Budbuilt Skidplates

[harper7]

I had Budbuilt skidplates fitted and installed yesterday in North Carolina while on my way back east on vacation.The differential skid,not shown in the pics fits perfect too and has to be shipped to me after powdercoating. It looked great too! I'm in Virginia , land of no radar detectors, now after a great drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway .

I took the stock skidplates off before I left home.They were all beat up and dented already.I could literally bend them with my bare hands.

They are the same skidplates he had CAD designed and laser cut out of 3/16ths steel plate for the 2010 FJ's. They only needed some minor tweaking to fit 5th Gens. without KDSS . Perfect fit now on my Limited and he just needed to fit a set to make sure.

He really needs to get a Trail Edition with KDSS in his shop in North Carolina to design the front skid as the sway bar hangs down lower then the Limited/SR5/FJ's. Beatiful drive thru the mountains!!

Bud's engineering and craftsmanship is outstanding! Truely an asset to the Toyota 4 wheeling community and has been for years making practically indestructable body armor! Great guy in person too!

Here are a few pics on the lift....

 

[jca21]

nice,

i take it everything bolts up to the factory skid plate holes?

 

[stephe5]

They look unreal!!!!! How is it going to be for changing the oil?

 

[harper7]

nice,

i take it everything bolts up to the factory skid plate holes?

Yep, except there is a new frame crossmember that he designed that attaches to existing holes in the frame for more support in the middle.

They look unreal!!!!! How is it going to be for changing the oil?

I don't see a problem,that front skid can be removed by itself and there's a hole for the drain plug.

 

[jca21]

if everything is bolt on then i'm sold

cant wait till a set for the TE show up.

 

[Jesse1983]

f'ing sweet

 

[sandcrawler]

gahd-dang!! beautiful! :bravo:

 

[dk27]

Really nice looking products you got on there. Are they 3/8" ? It's always best, in my opinion, when something after market can bolt up and look like it came from the factory. :thumb3:

 

[p0pe]

Awesome. This is how our trucks should come from the factory!

 

[dekeman]

Absolutely brilliant. They look like they might even lower your drag coefficient, thus improving your mpg. Thanks for the pics!

 

[westwind77]

Amazing! Dare I ask how much $$$???

 

[I AM SAM]

Dear Jesus, that's hot!

Harper, would it be possible to bring another one with you when you come this way?????? I can get it powder coated here. Please?

 

[Egstyle]

Outstanding! :bravo:

Impressively clean underbody.

How much weight do they add?

 

[jca21]

*bump

anyone been in contact with bud regarding TE skids?

also, how much would a full set cost?

edit:

harper, any reason you chose to get this done at the shop? could a backyard mechanic swap these out or do you recommend i go somewhere to get it done?

 

[T2Cruiser]

*bump

anyone been in contact with bud regarding TE skids?

also, how much would a full set cost?

edit:

harper, any reason you chose to get this done at the shop? could a backyard mechanic swap these out or do you recommend i go somewhere to get it done?

I have '10 T4R TE KDSS and I am talking to Bud. Hope to have a report soon.

My friend installed Bud's skids on his FJ in a parking lot at FJSummit last year. The stuff just fits. You can do it yourself!

Nice shots Harper!

 

[haddix]

Yeah I installed my budbuilt skids on my 4runner in the driveway. Bolt up perfectly and its not hard to do at all.

 

[Titanpat57]

Once again the bar is raised..

just how in the hell do you do it?!:

 

[jca21]

sweet.

definetly looking forward to getting my hands on a full set of budbuilts

 

[harper7]

Amazing! Dare I ask how much $$$???

The prices are the same as 2003-2009 Runners or FJ's and there are a few different price/material options.Just google "BudBuilt" for his website.

Harper, would it be possible to bring another one with you when you come this way?????? I can get it powder coated here. Please?

Wish I could but we were there at 10am and on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway by 4pm that day .Drove the whole parkway up to Skyline Drive where it ends and stayed at Shenendoah Nat. park a couple of days. Perfect cool weather up in the mountains and what a beautiful country we live in!No real cell or internet service til we got up to my sisters lakehouse in upstate Pa. late tonight. Just call Bud and order them and I can help you put them on if you need help. They are pretty heavy to ship but I believe he has a volume discount with FEDEX. I have to get my rear Diff skid shipped too.

*bump

anyone been in contact with bud regarding TE skids?

also, how much would a full set cost?

edit:

harper, any reason you chose to get this done at the shop? could a backyard mechanic swap these out or do you recommend i go somewhere to get it done?

Easy bolt on with 2 people,maybe 30 minutes.
The reason I went there....He designed these for the 2010 FJ he had in his shop.I was traveling that way anyways and he had check the fit since it was the first 5th Gen 4Runner he had in his shop to work with.He could'nt sell them til he made sure of the fit.

There ARE a few small differences underneath from th 10' FJ. There is a extra doubler on the 4Runner frame where his support crossmember sits so he had to design/fab up new longer end brackets to work with our 4runners existing holes in the frame.And one of the gas tank skid brackets is a little different so he design/fab a new one of those. Also the rear diff skid plate had to have about an 1/8 inch trimmed off around where a couple of bolts in the rear diff were.

He noted the design differences to make ones for the 5ths without KDSS in future orders. They fabbed mine up while I waited to make sure they work and that's what took awhile.He also took some measurements/pics for some other stuff he has up his sleeve to design for the 5ths.:frog:

That is why he needs a TE with KDSS in his shop to test design/fab/test fit. The KDSS sway bar is located down lower so a design change for the front skid is in order and he has to see where the KDSS lines run and where reservoir sits on the drivers side framerail.

Outstanding! :bravo:

Impressively clean underbody.

How much weight do they add?

I did'nt even ask,but I'll call him and ask tomorrow. According to another 4Runner site ,they weighed around 150 lbs. for the 4th Gens.You are taking off the old ones but they weigh no where near these.These are 3/16's of an inch thick steel and beefy.

 

[Titanpat57]

The prices are the same as 2003-2009 Runners or FJ's and there are a few different price/material options.Just google "BudBuilt" for his website.



Wish I could but we were there at 10am and on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway by 4pm that day .Drove the whole parkway up to Skyline Drive where it ends and stayed at Shenendoah Nat. park a couple of days. Perfect cool weather up in the mountains and what a beautiful country we live in!No real cell or internet service til we got up to my sisters lakehouse in upstate Pa. late tonight. Just call Bud and order them and I can help you put them on if you need help. They are pretty heavy to ship but I believe he has a volume discount with FEDEX. I have to get my rear Diff skid shipped too.

Easy bolt on with 2 people,maybe 30 minutes.
The reason I went there....He designed these for the 2010 FJ he had in his shop.I was traveling that way anyways and he had check the fit since it was the first 5th Gen 4Runner he had in his shop to work with.He could'nt sell them til he made sure of the fit.

There ARE a few small differences underneath from th 10' FJ. There is a extra doubler on the 4Runner frame where his support crossmember sits so he had to design/fab up new longer end brackets to work with our 4runners existing holes in the frame.And one of the gas tank skid brackets is a little different so he design/fab a new one of those. Also the rear diff skid plate had to have about an 1/8 inch trimmed off around where a couple of bolts in the rear diff were.

He noted the design differences to make ones for the 5ths without KDSS in future orders. They fabbed mine up while I waited to make sure they work and that's what took awhile.He also took some measurements/pics for some other stuff he has up his sleeve to design for the 5ths.:frog:

That is why he needs a TE with KDSS in his shop to test design/fab/test fit. The KDSS sway bar is located down lower so a design change for the front skid is in order and he has to see where the KDSS lines run and where reservoir sits on the drivers side framerail.



I did'nt even ask,but I'll call him and ask tomorrow. According to another 4Runner site ,they weighed around 150 lbs. for the 4th Gens.You are taking off the old ones but they weigh no where near these.These are 3/16's of an inch thick steel and beefy.

If you're headed over NY way give a hollar..safe traveling!