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Old 12-27-2020, 05:37 PM
gimlithepirate gimlithepirate is offline
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gimlithepirate gimlithepirate is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 511
gimlithepirate is a jewel in the rough gimlithepirate is a jewel in the rough gimlithepirate is a jewel in the rough
RCI Skid Plates

The single most important mod you can do to your vehicle is skid plates. I honestly would have made this my first mod after rock sliders if my tires hadn't been in such terrible shape. However, I wanted to avoid double buying tires, so the lift happened first. That in of itself wasn't tempting fate, but driving Elephant Hill and Mineral Creek Rd in CO without skids probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world... but I drove away just fine so no problem I guess?

In deciding on skids, I looked at three options: Coastal Offroad DIY, LFD, and RCI. I liked the design of the Coastal ones, but I have never welded anything in my life. Plus, from what I had read here on the forum fitment for them can be a real challenge. LFD did not have a v8 specific option which pushed them out. That left RCI which is one of the more popular options on this forum.

I turned to a local Facebook page to decide Aluminum vs Steel. The upcharge for aluminum is a little over 100$ uncoated, which is pretty reasonable. In the SW rust and corrosion just aren't major concerns, so I was curious what people would like. Lots of people chimed in for steel, but two comments pushed me towards aluminum. One guy said that aluminum skids were for people who here a scrape, stop and investigate, and then change their line if needed. Steel is for people who can't afford aluminum and those that intend to drag their rig over an obstacle. I definitely stop when I here scraping and asses, so I fall in the first category. The other comment was from a guy who drove a tundra around here and had an older version of the RCI Aluminum plates. He dropped the entire truck on top of a rock on one of the plates at one point with some force and didn't crack it. After seeing the abuse his plates took, and given my general focus on lightweight gear, I decided to go Aluminum.

Here is what we are starting with in terms of the underside of the 4runner:



Lots of little bits to catch on stuff. More critically, the transfer case and transmission are very poorly protected. If you don't have money for full skid protection, I'd say the transmission is a must, followed by the transfer case.

The RCI plates come as three aluminum plates (only two are pictures) and a steel support. If you catch them mid-fab, they will send you either the aluminum or steel first and then the other. They appear to basically gear up for one metal type or the other. So don't be surprised if they come in separate shipments.



I was impressed with both how beefy the skids felt, and with how light they were when handling. Metal science is cool!

A couple of tips when installing. First of all, anything powdercoated needs to be on a towel. Dragging it across the floor will scratch the powdercoat. Secondly, the tip they have for supporting the rear cross member with a floor jack while attaching it is not optional unless you are a gorilla. Holding the cross member in place while attaching is hard work. Lastly, triple check to make sure you have the right hardware. I didn't realize until I was mostly done I was missing pieces, and had to wait to finish for about a week. RCI customer service though was very prompt in getting me replacement parts.

The final product:



Now, there are two reasons that getting big heavy duty skids is important. The first is that the difference in thickness is huge:


These aren't totally comparable because steel vs aluminum, but still, the difference is striking.

The second, is that our vehicles just don't have that much ground clearance:


This is after lifting 2.5 front, 2 back, and going from a 31" tires to 33". When my True North Fabrications bumper gets here and I add the winch, I'll be moving the front struts up a setting, which should get me to my goal of 10.5" of clearance, or about the same as a stock Jeep Rubicon. However, that just isn't a ton of clearance. Having all the skid plates help compensate for the lack of clearance, protecting things that might otherwise be in the line of fire.
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2007 v8 4Runner Limited Build thread: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-g...ing-build.html
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