darren,chris the only reason i did'nt answer that question was because it is a little hard to describe there is no bracing on the other side of the plate if thats what you mean? since the span between the two side rails is so short and the thickness of the plate itself is what it is i dont see any need to have any additional bracing behind the plate? my best sugestion is to come by the house and take a look for yourself however i can take a picture from the side i will have to put it up on the ramps to get a sufficient shot though so i will try to post that one on monday along with the test results

 

See ya tomorrow!

 

one more thing on the bracing question there is an additional tie to the frame between the vertical slanted plate and the horizontal plate in other words it is tied to the fram both in front and behind the radiator youll see tomorrow

 

Do you have any pics of how the transfer case skid mounts to the truck? Does it also use factory holes? Thanks.

 

I can't wait to see the tested results of that thing after som hard hits!

Chris

 

you should have rattle caned it black before you bolted it on.

the bottom would have gotten scrated a littel but all the other stuff like the tubing and the top would be prevented from rust and looked really clean

 

Wow, I'm extremely impressed. I no longer have the strongest skidplates around. It's about time for my annual skidplate redesign, though. The tubes along the side on the ORS skids are a very innovative idea. In the last few years I've bent so much metal plate in the form of skidplates that I'd have to say that's the first version I've ever seen that I'd have a hard time bending. Those are essentially like adding a second frame down there. I find it interesting that he apparently used the horizonal bolts on the belly's frame crossmembers. And it looks to be on the opposite extreme of mine when it comes to radiator protection, so I'm envious in that regard.

The allen key bolts are a very smart idea. I've scraped and damaged enough hex bolt heads to know that I'd rather have allen key button head bolts to minimize damaged bolts.

Mike Caskey has had to remove/remount the belly section of my 1/4" aluminum plates once, and he later complained about that. I find it humorous to imagine him mounting yours based on how heavy they look.

I had heard from Mike Caskey that there was some guy named Kerry around here with a very cool 4Runner. I look forward to meeting you sometime. This Sunday I'll be busy, though.

 

So are you going to add the weight Jeff?

They look very strong.

I'm a little concerned about the apparent gap between the front and rear skids shown in the 3rd pic posted. Isn't the transmission pan kind of vunerable?

 

Nah, I'm happy with most aspects of my home-made aluminum skids, but I'll need to tweak a couple minor things and then redesign just the front 6" section under the radiator which is just bolted to everything else. I can still get mine to work for me. I'm just saying that if I didn't have my custom ones, then I'd probably get the ORS ones despite the weight.

 

H-man,

How'd the wheeling trip go? I'm very eager to hear how the plates did?

Chris

 

I am interested in everyone jumping on these plates despite no one having stories about trashing the stockers???

Grant said with the proto that he lost a full inch of front lift after install. It has mine beat by better than 30 pounds.

My intention is to reinforce the long belly run where it has been caving in so it has the side tubes like ORS.

 

I would run some slightly harder trails if I knew my factory armor would hold up, but I know it sucks, so I want to make sure I get the strongest skids I can when I make the purchase.

Chris

 

well guys and gals? i went up chinaman's gultch with scott yoder on sunday and wow! the skidplates were awesome i have not one single complaint! if any of you have any doubts please go ahead and ask scott yoder what he thought (he was impressed too)i think? any way i hit the plates a couple of times on purpose and about 10 or so times in the harry spots of chinamans and i couldnt even dent them all i could accomplish is a few scratches!those of you who dont know mike cakey at ORS dont have a clue as to the quality of work that comes out of there shop! i cant stress enough that i believe this is one of the best if not the best skid plate available! please dont get me wrong this is not an advertisement for ORS but i believe they do some stellar work,honest people with at a fair price! i encourage any of you to go down to ORS and look at one for yourself. for me it was just what i wanted as far as the section over the transmission it did not seem to be an issue even though it woudn't be hard to add an additional plate there in the bare spot. im sure mike would do that on request but i believe it is not neccasary. scott witnessed one of my hits and said it looked very solid! my main impact point was at the bottom of the v where the skid plate starts the angle up towards the radiator(a little hard to explain) but i believe it saved several vital components and i would have definitely been worse off without them, i never had concerns fo damage! i will take them back today for the powder coating even though i will most definitely scratch it back off next season but at least they will be nice and shiney for the winter! as far as drainage goes we went up twin cones in the afternoon and had some great puddles to splash through. the plates drained just fine or at least to my satisfaction. all in all we had a great time and i had no structural support questions or problems i believe that the frame would probably bend before the skid plate would but i am no expert, nor am i a structural engineer just some one who likes to wheel with the most protection i can get. im sure some of you will have questions so i will try to answer them to the best of my ability.
kerry

 

Pics of the scratches and any damage you can find would be great! It sounds great man! I'll have to contact ORS to see what kind of prices we are talking about.

Chris

 

here ya go chris this was all i could do to it it's a little hard to see through the mudd but there is a scratch on the lower right hand side about 2" long! very minimal though

 

As Kerry and I discussed on Saturday, the biggest thing that jumped out at me was the uncovered spot directly before the crossmember in front of the transfer case. As he said, it wouldn't be anything to get ORS to extend the front plate another 8" or whatever it is.

I guess there are two other negative aspects about them:

1: They are extremely heavy. Removing or installing them alone is going to be a chore. A floor jack may be in order to assist. The good thing about this is that they are extremely stout. As Jeff mentioned earlier, adding those frames to it is a great idea. I will say that nothing is ever going to happen to the radiator, amongst other things. For those that end up getting the production model, be prepared to add a front spacer if you don't have adjustable coil-overs. The small T-case plate was estimated, alone, to be ~80 pounds.

2: Changing oil. After removing the front angled plate (via allen bolts), the oil pan is further back yet and you'd have to trough it out front if you kept the whole front skid plate in place.

Kerry, I got to thinking just now that putting a trough in there is one thing, but the area looks pretty tight, and how would one contort themselves to removing the bolt to the oil pan with a trough in place? Like you said, you could always drill a hole below the drain plug, but that is one more thing to get hung up on which we'd both rather not have. I don't know, but the more I think about it in its current state, changing oil could prove to be quite a task as well. Your thoughts?

 

well Darren, #1)as far as removing them i would probably agree it would be a two man job or perhaps as you said a floor jack would be involved but removing the removable pieces would help reduce the weight. some on the front one and it would cut the weight in half or more on the transmission plate #2)im not sure changing the oil is going to be that big of a deal. im sure there's room for a wobble socket or at the very least a box end wrench with oil plugs traditionally there not that tight and i think i can just break it loose first then place the trough in under my hand unscrew the bolt (by hand)and let it go! i may get some oil down my arm but thats what go-jo is for.i might also add that cutting a hole to drain the oil may not be as bad a soloution as it might seem the drainage holes that are there now were not at all a problem on sunday and from all the different situations i looked for, and came across never did i feel that one of the holes was going to result in a hanging problem if you consider the surface area of a 1.5" to 2" hole in the middle of the skidplate the amount of drag it could potentially create would be minimal at best (i'm pretty sure?) im not due for an oil change for a couple of thousand miles but after i do one i will post any trouble i might have or at least shoot you an e-mail i will also continue to look at the situation and if i find some negative points i will certainly post them here! i will be taking them off tommorow for the powdercoating and i will try to get a more accurate guess on the weight talk to you soon

 

I use a ratchet strap under the belly pan so that I can undo it and slide it out of the way to change the oil. That way I do not have to take it off all the way and wrestle with it.

Steve Hunt has a hole cut in his plate to change the oil. When the guys who worked where I did this summer saw all the hassle to change my oil, they were ready to cut the hole for me. He has apparently not gotten caught on that yet and he wheels that thing hard.

These are the best plates that I have ever seen, period.

Not sure if you saw it in the other thread, but Grant was saying that he lost a full inch of lift with his plate.

 

Thanks H-man! Sounds like they can take quite a beating! Thanks for all the info!

Chris

 

Man, a whole inch of lift? You'd better hope you spent the dough on SAWS if you got this set up. On the upside, it probably lowers the center of gravity on the vehicle a bit. Where's the weight coming from- the thickness of the main plate? What about making the same design out of aluminum?