Am I missing a skid plate?

[Scirocco84]

Gents,

I seem to be missing a transfer case skid plate if there is such a thing. Am I?

Front of the truck is to the right. You're looking at a rubber bushing that I would assume should have some hardware mounted to it.

 

[NHRunner]

I seem to be missing a transfer case skid plate if there is such a thing. Am I?

Front of the truck is to the right. You're looking at a rubber bushing that I would assume should have some hardware mounted to it.

Nope! You're not missing a plate.
I have yet to figure out what that funky thing is that you call a bushing.
I don't even have a good guess as to what it is or what it does.
Anyone?

 

[4x4runner2002]

harmonic balancer i believe

 

[snivilous]

harmonic balancer i believe

What he said^ It helps cancel driveline vibrations. Your transfer case "skid plate" is just that little black plate that's next the harmonic balancer that is like 4"x4".

 

[02SE]

harmonic balancer i believe

No, it's not.

The Harmonic Balancer is bolted to the end of the crankshaft, on the front of the engine.

The rubber/metal part bolted to the transfer case, is a Vibration Damper.

The transfer case skid plate is also visible bolted to the bottom of the T-case in the picture.

 

[Scirocco84]

Thanks guys, it just looks a bit vulnerable hanging out in the wind like that. Not that I'm going to, but has anybody run without it?

 

[Dous]

Thanks guys, it just looks a bit vulnerable hanging out in the wind like that. Not that I'm going to, but has anybody run without it?

Remove it and you won't notice a difference

 

[packweco]

Thanks guys, it just looks a bit vulnerable hanging out in the wind like that. Not that I'm going to, but has anybody run without it?

There's probably a very specific rpm that little piece of rubber works at. The engineers probably found it during testing and slapped that piece on there to cancel it out so you would be comfy.

In short, it literally couldn't matter less.

 

[Scirocco84]

Good deal. I my driveline explodes I'll report back.