Slee Cat Guard install notes

[LCH21]

Ordered on Tuesday, arrived yesterday and installed today. Sorry, no pictures.

A couple of notes:
The tamper-proof bolts are a bit soft. Much care has to be taken when torquing them down with the supplied key as the hole in the bolt easily strips. I had two of them strip before the 15 Ft-lbs was reached. Apply pressure to the key to keep it seated and keep it absolutely straight. Even then, it will start to give a bit.

The rear-most bolt clip on the passenger side plate is a bit of a pain to install. In the video, it is shown to be turned sideways secondary to a re-enforcing weld that is on the back side of the skid plate. I measured precisely as instructed and drilled the 3/8th hole. When placing the nut clip, the back of it rode up on the weld and was too far away from the plate to engage the threads on the bolt. If I had placed the hole any father away from the weld, it would have been right at the break in the skid and the guard would have hung down below the skid. I had to get a longer hex-head bolt for that one. I will replace it with a longer security bolt when I get the chance. There is obviously some variation in the thickness and width of that weld from plate to plate. Something to keep in mind. They do cover the cats very well. If that one bolt had not been a problem, the install time would have been about 30 minutes.

 

[bloc]

Installed mine today as well. I ended up with the rearmost clip on the passenger side installed at a 45 and everything fit well enough using supplied hardware. That end of the guard is slightly below the bottom plane of the skids, but not by much.

I also opted to go hand tight on the bolts and forego that much torque through a 1/4” hex bit. Just seemed like potential problems.

@sleeoffroad any idea whether future skid packages will already have holes for the cat guards? Too late for me but sure would be convenient.

 

[LCH21]

Installed mine today as well. I ended up with the rearmost clip on the passenger side installed at a 45 and everything fit well enough using supplied hardware. That end of the guard is slightly below the bottom plane of the skids, but not by much.

I also opted to go hand tight on the bolts and forego that much torque through a 1/4” hex bit. Just seemed like potential problems.

@sleeoffroad any idea whether future skid packages will already have holes for the cat guards? Too late for me but sure would be convenient.

Hand tight is what I should have done also. I tried every possible position for that one clip and it just would not go. That weld on the back of plate is about 3/4 inch wide and the clip just would not lay flat. The hex-head bolt will do until I can get it replaced. That bit is just too small for the size of the bolts and recommended torque. I was just able to get the bottom edge of the guards above the skids, but not by much on that one area.

I did use blue lock tight. Might live to regret that.

Slee says that all new skids with have the holes pre-drilled. That sure would have been nice to have them already there!

 

[FerrisBueller]

Received and installed mine yesterday, too. Same problem with stripping the bolts, can only do about 10 ft-lbs before they start to strip. I followed up with a T30 security torx bit to get a little more tight, but 15 ft-lbs still seems impossible.

Agreed, the rear passenger side clip is too close to the weld, it took a lot of finagling to get it positioned in a way for the holes to line up. It would have helped to drill the hole at 3/8" from the edge instead of 1/2".

 

[bloc]

From past experience with stainless hardware I opted for a nickel-based anti-seize.

Thread locker should help avoid galling but with the issues caused by the very small bit I wouldn't want any more torque required to get them loose. If you do have problems you could drop the center skid with the protectors in place and use heat on the nut clips. The front ends will make getting the bolts between the lip of the center plate and under-engine plate tough to get to.. but I think that can be done.

 

[sleeoffroad]

We have to appoligize on this, we had torque spec wrong for that harware. It is actually 5lbft and not 15. If anyone needs additional hardware please PM me and I will get some out to you. Working on fixing the install instructions.

 

[LCH21]

We have to appoligize on this, we had torque spec wrong for that harware. It is actually 5lbft and not 15. If anyone needs additional hardware please PM me and I will get some out to you. Working on fixing the install instructions.

No worries, all is good. I am not planning on having to remove the guards anyway so the stripped out holes on two and partially stripped on two others of the six bolts (seventh is the hex-head I had to use) will not really matter. Besides, it will make removing them by some thief more difficult.

I do wish there was an easy solution to the passenger side rear bolt and nut clip. There was just no place I could put that nut clip that would not interfere with the weld and keep the guard above the bottom of the skid. I am still mulling over what to do with that.

If I do need to remove them, I can always cut a slot into the bolt head with my Dremel. Done that before, so no problem there.

BTW, love the skids! They have already been tested. I don't know if you have ever looked into this but my gas mileage seems to be no worse and maybe slightly better with the skids on. I am wondering if the skids, by smoothing out the airflow under the vehicle at freeway speeds, improves fuel economy? Seems like I have picked up about 1/2 to 1 MPG. Not much, but every little bit helps.

 

[bloc]

I don't know if you have ever looked into this but my gas mileage seems to be no worse and maybe slightly better with the skids on. I am wondering if the skids, by smoothing out the airflow under the vehicle at freeway speeds, improves fuel economy? Seems like I have picked up about 1/2 to 1 MPG. Not much, but every little bit helps.

I thought I was crazy but noticed a similar bump in mileage after the skid install. Figured maybe it was the increased flat area under the transmission and transfer case.

 

[LCH21]

Searching around, I found this tid-bit from Van Camping Life in an article called "Do You Need Skid Plates For Off-Roading?":

"Do Skid Plates Help Improve Your Fuel Economy?
Skid plates will improve your fuel economy, but not by much. Smoothing out the surfaces underneath your vehicle will reduce drag and improve airflow: after all, manufacturers often use belly pans to improve mileage. However, skid plates will also add weight to your vehicle, and off-road vehicles are not usually designed with fuel economy in mind. Based on our research, you can expect an improvement of 1 to 3 miles per gallon with some skid plates, but your mileage may vary."

Interesting.

Maybe a new thread on this?