I was driving through about a foot of water the other day and suddenly hear a horrific grinding noise. When I got out and looked under the truck, I saw that my skid plate had completely folded back on itself. It appears that at some point in the past, the front 2 bolts had fallen off completely, and the force of the water was enough to fold the skid plate under and when is caught the road it bent back completely. It took me over an hour to bend the plate down enough to get to the center bolts and remove the plate completely.

My question is, do you think this is something I can claim as a warranty repair? The truck is a 2005, 17 months old, with 20K miles.

As far as I know, the plate has never been removed. I'v had the oil changed once at a shop since it was at the dealer for the 15K, but they wouldn't need to remove the plate, right?

Thanks.

Yes, they removed the plate.

Time is money so I believe most shops will not remove the plate as it takes longer to do so. They most likely will reach down from the top to remove the filter.

Guess there's no way of knowing if the shop took the plate off or not. It was a couple months back. Oh well. Looks like I'm stuck paying for a new one.

Thanks.

I would think it is a safe bet that the shop removed the plate while changing the oil, and neglected to put the front bolts back in. I would look for another service center, or start doing it yourself.

Unless you will be doing some wheeling soon, leave the skid plate off. I bent mine all to hell a while back and found out the skid plate is pretty darn expensive. Then again, it's like an insurance policy...you only need it when you need it.
:bonk: