Let me begin by saying what a long, strange trip it's been. What began as a project to build a couple of these for myself and a couple of friends has turned into something quite interesting. Cool type interesting, not "sucky"...

Anyhow, I swung a deal this week to have the skids zinc chromate plated and powdercoated for next to nothing. Regardless of whether they are painted, plated, powdercoated, whatever the end finish is, they would have had to have some kind of undercoat to help with finish coat adhesion.

Because the shop that is doing the fabrication is slammed with work, I am jumping in to do some of it myself. It's been about ten years since I've done any welding, but I will be for the next couple of days. I expect the skids to go to plating on Thursday, powdercoating on Friday and in my garage on Monday.

Next, the midpoint mount is designed and is being made as we speak, but they will be a few weeks until finished. Although the midpoint mount has proven to be unnecessary, I am still making it and will follow ship it to anyone who wants it. I'll try and post some pics this week sometime.

Finally, for all of those who have been patient and provided advice, wisdom, encouragement and even skepticism, thank you. I believe that everyone who gets one of these will be happy with the skid; they have been truly a labor of love as I really enjoy designing and making stuff, especially when it's cool stuff!

Mike

P.S. 2nd Genner's, I haven't forgotten about you, just lost my donor vehicle due to attrition (he was laid off)... I'm working on it though.

 

Sounds great. Thanks for keeping us posted. I for one still want one for my Rig when they are ready.

 

Good deal!


still here if you need to see my truck ever

 

Well, the moment at least I’ve been waiting for, I have 13 of these sitting in my garage, finished. Apologies to the moderators, but these are big pics. So, here they are:


Straight down the front


From the top / side


Uhhhhhh, no booger welds here, it all came back to me…


From the top


Semi-profile shot

Sorry about the gloss black powdercoat, when the guy came to pick them up for coating, he was pretty stoned and missed the “semi” in semi-gloss. Being on the outside, underside of the truck, it should get semi-gloss pretty quick though.

Now, of these 13, eight are left. I expect the remaining seven to be finished in the next week or so.

Enjoy,

Mike

 

Very nice looking Mike.
Two thumbs up

 

Lucky 13 eh?!

Any idea what you are going to charge for these things and will they fit if a guy uses a 1" diff. drop? {I may have missed these in an earlier thread}

 

$225.00 w / mounting bolts (all button socket head 10.9 class metric screws, spacers, washers, etc.), I'll make them as long as there is a need. They fit Tacomas as well, all bolt on. You can go direct through me or through Xtreme Off Road.

They were actually designed with the diff drop in mind, so they will fit with no interference.

Mike

 

1/4" spacer for the rear? Anything ever come of that? That is an important part of my 1" drop spacers working.

Any reason why you used 3 pieces in the front? Rockstomper used 4?

Do you have any unpainted?

 

Yes, nylon spacers. I didn't want to weld anymore than I had to so that it was just a big warped piece of expensive chromoly sheet metal.

Yes, after bashing the hell out of my prototype, I felt it was unnecessary to add any additional stiffening. Also, too much and the mounting crossmembers start to bend instead of the skid.

I can get them. I can also have them powdercoated in just about any imaginable color you could think of. Pearlescent purple bling anyone?

Mike

 

Ok. We'll bolt one up on my 4Runner and see how it survives. We all know you seem to be a rock magnet.



You do know I like dark beer right?



Not too dark though. Belgian is my favorite. Burger Medium with cheese.

 

Your right the Rockstomper skid is oil canned pretty bad and is way heavier than it should be.

7:00pm have that brew ready.


By the way I can't wait to see you "actually" out on the trail. This is going to be fun.

So you want to run the entire "Easy" trail in 2WD? I dare you.

 

Jeez, FU one stock front bumper and you're labeled for life... If I can screw up the back one enough I have enough ammunition at home to go get some custom ones built.

Mike

 

Oh you will. You can pretty much count on it. Want to see the 1/4" steel corners that are already pounded on mine?

I have no clue why my stock bumper lasted so long? It would have been long gone on the last few runs.

10-4 on the Brew and Burger?



It'll be fun to have you out there. Just try not to have so much fun that you

 

Yep, head on out, I'll be here. Possibly a couple others, I didn't know that Yogi was doing the same thing.

If I treated the 4Runner anything like I treated the '89 truck that I had, I would have been in and out of the body shop many many times. Looks like I'm back on the same path .

I'm quite sure that much fun will be had. No hurling for me, since I'm the n00b to the group, gotta keep my wits about me to keep from being duct taped to anything!

Mike

 

You guys are too funny! Hook up the skid plate and the dark beer and the Burger... Does that come with fries for $250? Cheers! Happy St. Patty..

 

Remember Rain Man I will @ Your Pad tonight.

See you around 7:00pm.

Medium with cheese please.

 

Mom taught me to be hospitable to my friends and customers...

See you there. By 7:00, I should be a little , vacation starting at noon today!

Mike

 

Well I have one of Mike (AZRains) skid on my 4Runner. It is a MAJOR improvement over the Rockstomper skid. Most importantly the floor does not vibrate anymore. !!!