Enthusiast I
Which will increase my experience/enjoyment more as a novice a fridge or sliders for my GX470. Both cost are similar and can't decide which to do first to my unmodified rig on my limited budget. Thanks in advance, be well
Fridge or Sliders
- Thread starter James R
- Start date
Explorer I
- 3,680
- First Name
- Brian
- Last Name
- McGahuey
- Member #
-
23711
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- GMRS WRMV941
Well, which one prevents potential thousands of dollars of body work? Seems like a no brainer to me. I have sliders on my X, but still don't have a fridge, if that helps.
Welcome to OB, James!
Can you give us a bit more info about the kinds of trips you'd like to do? That might help you get some guidance. If you are new to vehicle-dependant travel, it can be hard to prioritize where to put the dollars, but so much of that advice would be based on your use case, and the use case of Overlanders is pretty diverse.
For example, if your idea of Overlanding is to tackle some tough trails on a weekend, the Sliders are probably a better bet as they can save you a lot of money in vehicle repairs in the event of an "oops" where you slide or drop the vehicle in a place you did not intend, and a decent Coleman cooler is under $100 and will keep ice for a weekend no problem. This is lighter, simpler, and far more accessible if that's your use case. On the other hand, a ton of folks who Overland will rarely go truly "off road" -- gravel roads and easy jeep tracks are about as intense as they get and it's more about touring around remote places than it is about tackling tough tracks.
Here is an example of a Trail Rating system - there are no universal ones, but this gives you an idea of the 'typical' difficulties of passage and types of terrain you might face with your Lexus. Anything level 3 or below is not likely to need sliders -- at Level 3, I think they are handy in case of an 'oops' but not critical. I think at higher levels, the "oops" are much more likely so I would suggest fitting them if that's your desired level of off-roading. If all you ever want to do are level 1 and 2 though, you may not need to spend the money on sliders for your rig.
But here's the thing -- you don't need to spend money on a fridge either. Fridges are very much a "nice to have" item, not a "need to have" item. On many of my trips, I actually don't even have a cooler and only eat non-refrigerated foods. On our Alaska trip, the cooler was only for beer -- all the food we ate was shelf-stable at room temps -- and that was a month-long trip. If we drank Whiskey instead, we could have left the cooler behind.
Perhaps a better initial question -- If your rig is totally unmodified, why do you want to start with either sliders or a fridge? Your vehicle is probably perfectly suitable as-is and I would suggest spending that slider/fridge money on gas instead. That will tell you what you like/don't like about the rig. If you are itching to mod out the rig, though, there might be better places to start. Do you have any front-end protection? What about tires/rims? Tell us a bit more about your trips and I can narrow down this advice a bit more.
Can you give us a bit more info about the kinds of trips you'd like to do? That might help you get some guidance. If you are new to vehicle-dependant travel, it can be hard to prioritize where to put the dollars, but so much of that advice would be based on your use case, and the use case of Overlanders is pretty diverse.
For example, if your idea of Overlanding is to tackle some tough trails on a weekend, the Sliders are probably a better bet as they can save you a lot of money in vehicle repairs in the event of an "oops" where you slide or drop the vehicle in a place you did not intend, and a decent Coleman cooler is under $100 and will keep ice for a weekend no problem. This is lighter, simpler, and far more accessible if that's your use case. On the other hand, a ton of folks who Overland will rarely go truly "off road" -- gravel roads and easy jeep tracks are about as intense as they get and it's more about touring around remote places than it is about tackling tough tracks.
Here is an example of a Trail Rating system - there are no universal ones, but this gives you an idea of the 'typical' difficulties of passage and types of terrain you might face with your Lexus. Anything level 3 or below is not likely to need sliders -- at Level 3, I think they are handy in case of an 'oops' but not critical. I think at higher levels, the "oops" are much more likely so I would suggest fitting them if that's your desired level of off-roading. If all you ever want to do are level 1 and 2 though, you may not need to spend the money on sliders for your rig.
But here's the thing -- you don't need to spend money on a fridge either. Fridges are very much a "nice to have" item, not a "need to have" item. On many of my trips, I actually don't even have a cooler and only eat non-refrigerated foods. On our Alaska trip, the cooler was only for beer -- all the food we ate was shelf-stable at room temps -- and that was a month-long trip. If we drank Whiskey instead, we could have left the cooler behind.
Perhaps a better initial question -- If your rig is totally unmodified, why do you want to start with either sliders or a fridge? Your vehicle is probably perfectly suitable as-is and I would suggest spending that slider/fridge money on gas instead. That will tell you what you like/don't like about the rig. If you are itching to mod out the rig, though, there might be better places to start. Do you have any front-end protection? What about tires/rims? Tell us a bit more about your trips and I can narrow down this advice a bit more.
do you like to eat?????
I don't know how you can overland without fresh food and a place to sleep. Unless you are just wheeling for the day.
If you pick sliders, yer on the wrong forum.
Enthusiast I
Thanks for the input, 3+ is what i have been doing, mainly week trips but looking at multiple week trips in remote parts of Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic provinces. Once I have built my skills up would likely do more solo trips, hard to find others who can take three weeks off for a trip.
Not looking for trouble in remote areas so will opt to avoid rock sliding/water if i can. Do not want to break stuff in northern Ontario, very long way to help.
Enthusiast I
Yes leaning that way, don't like soggy food and ice takes up to much room on long trips, just need to talk it out before I drop that much $$$. Anything you think i should get next before a fridge. Plan on building a storage system around it first, typically on my own i sleep in the truck. When family come the tents come along.
Enthusiast I
Explorer I
- 3,680
- First Name
- Brian
- Last Name
- McGahuey
- Member #
-
23711
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- GMRS WRMV941
I bought some custom ones of a guy on xterraNation.com. I've actually bounced them off rocks, and they held up great. Cost me about 200 or so.
Enthusiast I
Fridge! So when you smack your rig at least you can have a nice meal and cry over it with some cold beers!
Most overland routes do not require sliders. Off roading is a different story. I have both of course but if my budget was one at a time I would go fridge first. Then expand your trail selection as you build you skills and get sliders, skid plates..... on and on and on and on. It never ends. Welcome
Most overland routes do not require sliders. Off roading is a different story. I have both of course but if my budget was one at a time I would go fridge first. Then expand your trail selection as you build you skills and get sliders, skid plates..... on and on and on and on. It never ends. Welcome
Enthusiast I
Thanks for the input, looked at your linked website, was looking at building something similar, so thanks for the links. Be well
Based on my understanding of the type of trip you're planning I'd go for the refrigerator. Most of our travel is what most people would call "overlanding" rather than "rock crawling", although we do get into some more demanding situations where it'll take us where we want to go. Adding sliders would do nothing for us other than add mass and use some of what's in the piggybank.
If you travel in warm (or hot) weather over several days (or months) it's really worthwhile to have a cold drink at the end of the day, and to be able to keep meat, fish, etc., fresh.
Building on chasingourtranks's comment - are there other items which might be better to add at this point? I suggest that your first addition, if not already on the vehicle, should be AT tyres; after that perhaps a mesh radiator guard, then maybe a refrigerator, some sort of storage capability, tyre repair kit & compressor, etc., etc. The order of these depends on the travel you plan. I think, for your travel, sliders would come after recovery points, a winch, and maybe a snorkel, by which time you may be running out of GVM...
If you travel in warm (or hot) weather over several days (or months) it's really worthwhile to have a cold drink at the end of the day, and to be able to keep meat, fish, etc., fresh.
Building on chasingourtranks's comment - are there other items which might be better to add at this point? I suggest that your first addition, if not already on the vehicle, should be AT tyres; after that perhaps a mesh radiator guard, then maybe a refrigerator, some sort of storage capability, tyre repair kit & compressor, etc., etc. The order of these depends on the travel you plan. I think, for your travel, sliders would come after recovery points, a winch, and maybe a snorkel, by which time you may be running out of GVM...
Advocate I
Maybe this will help you decide...
Which have you wished you'd had more often, sliders or a fridge? Willing to bet a fridge. Sliders and other protection are definitely good to have, but you also know where you're comfortable traveling. If you have told yourself "Man, I'd totally go down there if I had sliders" more often than "Man, I'm tired of dealing with ice and soggy food" then you should get the sliders.
We can't decide for you, only help you figure out which would be more useful/practical.
I love having a fridge.
Which have you wished you'd had more often, sliders or a fridge? Willing to bet a fridge. Sliders and other protection are definitely good to have, but you also know where you're comfortable traveling. If you have told yourself "Man, I'd totally go down there if I had sliders" more often than "Man, I'm tired of dealing with ice and soggy food" then you should get the sliders.
We can't decide for you, only help you figure out which would be more useful/practical.
I love having a fridge.
I just realized where you were from. I've got some history with Guelph myself, and am very familiar with Northern Ontario (Grew up on Northwestern ON). Plenty of good routes for adventure in that part of the world, and the majority of it is improved roads or gravel. Definitely some technical trails too of course -- Giving you the trail guide from Ontario was a coincidence but hopefully that resource is helpful to you in other ways too.
Have you considered front-end protection and winch mounting? You are way, way more likely to hit a deer or become bogged than you are to scrape a sill, especially in most of Ontario; hitting a critter is often an unavoidable surprise. Getting stuck in mud can happen even if the terrain isn't technical and there's only a few inches of it or there's an incline. In both these situations sliders are not useful, but front end protection will make the difference between a good story for the next campfire, and a tragic tale that ends your trip and maybe costs you your vehicle. A good bumper gives you a solid and proven self-recovery option (Especially in the Shield; no shortage of muskeg to get in trouble with, but also no shortage of trees to winch from usually) as well as animal strike protection if you go for one with a proper hoop. Sliders on the other hand -- I've always been able to avoid needing to rely on sliders. Careful line selection or even giving up on a trail are always options, so a situation where you 'need' sliders is a lot easier to avoid than a situation where you 'need' to stop Bambi from eating your cooling system.
I also fully agree with @Alanymarce on the tires comment. Good AT tires will make more of a difference in the off-road performance of your vehicle than any other modification you will likely make.
Boostpowered
Rank VI
Member III
He already got the sliders. So no need to him tell what you'd get anymore.
Shouldn't take too long to figure out what's needed after a few trips.
Shouldn't take too long to figure out what's needed after a few trips.
Advocate I
He did? He must've said that in a different thread since I don't see them saying that in this one.
I'd get the fridge and enjoy it's benefits on every outing. Build up your experience and confidence on lighter trails/obstacles while you save up for the armor. There's plenty to do and see out there without needing to slide on rocks, but you can enjoy cold beer and lavish meals every night at camp.
My opinion is formed from me being in the same position last year and have gone the route I suggested. I'll be ordering sliders in the next month or so, but I've thoroughly enjoyed my fridge so far.
[And I apparently replied to a solved topic also... oops!]
My opinion is formed from me being in the same position last year and have gone the route I suggested. I'll be ordering sliders in the next month or so, but I've thoroughly enjoyed my fridge so far.
[And I apparently replied to a solved topic also... oops!]
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Enthusiast I
Have already got ko2s, compressor, tire kit. I plan on building the storage once i figure out my priorities. Really trying to look at possible blind spots where i should place my efforts.
Thanks for the input, be well
Enthusiast I
