Quote:
Originally Posted by Option01
Yeah, I did notice some of the plate designs leave the radiator corners exposed. I actually asked one of the companies why they designed it that way and after speaking with the engineers, the sales person confirmed it was an old design and no one knew why it was like that lol. My only guess is that they wanted to leave some clearance to work with the stock recovery point and tie-down brackets.
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My Schrockworks (also closed!) skids fully box the radiator - the challenge is clearance. My aftermarket Denso radiator is just a smidge wider and touches on both sides... definitely not ideal since the rad is mounted to the body and the skid is mounted to the frame, so there is a fair amount of movement there. I actually removed the front crossmember, since the bumper and skid stiffen that area enough already (Shrockworks bumper has a large stiffener and mount that bolts to the front of the frame rails).
Longer bolts will solve the issue - I run OEM hooks on both sides using the longer OEM bolts for plenty of thread engagement - I have the bumper support, skid and hooks all bolted up to those two holes. It is a bit of a pain to align 40 lbs of steel, but there you go...
Here's a pic before the front plate and bolt was added to my bumper/skid setup:
The little dents in the frame edges are for crash crumple zones, so keep that in mind for strength. There is an extension to the bumper bracket that goes all the way to the bolt you can see about a foot back on the frame on the inside to stiffen that area up.
-Charlie
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'99 4Runner SR5 Auto -
4WD swapped
'89 Camry Alltrac LE 3S-GTE 5spd
'17 Chevy Volt Premier
'16 Honda Odyssey Elite
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