Originally Posted by Jetboy

The 5th gen isn't really built to be a rock crawler, so I'd say that the type of abuse on those trails that I damaged it on are not really typical of what you'd normally experience. Just posted mostly to show that if it gets really rough and you're going to the places where you'll be repeatedly dropping on rocks and winching across boulders and such, the TRD Pro skid might not be enough protection. Short of that - the TRD Pro skid is pretty great in terms of light weight, great coverage, oem fit/finish.

It is also important to recognize that it did work in the sense that nothing was damaged behind the skid plate. No mechanical failures. So the skid did it's job. It just wasn't quite strong enough for repeated use in that type of terrain. And - frankly - that's not where you really should be going in a 5th gen with a small lift and tires. It's more of the kind of place where it's appropriate for something like my FJ40. The 4Runner is remarkably capable. It has far exceeded what I expected when I bought it to the point that I end up going way beyond what it really should be used for. It's just not a rock crawler by nature.