Off-road newbie -- what armor do I need?

Hi all, new Tacoma ('19 TRD Off-road) owner here.

I don't plan on doing rock crawling exactly but I do drive on rough, rocky dirt roads a fair amount to get to trailheads, and I'd prefer not to damage anything if what looks like a shallow puddle turns out to be a deep pothole, etc, so some armor seems like a good idea.

- What is a reasonable amount of armor for my purposes? Oil pan, transmission, transfer case, diff, ...? All of the above? Some?
- What about aluminum vs steel? Are they of equivalent strength but the aluminum is lighter weight, or what?
- What about rock slider bars? Overkill for what I'm doing?
- Any other advice?

I'm in Montana, so a vendor in the western US would be good to minimize shipping cost. Any suggestions? I don't really know what to look for, and I'm sure there are lots of good vendors, but a little searching found RCI in Colorado: https://rcimetalworks.com/product-category/toyota/tacoma/16-19-tacoma/

Thanks for any advice!

 

On my 2014 with 43k miles (about 10% of that offroad) the factory skids are barely adequate. I have one cracked and another dented just from rock flip ups. Have new skids on the way. Also have rock sliders ordered with fill plates after having more than once broken limbs kick up. Luckily no damage to anything so far.

Asked a friend who owns the tire shops around here and he said every truck has some sort of damage underneath by the time they hit 50k in northern or central AZ if taken off road at all.

 

Factory skids are thinner than most steel cookie sheets. Not a lot of protection.

 

I was going to type this same reply pretty much. If you’re not sure if the puddle has a bottom get out and poke it with a stick.

 

You probably be fine with a set of aluminum skids plates form front to rear on the belly of your taco, and some rock sliders with kick-outs. If your are really worried about it.

That's what I ran on my Fj cruiser. But i took rock crawling and overland alot.

But if you have a good spotter and don't do anything to crazy you should be fine with stock skids.

 

Stay stock. Save weight. Drive smartly.

 

you can barely call the factory plates "skid plates"