My skid plate has torn out 2 of the bolts last week and is barely holding by one. I went wheeling with only 3 bolts holding the skid in place as I tore out one of the bolts in the fall, this weekend, the skid must have hooked up on something and when i reversed, it bend it all up. Half the time its dragging on the ground now.

I don't want to replace it with another stocker, as a) there are no more captive nuts left in the frame and b) it didn't stand up well in the first place.

It appears the biggest weakness is the stock fasters, so another option is to put 3" 3/16" grade 8 fasteners through the pre-existing holes in the frame and put a nut on top.

Lets see your home-build skids.

 

This guy
http://www.budbuilt.com/new/ifs.html


Edit: You should remove yours before it falls off.

 

HOLY ! WHAT DID YOU HIT?!
thats my next project a skid plate/bumper

 

Unless that budbuilt has some gussetting on the back I'd just pick up some 1/4" steel plate and get to work on it yourself if you have a welder, grinder, drill press, etc etc.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a skid plate I like more than Toyvana's. He mentioned he got it at NWOR, but I haven't been able to find info on it as of late. If you were going to fab your own I might consider his.

 

I'll probably use 1/8" and reinforce it with angle iron on the edges. I think beefing up the fasteners is more critical than beefing up the skid itself.

 

I didn't "hit" anything, rather I was reversing and it caught on something I'd already run over. I think it was a piece of wood.

Its actually worse than in the picture, as i've been wheeling since, now that there are lots of edges to catch upon, its pretty ugly.

 

Haha. Good job at destroying your skid. I made mine look almost exactly like that, except on the other side....

..I was only trying to access my lower radiator hose...

Then I reattached it with some zip-ties

 

You dispensed with a wrench and decided to tear off the skid plate by hand? I guess it takes all types.

 

Haha it was frozen, I didn't have a 12mm socket (the ONLY one I needed to make changing the radiator take an hour instead of 3) aaand I ended up stripping the bolt heads trying to use an adjustable wrench

 

haha i'm lookin to build my own too, 3 of my 4 bolts fell out on the trail and bent the crap out of my skid

 

x2

NOTE: you need a crossmember at the rear of the IFS arms to really have something to bolt to!

If you're gonna make your own, I can tell you my 3/16" budbuilts are pretty beat ... going to 1/4" adds a lot of weight though. It's hard to get angle iron reinforcement in there in a lot of places to really strengthen lighter material.