Who's wants an off road skid plate?

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ardentyota said:
Looks good... Here are a couple things to consider before wasting time/money (from my experience).

1. 3/8" steel, while beefy and super heavy, is not strong enough as a cross member on these trucks without bracing/supports. It will bend/deflect across this distance.

2. Because you are replacing the crossmember, you need a way to support the tranny/transfer while swapping them out. Because of this, I chose not to make the tranny skid a part of the cross member. This allows a jack to support the tranny while the crossmember is being replaced.

3. The transmission mount bolts are really long. Like 2"... You have to find a way to protect them or this is pointless.

4. You will need to support the transfer case skid. This can be with sides that stiffen it or a brace. If you do not, it will bend and touch the transfer case when you use it. Experience.

And just to prove I'm not webwheeling here, here's a picture of mine. Yours won't have the link mounts obviously but this might give you a better idea of what will be involved more than just cutting and bending a heavy ass piece of steel...

View attachment 929970

Good luck, looking forward to seeing it!

:steer:
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sweet, some experience coming into this thread. I appreciate it.

thanks for posting up!

in reply:

1. ya I been using 3/8" steel on 4k buggies for years and was wondering if it was even thick enough for these pigs lol.

2. I am confused here because today when I took off the stock skid plate, I put the lift jacks on the out put of the tcase and the front on the tranny where it bolts to the motor. the skid plate would go between these points if I am not mistaken so it shouldn't be a problem? what do you think?

3. tranny bolts? did you mean tcase bolts? if so, yes, the tcase bolts will be just like stock, the tcast mounting holes will be in a pillow block on the cross member. are we on same page here?

4. yes, I know what you mean, been there done that. do you have suggestions on how to brace it other than sides? I will go look at it again. we can put sides on it.
 
2. After recently rebuilding the tcase, the bearings are beef and it shouldn't cause any issues supporting it by the flange; however, I've never felt comfortable with it. That said, as long as the skid plate ends before the flange, you should be fine. I just wanted to make sure you have some way to support it when swapping them out. My skid extends beyond the end of the tcase.

3. I'm talking about the two bolts from the tranny/tcase mount that go through the top of the crossmember. You can see on my pick how I supported the entire length of the crossmember with some bent 1/4" plate and protected these bolts at the same time.

4. I'll have to take some pics as it's hard to explain what I did and that pic doesn't show it well. I added a plate from the crossmember support straight out under the skid. This, along with the sides did a great deal to stiffen it without adding another bracket to the frame (like what Slee does). A bracket would work well, but only on one side.
 
My belly
image.webp


I will happily charge $1000 to reproduce it and it doesn't bolt on. Hoboes piece is magnificiant(look at the junk lcphil sells for $$$$$)
 
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Chachie said:
I think 300 is too much for what it is
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You're crazy. Steel prices alone justify $300 on this. You can't just think of the piece of steel that is cut out; you also have the scrap to account for as this one skid will eat up most of 1/3 of a sheet of 3/8" plate. Oh, and nobody around here thinks other people's time is worth anything. o_O

Booger weldz said:
My bellyView attachment 930070
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I like it!
 
ardentyota said:
2. After recently rebuilding the tcase, the bearings are beef and it shouldn't cause any issues supporting it by the flange; however, I've never felt comfortable with it. That said, as long as the skid plate ends before the flange, you should be fine. I just wanted to make sure you have some way to support it when swapping them out. My skid extends beyond the end of the tcase.

3. I'm talking about the two bolts from the tranny/tcase mount that go through the top of the crossmember. You can see on my pick how I supported the entire length of the crossmember with some bent 1/4" plate and protected these bolts at the same time.

4. I'll have to take some pics as it's hard to explain what I did and that pic doesn't show it well. I added a plate from the crossmember support straight out under the skid. This, along with the sides did a great deal to stiffen it without adding another bracket to the frame (like what Slee does). A bracket would work well, but only on one side.
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roger that on the tcase support. that's why I put one on the tranny side too.

3. okay cool, ya we are on the same page. there will be a block on the plate with holes in the bottom of the plate so it will mount just like stock.

4. ya I get ya. I will look at some vertical support for the plate on Monday when we get into the shop and post up any ideas we have. thanks
 
Chachie said:
I think 300 is too much for what it is
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you are also an idiot. haha please step and back and read and learn for a few years and then come back and post.

and then $300 is just an estimate he gave me and its a buddy hook up at that, and I was just gonna pass along to yall. if you tried to get this made by your local laser fab company, it would be closer to 1k. I have 2 laser guys, and they don't make a lot of money by doing 1 off jobs, they don't even want the business. that's why its a buddy hookup because his company doesn't do 1 off jobs like this. we are doing it after hours at the place where he works. I still think its too low even for a buddy hook up. I think he thought it was gonna be smaller and less complitcated but we will see next week how much real estate it takes out of a 3/8" plate.
 
I'll be down for 300, wonder how much shipping would cost though. Might just drive to Fresno and pick up a few if there are other interested parties.




...Misspelled via IH8MUD app
 
I think that's a great looking skid and would pay $300 easy - I did more of a Creeper design on mine and I can tell you with the amount of time, plate, gas, and wire... I would have jumped on yours if it supports properly.

Mine is ghetto compared to yours so anyone thinking getting a custom laser cut piece of kit vs bent 3/16 plate and flat bar should maybe reconsider... Trade ya :clap:

0338C18C-720F-4527-BEB4-9E5DD78508A0_zpsikz6q0c3.jpg


03CBF2F2-1241-465C-9123-46353D5A2C13_zpsi9yuzapz.jpg
 
Overland Tailor said:
I think that's a great looking skid and would pay $300 easy - I did more of a Creeper design on mine and I can tell you with the amount of time, plate, gas, and wire... I would have jumped on yours if it supports properly.

Mine is ghetto compared to yours so anyone thinking getting a custom laser cut piece of kit vs bent 3/16 plate and flat bar should maybe reconsider... Trade ya :clap:

0338C18C-720F-4527-BEB4-9E5DD78508A0_zpsikz6q0c3.jpg


03CBF2F2-1241-465C-9123-46353D5A2C13_zpsi9yuzapz.jpg
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This is a lot more involved than the earlier pic I agree $300 is a very good price! I was wrong
 
I have a feeling this will creep north of the $300 mark by the time design is finalized, are you sure on that pricetag or do you want to leave yourself some "uh-oh" room & take a look at cost again once you have all design details figured?

BTW, thanks for offering this! - I'm watching this & even though I weld I know what we all put in timewise on these sort of projects, let alone the materials, consumables, and the power bill, let alone YOUR time put in on these.

That above is the reason I have all bought armor I do little mods to - making a hanna or whoever rear bumper from scratch is more than buying if you bill your own time for the wage you make at your job (even at $10-15/hr).
 
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