New front skid
- Thread starter Benc
- Start date
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Looks great!
FullTankHank
Adventurer
Clean as usual:sombrero:
climber-420
Adventurer
You sir, are a genius.
1 Bored Clerk
Explorer
Nice! I like the additional clearance in the middle. Might reduce the banging and scraping down a little. : ;
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vanhornsky
Observer
Looks good. Why did you just bump the lower of the rack instead of using the bolts?
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Thanks, there are tabs that bolt through the rack bolts it's just hard to see in the pics
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vanhornsky
Observer
Oh ok. I barely see it if i zoom in. Lol. Keep up the good work.
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Box Rocket
Well-known member
Clean work. It's very similar to the one I built for my truck. Couple questions. No access hole for the oil pan drain? Means you have to pull the skid for every oil change. While I think the "high-clearance" center section of the skid looks pretty cool, I can see it getting hung up on the corners. I know I've had times where the front of my truck has had to slide laterally across rocks. If it was like yours it wouldn't have been able to slide. As for the connections at the steering rack, is there a reason you left the brackets open? Seems like they could drop off of the bolts and are only held in place by tension. Yours will probably be fine since you have mounting point along the front and further back near the diff so those rear ones are mainly just to keep the back of the skid stabilized.
Here's a few photos of mine to show what I mean. It's not the easiest to see but both brackets are "closed" with a hole drilled for the bolts rather than a "U" shape.
Here's a few photos of mine to show what I mean. It's not the easiest to see but both brackets are "closed" with a hole drilled for the bolts rather than a "U" shape.
Clean work. It's very similar to the one I built for my truck. Couple questions. No access hole for the oil pan drain? Means you have to pull the skid for every oil change. While I think the "high-clearance" center section of the skid looks pretty cool, I can see it getting hung up on the corners. I know I've had times where the front of my truck has had to slide laterally across rocks. If it was like yours it wouldn't have been able to slide. As for the connections at the steering rack, is there a reason you left the brackets open? Seems like they could drop off of the bolts and are only held in place by tension. Yours will probably be fine since you have mounting point along the front and further back near the diff so those rear ones are mainly just to keep the back of the skid stabilized.
Here's a few photos of mine to show what I mean. It's not the easiest to see but both brackets are "closed" with a hole drilled for the bolts rather than a "U" shape.
Thanks, still need to cut one in. I know what you are saying about needing to slide, I thought of that while I was building it but I think for me there has been more times when I have not wanted to slide laterally so I guess only time will tell. As for u shape tabs on the rack the only reason is for ease of installation. The rack bolts still hold it very tight and I can just loosen the rack bolts and slide the skid out. All the force the skid will take is vertical plus I will be building the trany skid that will bolt on back so that will also support it
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Box Rocket
Well-known member
Cool. Dunno if you've seen what I did with my trans skid and belly skid but it might give you some ideas on how to tackle it.
I welded this bracket to the factory crossmember facing toward the motor. This would be the rearward mount for the trans skid.
The front of the trans skid drops in on top of the front skid and they're connected with a single bolt and two carriage bolts hold the back of the skid to the bracket above. You can see that I trimmed the driverside of the trans skid to clear the front driveshaft.
passenger side got trimmed for the tube going into the pan.
for the belly side I used these brackets from Ruffstuff. I used one on each side of the frame to support the rear of the belly skid. I welded another bracket to the rearward side of the crossmember just like I did with the trans bracket.
using the stock crossmember I was able to keep a flat profile from the trans skid all the way back and not lose any more clearance.
this pic shows the Ruffstuff brackets on the frame. I used a heavy wall piece of 2" sq tube as a rear "crossmember" for the skid. I angled the sides and the rear of the skid to add some rigidty and allow it to slide on/off rocks a bit better than a hard edge. I will highly suggest adding some extra bracing to the topside of the belly skid. This is the most likely skid to bend since it will take the most abuse. I've got some extra bracing and it's holding up well and it's all still straight.
It seems to be doing its job
Hope this helps with ideas.
I welded this bracket to the factory crossmember facing toward the motor. This would be the rearward mount for the trans skid.
The front of the trans skid drops in on top of the front skid and they're connected with a single bolt and two carriage bolts hold the back of the skid to the bracket above. You can see that I trimmed the driverside of the trans skid to clear the front driveshaft.
passenger side got trimmed for the tube going into the pan.
for the belly side I used these brackets from Ruffstuff. I used one on each side of the frame to support the rear of the belly skid. I welded another bracket to the rearward side of the crossmember just like I did with the trans bracket.
using the stock crossmember I was able to keep a flat profile from the trans skid all the way back and not lose any more clearance.
this pic shows the Ruffstuff brackets on the frame. I used a heavy wall piece of 2" sq tube as a rear "crossmember" for the skid. I angled the sides and the rear of the skid to add some rigidty and allow it to slide on/off rocks a bit better than a hard edge. I will highly suggest adding some extra bracing to the topside of the belly skid. This is the most likely skid to bend since it will take the most abuse. I've got some extra bracing and it's holding up well and it's all still straight.
It seems to be doing its job
Hope this helps with ideas.