Which skid plate do you hit most often?

I am looking at getting some skids for my 3rd gen TRD OR. I am trying to save weight where I can because this is a daily driver as well. I already have ~150lbs up front and ~30lbs in the rear.

Which skid plate do you find you hit most often?

I would love to go full aluminum for the weight savings, but thinking of steel for the spots that tend to get hit more often and need a bit more "slide". If hit you a rock, I figure the momentum of the truck would help it slide on the aluminum engine skid a bit instead of gouging and then the steel trans and t-case skids would provide the "slide" and strength needed to get off the rock.

My plan was to go aluminum engine skid and steel for the transmission and transfer case. I don't do heavy rock crawling. More like mild-medium rocky trails and forest roads. These are more "oopsie" skids to make sure I don't do damage that could strand me somewhere.

Thanks!

 

My personal opinion and from personal experience you don't need additional skid protection at all for the type of driving you described. With that said the front ifs skid and rock sliders are good but not needed.

 

I drive offroad a lot and am now looking at installing my fourth engine skid. All the aluminum ones have been destroyed by hits. The aluminum skids, even though they are thicker, are not as strong as the steel ones, and they don’t slide well.

And unless you are doing some REALLY serious offroading, don’t bother with any other skids except the engine skid. You don’t need them. Your low hanging center cross member takes all the hits aft of the engine skid and protects the transmission and transfer case pretty well.

So either buy a steel engine skid and forget about the rest, or buy an aluminum engine skid for the weight savings, but keep your OEM skid to slap back on before you sell it because the aluminum skid might be trashed by then.

If you get into some much more serious offroading, go with a steel engine skid and aluminum for the rest, both for weight savings and because you won’t hit them that often.

 

And I agree with @UMC about the rock sliders. They are actually more important than any skid plates. If you damage your rocker panels the damage is extremely hard (and expensive) to fix, and the damage is very visible. Rock sliders will also protect you from door dings in parking lots.

Even if you get powdercoated rock sliders, the finish will not last as long as your truck. Since you do not do much serious offroading, get the bolt-on versions so you can easily remove them to refinish them, or so you can remove them and sell them separately when you sell your truck. People will buy sliders that need refinishing, because people who actually use them off road will be trashing the finish anyway.

 

All of them



My 1/4 steel front skid has a giant dent in it.

The trans skid is just, kind of scratched up.

I'm on my 2nd transfer case skid. The 1st one was 3/16. I replaced with 1/4.

The gas tank skid is beat up.

The diff skid has been massaged by the rocks.

 

Thanks all! I am going to go with just a steel engine skid and then save the cash on the other skid plates for some sliders eventually.

RCI is having their tax season sale right now so wanted to get in on the good deal!

 

Here is what my RCI steel skids looked like after 2 years, I recently pulled them off to repaint them. The rear most skid (transfer case) was the most scraped, mostly due to the low hanging exhaust pipe that the skid has to go around.

I do a lot of rock crawling so full steel skids was a must. I destroyed my aluminum TRD skid and would not recommend aluminum skids if you are doing any type of aggressive off-roading.

 

where'd you get that transmission skid with the cat guards?

 

RCI trans skid with the RCI cat guards

 

One this that is annoying about the RCI cat guard is that you have to drill 4 holes on each side of the transmission skid, it does not come pre drilled. The coverage is decent, and the cat guard is made out of aluminum.


Holes I had to drill

 

mine came pre drilled and bolted right up with the cat guards

 

This is my IFS skid after 1 season. I painted it last March.

 

Mine too. I cut them shorter however

 

Tagging onto this thread, I do pretty mild off-roading but after 9 years my stock (steel) TRD OR skid is just beat to crap. I was considering an aluminum replacement, since they’re thicker and lighter and as I said, I don’t do real hardcore stuff. But based on the fact that my stock thin steel plate is pretty bent up, does that mean that even my mild my use is too severe for aluminum? I have sliders but otherwise stock, no lift, DCSB wheelbase, and the impacts have all come from moderate Sierra and Death Valley/Mojave trails. Rocks. I’m thinking of RCI or Talon’s Garage if I get steel, maybe Rival or Asfir in aluminum. Thanks.

 

Aluminum would probably be fine for you, but then again, sometimes all it takes is one good hit for it to look beat up or get warped to where it’s hard to get the bolts to line up. I just replaced my aluminum skid with RCI steel because they are on sale right now with free shipping. The RCI looked a little more sturdy than the Talon to me.

 

Counterpoint. I just did this to my crossmember on what was basically a rocky forest service road when a damaged section snuck up on me. If I didn't have a transmission skid it would have punctured my transmission pan. I wouldn't plan on letting the crossmembers protect things as they need protection too.

 

I run 3-piece Budbuilt 1/8" steel skids. 30% weight savings compared to common 3/16" steel. I have gouges and dents in all 3 pieces. I have a Trail Toys UHMW plastic skid for the fuel tank, because the 2nd/3rd gen tank is tucked up reasonably high, flush with the frame (not the case with 4th gen or 4Runner/Land Cruiser).

 

Skid plates aren’t the only thing you need if you’re driving faster than you can react to the terrain in front of you.

 

True but shit happens and would be nice to have protection to make it a non issue. When this happened I was in 4 Lo and couldn't have been going over 20mph, probably more like 15. Damage to the road was not clear until I was already on the downhill rocky section and there wasn't much I could do about it. Obviously going slower was in order but it was not apparent at the time.

 

So this damage to the cross member happened with a skid plate over it? What does the skid look like? That is quite the hit