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Fun topic: Will repeated long term rubbing create a corrosion problem between frame of the L663 and steel rock sliders mounted up?
Curious what everyone thinks about this. Long term.
The body is of course painted, as are the sliders... but as the coatings wear off from my inevitable trail hooning - is mounting sliders creating a long term problem for galvanic corrosion at the mounting points? Which would be inherently somewhat unfixable if the aluminum starts to corrode.
I have seen pictures of L494/L405 in UK written off with *holes* in the aluminum underbody where the (steel) subframes mount up straight to the car body.
Background: I have a RRC with tons of galvanic corrosion at steel/aluminum mounting points - it is no fun at all. Bit different from rust, and perhaps more terminal for the component in question. Also, my dad is a metallurgical engineer specializing in corrosion... so... it came up in a dinner conversation this week when I proudly announced my incoming sliders from Voyager.
FYI as reference here's a pic of an L405 (aluminum body/frame/chassis like our L663) corroded away under the steel subframe mounting points. Yikes. This is what I'm hoping to avoid. https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/post612306.html (admittedly in a much worse environment than my Pac NW area - but still, this is a less than 10 year old car with holes thru the aluminum unibody of the car)
Last edited by nashvegas; Nov 20, 2023 at 12:55 PM.
I was also concerned of the dis-similar metals corroding living in Upstate NY (salt/brine used a lot on our roads)
I had my sliders stripped of paint then Line-X'ed (basically a rubber coating) them, used aluminum riv-nuts, painted the holes I had to drill for the riv-nuts, and put aluminum anti-seize on all surfaces that contact the body (the contact surfaces on the sliders were also coated in Line-X) and hardware. I looked like the Tin Man when I was done, hahahaha...Hopefully that should help with the dis-similar metals.
Last edited by GCSchmidt; Nov 20, 2023 at 01:15 PM.
You may want to use some custom cut insulators between the slider and the body. Coating will tend to rub off over time. You would also need to pay attention to the material your fasteners are made of, stainless steel varies quite a bit, especially some of the somewhat suspect material from some unnamed overseas manufacturers. You may find sealing the gap to prevent water to wick between the mounts and body to be helpful as well. I find it slightly ironic that sliders where conceived to protect the vehicle from damage, not cause it in the first place.
The Line-X coating is thick and rubbery coating, it acted like a seal, when I torqued everything down. They will eventually need a re-coat after some trail abuse.
The riv-nuts I used were marine grade, as of strength rating they are only used to fasten the sill plates and are not load bearing, I don't see them ripping out.
The slider hardware was SS grade 8 bolts I sourced from a USA manufacturer.
I tried my best to paint, seal, protect against corrosion...time will tell.
The Line-X coating is thick and rubbery coating, it acted like a seal, when I torqued everything down. They will eventually need a re-coat after some trail abuse.
The riv-nuts I used were marine grade, as of strength rating they are only used to fasten the sill plates and are not load bearing, I don't see them ripping out.
The slider hardware was SS grade 8 bolts I sourced from a USA manufacturer.
I tried my best to paint, seal, protect against corrosion...time will tell.
I have my plan worked out after speaking to the "sailboat people" who are constantly working with steel and aluminum, in corrosive environments. They're quite accustomed to steel and or stainless steel hardware on aluminum masts, etc. So as an experiment, I'm going to put a thin layer of this stuff - Duralac Green - on all surfaces between the L663 aluminum body and the steel sliders. Should do the trick.
I read on the old Defender forums that a # of the guys use this Duralec on their old Defenders on the door hinges, etc. etc with great results over time.
... Now I just need Voyager to ship over the sliders that have been on order for a month.
Last edited by nashvegas; Dec 13, 2023 at 09:18 AM.
Corrosion between aluminum L663 & rock sliders
