I am wanting to upgrade my skip plate on my 95 4Runner. The stock unit is mostly cosmetic, and mine is very mangled. Here is what I have come up with:

Downey, it's made of steel and looks decent, but steel rusts when you skid and scrape the paint off of it. Even the Catalog does not list the price though, must be expensive?

NWOR, 1/2" aluminum with vents. Looks awsome and sounds plenty strong for me, costs $125. I hate to give them my cash though.

Custom, pretty easy from what I hear, but relativly a PITA. Last option for me.

BudBuilt, Amazing off road strength and use, but expensive and made of steel, steel rusts when you skid and scrape the paint off of it.


So, what am I missing? What do you have? Where and how much $ ?


Thanks!
Lamm

 

I say go with the Budbuilt, when it gets scraped up pretty good, use some undercoating or a bedliner on it. I have my sprayed with undercoating and it's tougher to scrape off than paint.

 

I have a custom aluminum one, It's already taken some good hits and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Forget paint....it's over rated.

I have a bolt on bumper that ties down to the ifs crossmember, the skidplate attaches to those tubes, very strong.

 

Lamm, The steel is thicker than your frame, sliders, axel housing, A-arms, etc.

A good steel skid plate is NOT going to cause rust problems for as long as your alive even if you never repaint it. Even so, it's very easy to "touch up" if and when you scrape it.

Get a Bud Built. It protects way more than just the front.

Mine will most likely be for sale soon. (i never got a chance to mount it)

 

3rd kick for BudBuilt... great piece of work from a great guy.

 

Get Budbuilt. Rocket, sent you a PM

 

So this BudBuilt seems to be pretty good stuff. Rocket (or anyone), do you have to drill holes to mount it, or does it use factory bolts? Also, can you use it in conjunction with and IFS rear truss? (like the one you are selling?) I assume you can.

Lamm

 

My Budbuilt is going up for sale also (Just need to post up). All the stuff: Low Profile Crossmember, Skidplate and Bellypan. Skid and bellypan never mounted. I had everything powdercoated black. The Crossmember could stand to be partially repainted. This stuff is SOOOOOOO heavy duty. If mine would fit with the 1UZ and doubler, I wouldn't be selling.

 

rocket or cebby.....give me a shout if he doesn't want those skids....I'm needing one for mine 4runner...thanks

 

With as much as these things weigh, we should see who's closer to each other and coordinate it that way. My skid and bellypan are being sold together (will not separate). I will separate the crossmember out if need be (but you need it for the bellypan).

 

I might be interested Cebby depending on price. I'll come down there and pick them up, or get them from ya when you meet us in Wellsville next weekend.

How much $$$ are you looking for?

 

Drilling holes are not required. It will not mount correctly with a Downey or Total Chaos truss but it will if you cut 4-5" off the rear of the skid which i would recommend doing anyway due to the weight and lack of mounting options underneath (unless you get the belly pan and cross memeber).
It attaches to the front via stock location using 2 large bolts....underneath it attaches using 2 really small bolts that thread into to the factory truss.

A couple upgraded options would be:

1. Drill both holes through the upper section of the factory truss to allow larger and much longer bolts. Use a pair of grade 8 washers with nuts to secure it (on top).

2. Use the small bolts in the factory truss and buy Sonoran Steel's beefy rear truss. Drill two holes through it to mount addtional bolts. The rear of the skid already has holes that will match up to Sonoran's rear truss.

 

DUDE.....dont get any of those....make one yourself out of cutting board material, 1/2" thick....bashes and wont break, slides and doesnt scrape....

 

Well, I'm going to dissagree with this. You can make your skid out of whatever you want, but i happen to have had a cuttingboard, roughly 1/2 inch thick, snap under the load of about 100 lbs of camping gear pressing it against a roll bar. I for one will stick with steel for my under carriage. However, i too read the article about this being used for skid plate material in a mag, and was impressed that someone tried it, very innovative. Not for me.

 

I agree about the strength factor. 1/4" cutting board material (I'm assuming something like Teflon/UHMWPTFE) screwed to steel would be the shizzy...A lot of our equipment in the mill is built this way, it holds up pretty well. Would reduce the friction greatly, allowing you to use the skid to ramp up stuff...When it got all cut up and nasty, just take it off and screw on another piece... Hmmmmmmmmmm....

 

The only reason I say its strong is that the pro rock crawlers use it, and I have heard thats its good stuff....Im sure they reinforce it though. I would say that a couple 1 inch x 1/4"thick strips of steel behind it would help a lot.

 

AHHHHHHHHHH! (lots of confusing options)

I think:
-IFS brace (downewy, SS, Total Chaos, W/E!)
-NWOR/Confer T-Case skid plate
-Downewy/Confer front skid plate


Lamm

 

Mine was custom made by my brother, but he is out here in cali.

http://ww.samsonfab.com and go to the Gallery... That should give you some good ideas for IFS plates. My truck is titled "Samson's Brothers Truck".

 

Link is not working...

Lamm

 

that link is just missing a W it should be http://www.samsonfab.com/