Just wondering if anyone has an opinion on this. I am seriously interested in RCI skid plates (they emailed me and said they will be making some that fit KDSS 4Runners soon)! I like theirs because they dont hang down so low below the crossmember. With my small lift this is important. However, I notice that theirs and I think Bud and Shrockworks require you to remove the curved braces that go from the frame to the crossmember. A picture of this is shown below (it's from an FJ, but we have the same brace). I know tons of you all have skids and have removed the braces. Does anyone think this puts stress on the frame or crossmember?

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I think the addition of skid plates that bolt to both those frame brace holes on the crossmember and holes on the frame are probably adding a whole lot more rigidity than those little crappy frame braces.

When I had them I did nothing but bang them on stuff on the trail and I think our 120 framed brothers don't even have them and they are fine.

I'm waiting on my RCI to come in. I guess I can let you know when I install them. I hope they add the rigidity like mentioned above; it should, right? Now you've got me thinking...

I did some searching ( I know, I know, I should have looked BEFORE I started the thread ) and found a 4th Gen thread about the RCI skids. Someone reinstalled the braces on top of the skids. This might be what I do as I am planning on just getting the t-case skid to start with. As long as you don't have the raised bolt protectors you should be able to reuse the braces. The more rigidity the better. Cbielat, maybe you could do this.

Little crappy frame braces...? I drug mine all over Moab and they took it like a champ. JK, they probably are pretty weak. The 4th Gen guys seem to think they may be cat converter protectors.

I don't recall any stock parts that had to be removed when installing the BudBuilt skids (other than the factory skids, naturally).

I got the bolt protectors too. I wasn't sure if I'd need/want them but I added them anyway.

I just put my Shrockworks skids on and I did not have that niffty little piece. Is that another Limited thing? I do recall the 4th Gens having it though.

me neither. I'm looking at photos of my undercarriage (cause my truck is about 500 km away) and I can't see anything resembling these braces.

must be an american thing

I have those as well, however 1 of mine has a sizable dent. To be honest I thought they were there to offer protection rather than to provide rigidity. If it was for rigidity, I would think the shape would be different, and they wouldn't hand down below the height of the vehicle.

My braces stay on with my BudBuilts on my Limited as it's a smooth flat bottom all the way to the gas tank skid which drops down a couple of inches. The exhaust crossover is right in front of those braces anyways and they are level with it.

I was just up under mine today as I had metal to metal noises offroad this past weekend and it was my rear driveshaft flange rubbing my gas tank skid in the back now that I getting more rear flex. So I knotched out the very back inboard edge next to the bolt where it was rubbing .Anybody else getting driveshaft rubbing on it?

The gas tank skid IMO is the most important one as our tank is lower and that BB skid has probably paid for itself by saving my tank more then once.
Here's a pic I shot today and you can see how rocks have bent the steel.Aluminum would probably have been toast.


It's a TE and Limited thing.

Pretty sure I know where that dent is from

None that I've noticed. Weren't yours the first modified FJ skids that Bud did? Maybe he changed them up a bit afterwards based on fitting yours?

Agreed 100%. When I was picking up my skids from the shop that I ordered through there was another guy there who thought I was crazy for adding that much weight to my truck. I'd say the money I've saved in potential repairs far exceeds any gas mileage I lost. BudBuilts are bulletproof.

I think your gas tank skid should be the same as mine as he just changed the length of the brackets to make it fit a 5th Gen. Ours is the same size fwd/ aft and side to side but just hangs down lower to accommodate the extra 6 gallons compared to a FJ's and the reason we drag them alot.
Here is where the rear diff flange was rubbing and the place to see if yours or anyone else who has the gas tank is rubbing. At full flex and off camber the driveshaft shifts with the axle and when I was getting the contact and noise.


And my fix yesterday by notching the end of the skid for clearance and moving the bracket as far forward as it would go in that slot.

Gary, how on earth did you notch it so cleanly without even taking off any paint apparently?

Air tools! I drilled a hole then used a cut off wheel to cut it out and then a rotary bit on a high speed to clean it up and bevel it. I just primed and painted the edge with a sponge brush this morning when I took the pic is why it's silver.lol