FJ Skid story (1 Viewer)

[CV Kurt]

So, as I noted in the May run thread, a broke off a stock welded on frame nut. I figured out how this happened. The after-market skid is designed to be mounted flush across the main crossbar. But only the center portion of the cross bar is flat. The weld on nuts are on the outer portion. So this leaves a decent sized gap between the cross bar and the flat skid.

Now, apply lots of pressure to the unsupported portion of the skid. The skid binds in, the bolt becomes exposed (it's partially recessed), and then it can take a direct hit. It doesn't take much of this snap the weld. Actually, it took one trip through Eldorado Canyon.

One way or another, the gap must be eliminated. One minor complication is that the bolt sits in a counter-sunk washer in a 1" whole in the skid... and if you have full skids like me, thru a 1" whole in the next skid (which is layer under the engine skid). So the build up needs to large enough area to provide solid contact to the skids its supporting.

Anyways... nothing a person with decent fab skills cannot cure...

Also, as I noted in May run thread, I rounded off bolts holding the cat protector tubes in place. The inner bolts are especially exposed. The stock solution is little protection tabs, pretty worthless. For this skid kit, the solution is to recess the bolts, with in hunk of bar stock.

This might be enough protection... guess I'd like it better if the edges of that hunk of bar stock where beveled. But I guess they will get rounded off on the trail soon enough. Just hope the right angle edge doesn't catch on rock.

 

[Krusty Krab]

So even bolt on stuff has issues. You should use a BFH and close that gap and put your own bevel on that puppy. Anyway hope your ready for Slickrock. Maybe next month we can actually get a run goinig.

 

[CV Kurt]

So even bolt on stuff has issues. You should use a BFH and close that gap and put your own bevel on that puppy. Anyway hope your ready for Slickrock. Maybe next month we can actually get a run goinig.

I'm hoping to have it both nuts (the one that broke and the one that's likely to break) on the crossbar replaced with something beefier. Current nut takes a 8x1.25 (IIRC). I think a couple of very large steel washers could be welded onto the crossbar to fill the gap. Should be a fairly straight forward mod to the mod. For the bar stock above, probably could just grind in a bevel.

I got some other less critical work to take care of... but I hope to be ready for slick rock. That's a very cool trail. Might even try to camp at Deer Valley... would like to fish the creek there.

Another story... was out geocaching today with wife, dog, and the rav4 down in Antelope Valley. Mostly pavement. But towards the end of the day, we revisited one cache we previously didn't find. So I drove directly up to it so we could leave it running as we didn't want to let the dog into the pine tar, glass, and other crap around the cache. Well, driving out my TPS light went off. Pulled over to check once I got on pavement, noticed a tire going flat fairly fast. While the jack was in the car, and I had a good spare, I couldn't find the lug wrench or the jack handle. So I slowly drove to Topaz Lodge. Got there before the tire went completely flat. Put air in... like become worse. It was obvious I wasn't going anywhere with a fix. The shop there has a tire repair kit... a cheap version of what I have for FJC. Worked like a champ.

On the way home, my wife and I wondered (and argued) about where the hell the tools where. Turns out, they were in the car all the time... just not where they should have been. Kind of glad I didn't find them... as not only did I get to use a repair kit (my first time using one)... I didn't have to wreck my back changing the tire.

 

[CV Kurt]

Thanks to Dr. Smash (aka Eric), all skids are on! He did some awesome fab work... basically mod'ing both engine skids, the cat tubes, and frame mounts so everything is MUCH stronger and less prone to damage. On the cat tubes, the bolts new recess into the factory steel, eliminating the need for the bar stock. But he also built out the flat part of the cat tubes and tapered it so it's harder to get it hung on any. And he we re-worked the mounts into the factory cross-member and updated how the aftermarket crossmember is attached to the frame. Most of the hardware is now 10mm high grade stuff. He's going to send me some of the photos he took of his work before things got mounted... I'll post those up later.

To give you an idea of the skid coverage I now have:

Got my rear diff and rear shock mount armor on as well.

So underneath now, there's two areas where I could use more protection: rear control arm mounts and muffler. The passenger side mount has taken some good hits and is already tweaked slightly outward. The driver side has take some mild hits. So thinking of having Eric beef these up for me. The muffler has take a few hits. I'm not going to worry about the muffler until I put a hole in it. Then I can replace it with a muffler which isn't so tall as the factory one.

And, of course, it won't stop there...

 

[Krusty Krab]

Glad you got it done. Dr Smash does good work. He wheels so he knows what we need from him.