Wow...
Let me start by apologizing for my attitude in my original post.
I have bad days too, and the last thing I want to see at the end of a long day is someone calling me dishonest or misleading.
That just doesn't give me the "warm fuzzies" at all.
Could I have been nicer? Yes.
I'm human too and I'm sorry if I offended you.
That aside, the info I posted was correct.
Wink, in all the years I've been selling these skidplates, you are the
FIRST I can recall who's ever come up with issues like this. Hundreds of people have installed these plates and I don't recall any of them calling or posting about how hard it is.
Like I said, we install those skids in half an hour. The drilling process is fast and easy.
I stand by my original info on the uni-body. It's mild steel. I've seen rubberized undercoating on these uni-bodies and after some years, it does get harder, but it is not some hard un-drillable surface.
Dull, low quality bits will sure make it seem like it though, as the bit just walks across the surface, rather than cutting through.
I've had a couple of people (LITERALLY) over the years tell me that they had a hard time drilling through the uni-body, but they knew right then that their bits were no good. They went and bought new bits and all was golden.
I wasn't being sarcastic about having a shop do it if it's too much work.
Some situations would be just easier that way. I do agree that you might as well finish at this point though.
There's a huge deal being made here over the drill bits. My position remains that (as a few others have posted) there should be a certain degree of foreknowledge that
anyone should have before undertaking certain projects.
If you're going to be drilling into steel, you should know which bits are appropriate for the task. If you don't, it's going to be a longer, more frustrating process for you if you are determined to continue.
The job doesn't require any exotic, super elite, unobtanium bits.
You just have to get good quality bits that can drill through steel. There are MANY different brands out there. I'm not going to try to list all the steel cutting bits available in the USA today in our instructions.
We could write our instructions out in so much detail that it would be a book.
Most of us men get waaay too much detail explained from the women in our lives- we don't want to read through pages of details on minutia in our skidplate instructions!
I believe our instructions are very thorough and explain the process well.
Lastly, I also agree that you could have simply called me when you were having trouble. I am involved with technical discussions with my customers on a daily basis and with shops doing suspension installs too.
I could have easily steered you the right direction and this whole issue could have been avoided.
Some may not like all my answers here, but I'm not trying to be politically correct.
I will tell you the truth about what works and what doesn't based on my experience. Most people appreciate that and don't want sugar coated dialog.
Hope the rest of the install goes well and you can get back to jeepin!:victory:
