Bending bent skids back? And aluminum versus steel skids. (1 Viewer)

[CharlieS]

Hi all, hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

I have aluminum skids and bent them up a bit recently. The engine, transmission, transfer and rear shock skids are Budbuilt and the gas skid is Rival. I also have Budbuilt step sliders.

They served their intended purpose (thanks especially to Budbuilt!) and protected my drivetrain, so I'm happy about that. The transfer case skid with the additional crossbar definitely saved my transfer case.

Some of them have less clearance now, and im wondering if there is a good way to return them to flat-ish to regain some air gap?

Second, for anyone considering aluminum skids, I thought I'd share some pictures of what they can look like after one day of a more challenging rocky technical track (rated 4 out of 5 by the organization running it).

Aluminum was the right choice when I was shopping, it is lighter and I was mainly planning on dirt road, mild class 4 (think Colorado "fire road") and off the grid camping. I wasn't planing on doing any rock crawling. That changed somewhere along the line and if I were to do it over again, I'd probably select stainless steel.

Should I drill the end of this crack or have it welded to prevent it from traveling?

Rival fuel skid (probably the worst bend).

 

[CharlieS]

Home made skid protecting the gap
left after removing stock skids did its job.

Budbuilt transfer skid additional crossmember.

Transfer skid:

More transfer skid:

Cant see too much here, but this is a back to front view:

 

[CharlieS]

The Budbuilt step sliders paid for themselves over and over. I don't have many pics, since I think everyone has seen scraped sliders (but could take more). They are hell for stout. HIGHLY recommended!!

She isn't very svelte (lead instructor coaching me through):

Situations like this are why I need someone to make lower control arm mount skids.

Sometimes
Sometimes it is that one rock, or one bad line that gets you hung up...

 

[bloc]

You can accomplish a lot on metal with a small sledge hammer and a flat surface. Comes down to figuring out how to manipulate the metal, hitting it a little “too hard” knowing to some extent it will bend back.. and finding that balance. Start toward the center of a panel and move out.. as this will make the ends move out of parallel (where they were held during the fun by frame and crossmembers), and you’ll just have to move them back to lining up.

I’d attack that on the smoothest concrete surface you can find, to keep the imprints from rough concrete off the skids. Also two or three 4x4s to lay the material on for support and hit between if a flat surface doesn’t allow enough displacement to get things straight.

You can even use a 2x4 as a flat end punch to get close into corners like on that transfer skid.

Gouges can be flattened back to at least not be sharp as well.

I don’t anticipate much crawling but these pictures are making me consider BB aluminum for the stuff I do in Colorado. Need to figure out the stock bumper gap issue though..

 

[CharlieS]

You can accomplish a lot on metal with a small sledge hammer and a flat surface. Comes down to figuring out how to manipulate the metal, hitting it a little “too hard” knowing to some extent it will bend back.. and finding that balance. Start toward the center of a panel and move out.. as this will make the ends move out of parallel (where they were held during the fun by frame and crossmembers), and you’ll just have to move them back to lining up.

I’d attack that on the smoothest concrete surface you can find, to keep the imprints from rough concrete off the skids. Also two or three 4x4s to lay the material on for support and hit between if a flat surface doesn’t allow enough displacement to get things straight.

You can even use a 2x4 as a flat end punch to get close into corners like on that transfer skid.

Gouges can be flattened back to at least not be sharp as well.

I don’t anticipate much crawling but these pictures are making me consider BB aluminum for the stuff I do in Colorado. Need to figure out the stock bumper gap issue though..

Thanks!

On the bumper to skid gap, Bud was working on something for guys with an aftermarket bumper.

I've posted and can re-share the dimensions of what I made - it isn't elegant, but does the job. If you could add a couple of bends, it'd go from just functional to functional and professional looking. I bet with your skill level it would be as good as anything a shop could make.

 

[tbisaacs]

@CharlieS way to use em! This is awesome.

 

[bloc]

Thanks!

On the bumper to skid gap, Bud was working on something for guys with an aftermarket bumper.

I've posted and can re-share the dimensions of what I made - it isn't elegant, but does the job. If you could add a couple of bends, it'd go from just functional to functional and professional looking. I bet with your skill level it would be as good as anything a shop could make.

View attachment 2722305

A sheet metal break would be indispensable here.. or even a strong workbench and some 4x4s and clamps.

Thanks for posting that.. I’ll be thinking about some skids before long.

 

[CharlieS]

Well built stuff - what they look like when new:

 

[CharlieS]

Follow up questions... Would a flap wheel be the right tool to clean up gouges in metal? And would you use the same thing on steel parts before painting? What are people using to touch up sliders - just good old rustoleum or something (these were originally powder coated)?

 

[4gotalot]

In addition to the precision pounding with a 2x6 backing, I would dress the surface scars with a belt sander from the wood shop cabinet. The belt sander will not pack up with aluminum as bad as a die grinder. I would hate to be under there greasing the drive line and brush your elbow or shoulder on that rock rash. I don't mean polish just knock the edges down with the sander.

 

[CharlieS]

Just a couple more. I like it when armor functions as intended. Well worth every penny spent. I can only imagine what my rockers would look like, or the high likelihood that I'd be stranded with a smashed up oil pan, transfer case or transmission.

And as frivolous as the rear skid guards seem, they did their job well.

 

[RET2]

You do realize that trails are not a Pachinko game right? Ok funny's over, I would think a flap wheel would be very good at smoothing things out.

 

[CharlieS]

You do realize that trails are not a Pachinko game right? Ok funny's over, I would think a flap wheel would be very good at smoothing things out.

Nobody ever said I was a smart kid... Do you know that feeling of realizing you signed up for something that might just be a little (lot) over your head and skill level. That would have been me when I realized how gnarly the trail was. But at that point there was no turning back and I just wanted to not be the guy that got stuck constantly slowing everyone else up. I might have been a little rough on the old girl letting her power me over and through obstacles with brute force rather than skill. I'm a rookie, and will hopefully get better with finesse now that I've learned a few things that i can practice (like left foot braking...). I have say that the 200 ate it up and made it through about 9 hours of that stuff, only getting stuck twice (both on the rear suspension in big rocks - once on the rear lower control arm mount and once on the rear axle). It slid over, through, or bounced across everything else. It was an advanced recovery course, so they kind of wanted a few people to get stuck to practice recovery techniques, so it was better tolerated.

 

[RET2]

Nobody ever said I was a smart kid... Do you know that feeling of realizing you signed up for something that might just be a little (lot) over your head and skill level. That would have been me when I realized how gnarly the trail was. But at that point there was no turning back and I just wanted to not be the guy that got stuck constantly slowing everyone else up. I might have been a little rough on the old girl letting her power me over and through obstacles with brute force rather than skill. I'm a rookie, and will hopefully get better with finesse now that I've learned a few things that i can practice (like left foot braking...). I have say that the 200 ate it up and made it through about 9 hours of that stuff, only getting stuck twice (both on the rear suspension in big rocks - once on the rear lower control arm mount and once on the rear axle). It slid over, through, or bounced across everything else. It was an advanced recovery course, so they kind of wanted a few people to get stuck to practice recovery techniques, so it was better tolerated.

Actually I do know that feeling, it appeared to me 50 yds into the Gatekeeper, on the Rubicon, while driving my JK. Further all I could think about was it's 500 miles home if I break.

 

[4gotalot]

You have to look at those BB shock guards as what would your shocks and mounts look like with out them. The same goes for your skid plates.

Its all fun and games until you look under your vehicle to asses the damage and when you see the skids you installed did their job, then it was fun and games and you can smile and grin.

 

[kcjaz]

Thanks!

On the bumper to skid gap, Bud was working on something for guys with an aftermarket bumper.

I've posted and can re-share the dimensions of what I made - it isn't elegant, but does the job. If you could add a couple of bends, it'd go from just functional to functional and professional looking. I bet with your skill level it would be as good as anything a shop could make.

View attachment 2722305

This is what Bud made for me to fill the gap on my TJM T13.

 

[CharlieS]

You have to look at those BB shock guards as what would your shocks and mounts look like with out them. The same goes for your skid plates.

Its all fun and games until you look under your vehicle to asses the damage and when you see the skids you installed did their job, then it was fun and games and you can smile and grin.

Agree 100%!!

 

[bloc]

I wouldn’t even remove the shock guards, just clean them up with a file.

Agree on a flap disk. A new one will have a sharp corner to get into the root of any scratches and dig out any folded metal. For a while anyway.

Belt sander is nice idea but manipulating the panels around to get the surfaces you are working on can be tough.

Plus, it doesn’t need to be perfect. They will get abused again. Just safe enough to avoid issues working on the truck, and maintain the clearances & protection designed into the parts in the first place.

 

[TeCKis300]

The other guys covered the metalwork well.

If you're hitting trails like this in the future, any thought to go bigger on tire size?

 

[CharlieS]

The other guys covered the metalwork well.

If you're hitting trails like this in the future, any thought to go bigger on tire size?

Hahaha, yes, all kinds of evil and expensive
thoughts are flying around my monkey brain now: 17" rims/35" tires (more sidewall and lift); rear steel bumper with tire mount (departure angle and less likely to damage the spare); front bullbar (room for bigger tires, better approach angle, take bumper corners out of play for scraping); rear dust lights (parts on order). Then the almost freebee: raise my Kings up and put in taller rear springs (~$200). It is a sickness, I tell ya.

And then there is all the cool recovery gear that I "need" now: x-locks, snatch blocks (to to replace my Factor55 recovery rings), winch extension, hi-lift jack, shorter straps...

Thank goodness nothing is in stock and ready to ship, or else I'd be tempted to spend myself into a miserable hole.