Skid plates build

Hey everyone! So, I finally pulled the trigger on building a full set of skid plates. Got the first 2 designed and cut out on the CNC plasma table. Bent the front plate. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a hydraulic break, so I had to put in cut lines on the design so I could bend it on the bench. Also I decided to cut all the sides out separately and weld them on. Seemed easier to me. Especially since I am angling the plate to plate attachment points instead of overlapping them. I don’t like the idea of having exposed bolt heads so all my bolt heads are recessed. I would like to avoid doing bolt extractions.

I’m basing by design off of the ARB skid plates, except for the front and t-case skid. Designing those 2 myself, with help from another skid plate build thread.

If anyone wants measurements or anything let me know. I’ll also upload the pdf files once I’m happy with the design. This is for a 2nd gen so I only put in a hole for the engine oil drain plug. So other than not having a door for the oil filter my design should work on a 3rd gen. Oh and I have an exhaust reroute mod so my t-case skid won’t fit on a truck without the mod.

Anyway here’s what I have so far:




Oh and I added in a spacer for the front center lift point. Used 2.5" tubing with .25 wall. This way I can lift the truck under the skid plate no problem.


Yeah I know the oblong holes are not straight. Bolted them in and tacked in place. Ultimately didn’t make a difference for the fit up. I was just copying the ARB design. Too much work involved to fix it so I decided to leave it. No one will notice when it’s bolted to the truck.




Oh and I built that bumper as well. Cheated with the design though. Bought the dfx file online. For 65 dollars it was worth not spending days to design it myself.



I ran out of welding wire so that’s it for today. Nothing open here on Sunday. Also have to cut out 2 more of the sides. I plan to add a couple reinforcement pieces in as well. Might measure out what I need tomorrow morning and cut those out as well.

 

Very cool, looks great! I'm curious what thickness plate are you using? I really wish I had access to a plasma table, all my cuts are ragged and not square

 

I’m using 3/16 for pretty much everything. Might use 1/8 for the reinforcements if I run out of 3/16.

Yeah the plasma table is nice for the cuts. Takes a while to program it all in though. At least for someone as slow with cad as me. lol. If you have an Oxy acet torch you can get some really nice cuts using a straight edge. Takes a pretty steady hand though.

 

Just came to say, make sure you put like a 1 inch hole under the oil filter so you can fit a socket wrench extension through it to access the filter housing

 

Thanks for the tip. I did make sure to do that. Did a 1.5" hole just in case I’m a little off. I have ARB plates from another truck. Ended up cutting a hole in the ARB plate for the oil drain plug.

 

Man that’s funny, i have the arb skids and after 4 years of dropping the plates, i finally had to take a hole saw to them as well.

 

4 years?! Wow you have a lot more patience than me. I think I did 2 oil changes. Then got the hole saw.

 

Luckily the oil filter on a v6 second gen is on top of the engine near the battery, all that’s needed is a hole for the drain bolt

 

It appears I didn’t actually properly read his post. I thought he was talking about the oil drain plug. And he said 1” hole below the filter housing. I think he’s talking about a 2nd Gen. Although I’m not sure why you couldn’t access that from the top of the motor. Nor why you would need to replace the housing so often it’s worth having a hole in the skid plate for it. I’ve never replaced the housing before. The reason I’m building 4 skid plates is so that they are easily removable by one person for maintenance. I heavily off road my truck and it’s 13 years old so I’ve had to do a lot of maintenance on it. I removed the ARB skids dozens of times. Sometimes you just don’t have a choice.

 

Oh sorry, didnt realize you were second gen. Yeah on my turd gen i installed a fumoto drain with the short nipple to route a hose around the skid plate abd drilled a hole so i can take the filter off.

 

Oh ok, that makes more sense.

 

Hey sorry I haven’t posted my progress, it’s been a busy week. Haven’t made huge progress on the plates. Got the first 2 basically done. Don’t have pics as they are still on the truck to help with fit up. Got the other 2 plates cut out. Got part of one done. Fit up for it was a bit of a pita as I made it a little too long, and the skid plate before it was a little short, so there was a crossmember in the way of where they fit up. Got it sorted just took some time. Was hoping to get all the plates fitted and welded up this weekend. Probably not but we’ll see.

 

3/16” the world