So, I'm getting ready for my first trip to Moab Utah for Cruise Moab in a little over a month and figured I needed to beef up my OEM t-case skid plate. I looked at some of the different skid plates out there and decided not to go with the large but very beefy iron pig type due to the type of wheeling I do.
So this is what I did. I purchased a 13" x 22” x ¼” thick piece of plate steel from my local steel yard. I then marked it to the specs you see below and had them cut the plate to match.
Once I got home I struggled to figure out how to bend my 45 degree angles in this thick stuff without a very big brake press. After much consideration I used a very thin cutting wheel on my angle grinder and ran a line across the steel where I wanted the individual bends (about halfway through the 1/4” plate. This allowed me to bend the plate with a BFH clamped to a block of heavy steel as a straight edge. In the diagram below you will see where I placed my bends. Note: I placed my outer most 45 bends on the front and back of the skid plate more than 1” in. You can put them as far in or out as you feel comfortable with. Once I got all of my bends where I wanted them and test fitted them under the truck I then welded shut the gaps of where I had cut the steel with the cutting wheel.
Next steps will be to drill the three mounting holes and to build a bracket that will attach to the frame rail supporting the rear most part of the skid plate. I also need to drill a large hole via a hole saw so I can drain my t-case without having to remove the skid plate.
So this is what I did. I purchased a 13" x 22” x ¼” thick piece of plate steel from my local steel yard. I then marked it to the specs you see below and had them cut the plate to match.
Once I got home I struggled to figure out how to bend my 45 degree angles in this thick stuff without a very big brake press. After much consideration I used a very thin cutting wheel on my angle grinder and ran a line across the steel where I wanted the individual bends (about halfway through the 1/4” plate. This allowed me to bend the plate with a BFH clamped to a block of heavy steel as a straight edge. In the diagram below you will see where I placed my bends. Note: I placed my outer most 45 bends on the front and back of the skid plate more than 1” in. You can put them as far in or out as you feel comfortable with. Once I got all of my bends where I wanted them and test fitted them under the truck I then welded shut the gaps of where I had cut the steel with the cutting wheel.
Next steps will be to drill the three mounting holes and to build a bracket that will attach to the frame rail supporting the rear most part of the skid plate. I also need to drill a large hole via a hole saw so I can drain my t-case without having to remove the skid plate.
