you pull it out, you pull down a lever and it drops it so its easier to reach inside. Maybe not for everyone but when you’re like me and 5’3 and plan to eventually lift the gladiator, it’ll be super convenient.Been a minute since I updated my build thread, we sold our home -> moved and had a great trip to San Antonio and back. Since the move we've been buttoning up preps for our Wyoming trip, we leave Friday.
After dozens of outings and a few big road trips (26k miles on my 2021 EcoD and I work from home) we started zeroing in on a bed slide to allow easy access to our gear for the whole family. 100% of the time previously, I was the person getting X out of the bed. Super ok the first few trips but not awesome long term especially when we have bins, coolers etc. that need shuffling around.
Landed on a Slide Master AH3 based bed slide for the following features:
- Built in the USA
- Low profile
- Extends a whopping 120% while supporting 700lbs fully extended. 1200lbs if capped at 75%.
- Ability to specify custom IMS spring lock points. I have them every 25% on out to 120%.
- Built like a tank
We've put this slide to good use, leveraging it for everything from a picnic table (all the time actually) to being laden with our gear as seen in the pics.
All that said, I would never recommend this slide nor this company to anyone. I won't extensively bash the company here but it is the first time in a very long time that I firmly believe that I would have better off sacrificing a few features to go with an $800 china-made slide readily available with free shipping from any Jeep big-box store. It does precisely everything I need it to but you cannot fathom the nightmare of an install this was. So bad that Slide Master had to call the owner of the only known installed example and ask them how he achieved it after I sent them pics showing where the mounting points land (directly on the bed seams, both sides, with zero wiggle room). Odd you might say given they have a "gladiator" selection when filtering products. One of many, many issues but again, not going to rant much. Suffice to say, this is not designed for our truck beyond simply ensuring the frame and tray can theoretically fit. Avoid at all costs.
On a brighter note, the Dometic CFX3 75DZ along with its' slide has been fantastic. To date I haven't seen it pull more than 49 watts. We've got a Delta EcoFlow for when we are static so I installed Cascadia's VSS panel kit w/ controller to trickle charge the primary battery while allowing an additional 12v out to charge the EcoFlow when we are posted at camp for extended periods.
My wavian can mounts got back from powder in time for me to get them mounted. Motobilt's quality is fantastic and Bonehead performance coatings once again did a great job. You can't see it in the pics but I've got a safe jack kit in a 50 cal. can next to the wavians just before the tool kit you see strapped to the mounts.
No issues to report with the truck outside of the leaking rear axle which is slotted for repair July 7th. I've been topping off the fluid every 1,500 or so miles with about a teaspoon of axle oil. The Toyo Open Country AT III tires have held up extremely well. I'd estimate I've gotten about 20k on them with plenty of tread left, likely another 10k left easily.
Ok onto the pics!
I just need to find a trust worth slide first. Looking at slide-master and decked
Sponsored
