Why do you need rear shock skids:

low hanging fruit.

1. my passenger rear skid is mangled from high speed desert runs, rock gardens, and desert hill climbs due to to contact with loose boulders. You can see all the touch up paint in the pics.
2. If you play in rock gardens, and you slip off a rock/boulder, you will turtle on that shock mount and destroy your lower shock mount or frame mount. The shock skids can handle being turtled.
3. If you hillclimb, your front tires will kick loose boulders downward, and it will usually get caught by your rear shock mount. If you are in a convoy, you will be eating alot of the loose boulders, the vehicles in front of you is kicking up.
4. If you are desert running or in a convoy, your rear shocks is going to get pitted to death, and you will have a rear shock failure eventually.
5. rebuilding shocks ain't cheap.

Why Rago Fabrication's lower shock skids.
1. It has "more" shaft protection versus the competition. My lower shaft is pitted and starting to corrode. It was either new shock skids with shaft protection or shock booties.
2. The steel used to protect the shaft is gussetted or reinforced, so in theory, it should not deflect into the shaft body if pinned against a waterfall/ledge/rock. (more on this later).
3. It has drain holes. My old shock skids did not have drain holes, and my spherical bushings is pretty rusted at the moment, and the old skids is also showing signs of rust and mud.
4. heavy duty hardware. Rago uses a 19mm nut and bolt. Whereas, the competition uses a 14mm nut and bolt. The 19mm nut and bolt fits better in the hole, less likelyhood of ovaling out the frame mount over time and less deflection if there is a big hit.

Why you wouldn't use Rago Fabrication's lower shock skids
1. If you play in the rocks alot, I wouldn't want the shaft protection in case of accidental deflection. I would run normal shock skids AND shock booties instead. Weird things tend to happen when you offroad.
2. It's more expensive than the competition.
3. If you run thicc/upgraded/aftermarket rear lower links, there might be some interference between the shaft protection and the lower links. I run metal tech lower links and they are THICC YO!!! I have maybe half a inch of clearance between the links and the shaft protection. In theory i should be okay, since the lower links travel arc is inboard of the the shock mount and should clear when flexing. I haven't tested that theory yet.

Conclusion:

Not saying Rago is better than the competition. It all depends on what your budget is, and where you like to play. However, I would NOT buy other manufactures that offer shaft protection but is NOT gussetted. None of that ICON bullshit. I would rather buy skids with no shaft protection than a skid with improperly designed shaft protection.

cheers

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Someone I follow on IG, had theirs rust within a couple of months. He then complained to Rago, he had to pay for shipping to return them and waited 2 months to receive a new set

The other designs are far worse than rago’s. They offer no way for water to escape. At least rago’s offers drain holes. As for powder coating, time will tell. Sorry I don’t follow instafakers.

I run FJToyman's rear shock skid. They are beef and protect the bolt heads but do not offer shaft protection, hence I run shaft booties

i like the FJtoyman's guards, they are low profile, and less prone to rust issues. Those were my first choice but i think they were sold out when I was shopping for guards a few years back.

Yeah, i got shock booties, but ran out of time to install them. I'm lazy, i might cut the booties, slip them over, and then use zip ties to hold em in place..ROFL.

I looked at these before, and wanted to purchase them for my 2018 Pro. They state that they don’t fit the Pros with the Fox setup, but I have the Bilsteins.
When I inquired about this with them 6 months ago, the rep said it may not fit.
I like the drain holes and they have 29 100% feedbacks.
Need to email them back.Anyone running them on a Bilstein equipped Pro?

i cant imagine any shock guard having any issues with the billies.

Incompatibility with the fox is due to them having that weird plastic shock boot or shaft protector (black cover thingabob).

Definitely double check with Rago though... but i think you'll be fine.

Thanks for the information about the Fox shocks as I didn’t know what the difference might be on the lower mount. I will reach out to them tomorrow.

i run the fjtoyman ones mostly to protect the bolt lolz. definitely an easy upgrade anyone with money spent on shocks should do. and shock boots

I'm running FJ Toyman and love them

Another vote for FJ Toyman - super easy install, simple design, and stout.

No reason to go for another option in my view.

Another vote for FJtoyman skids. I did drill a drain hole in them though. I actually have a second set on my workbench for the king shocks.

Wont that make them start rusting instantly?

If you don't coat them, yes.

Thats funny; I have an extra set waiting for my Kings too