Has anyone fitted an ARB skid plate to their 200 Series with a 40 gallon Long Range tank?
40 gallon LRA tank and skid plate (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter mep1811
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I have bud built skids and the 40
Markuson
SILVER Star
Skid plates that fit with a spare in place should fit with the 40 in place just fine.
Valley Hybrids (who imports LRA in partnership with Ward Harris) will up-armor they bottom of the tanks for a very reasonable price. My 24 is armored, and it’s solid as a rock. It is soooo well-tucked, though, that no matter how much I beat the rest of my undercarriage, I have yet to touch the tank! The 40 would have been tested by now on my truck...
**If I had a 40 that was similarly armored (like my 24), I suspect it would hold up extremely well.
- Thread starter
- #4
To clarify, I'm looking at the full belly skid plate . Thanks
The ARB skid plates do not extend far enough towards the rear of the truck to interfere with the LRA tank. There's no skid plate once you're behind the transfer case. Maybe that answers your question?
- Thread starter
- #6
ThanksThe ARB skid plates do not extend far enough towards the rear of the truck to interfere with the LRA tank. There's no skid plate once you're behind the transfer case. Maybe that answers your question?
Bit late .. but that is what I have. The ARB skid plate and the 40 gallon tank.
FYI you need to cut an inspection plate hole in the ARB skid plate so you can change the front oil filter without removing the skid plate.
I put the plate on, then cut the hole with a jig saw with the plate on the vehicle. Then cut a plate to cover the hole.
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kcjaz
SILVER Star
@Markuson or anyone else who has added armor to the bottom of their LRA tank, can you share some details on how you did it? Things I'm interested in are:
1. Thickness of additional plate added to the tank. The tank plate is 3mm so adding a 2mm plate would bring it up to about my SS BB 3/16" thickness which I think is total overkill (for me) but I like it. What have you guys done?
2. Attachment to the tank. I assume people weld the additional plate to the tank directly and not make some kind of bolt on plate. For welding, are there any coatings or anything in the tank that is a concern?
3. From a structural standpoint, a few 1" welds would certainly be enough and for a southern truck that never sees road salt, I think that would be fine. But for us that deal with winter road salt, would be a little worried about chloride concentration in the crevasse between the tank and the plate. If some salty water gets in there and isn't flushed out with fresh water, the salt water will evaporate which concentrates the chlorides in a localized place. It doesn't mater that its SS. Chlorides will eventually win. Eventually, of course, might be a very long time. A complete perimeter weld would solve this but that is a lot of work. Maybe some kind of bonding agent or something could go between the plate and tank to prevent any moisture getting in the space.
1. Thickness of additional plate added to the tank. The tank plate is 3mm so adding a 2mm plate would bring it up to about my SS BB 3/16" thickness which I think is total overkill (for me) but I like it. What have you guys done?
2. Attachment to the tank. I assume people weld the additional plate to the tank directly and not make some kind of bolt on plate. For welding, are there any coatings or anything in the tank that is a concern?
3. From a structural standpoint, a few 1" welds would certainly be enough and for a southern truck that never sees road salt, I think that would be fine. But for us that deal with winter road salt, would be a little worried about chloride concentration in the crevasse between the tank and the plate. If some salty water gets in there and isn't flushed out with fresh water, the salt water will evaporate which concentrates the chlorides in a localized place. It doesn't mater that its SS. Chlorides will eventually win. Eventually, of course, might be a very long time. A complete perimeter weld would solve this but that is a lot of work. Maybe some kind of bonding agent or something could go between the plate and tank to prevent any moisture getting in the space.
RobW0
GOLD Star
I can not comment on the armor, but based on my 12.5 tank, I would recommend that you powder coat the tank. My tank after two winters is showing some rust in spots.
- Thread starter
- #10
I have not seen any reason to add a skidplate. The tank sits tucked up under the vehicle.
kcjaz
SILVER Star
For some reason, I thought the LRA tanks were SS. Guess not. Thanks. Makes we worry even more about corrosion if I were to add extra meat to the tank bottom.
RobW0
GOLD Star
I think they call it aluminized steel or something like that.
kcjaz
SILVER Star
Hey @Eric Sarjeant the folks at LRA said you have added armor to to their tanks for some of your build clients. Do you have thread on here about that or can you tell us what you have done regarding this?
The people who have done this welded some extra plate to directly to the bottom of the tank prior to installing it. They also coated it with under body paint/coating.
I had extra armor added to my LRA 24 gal tank followed by Line-X. Here is a picture of it. I was under the impression it can be shipped from LRA with the added armor.
