Impressed with stock skidplates on TE

[Kbstone]

I have been contemplating upgrading the skid plates on my TE and still might at some point but just wanted to testify to some unintentional testing yesterday on Third Flats Road near Grand Junction, CO. I decided to explore the Billings Canyon Jeep Trials area yesterday via the Third Flats Road which skirts around the actual 4x4 trail that is for "experts" only (I did NOT do the expert only section). My TE is stock w/ Michelins LTX M/S 2's so I knew the tires were at risk but the trail was fairly tame. As I continued south for about 15 miles it became more adventurous and there were numerous sections that required a little skill. There were a few times I had "tagged" the skid plates (gas tank and front skid plate) and knew there would be little damage....upon inspection this morning I was surprised at how little damage actually occurred. A couple of times I know the skid plates took much of the weight of the truck as I "skidded" very carefully across one big rock.

Anyhow...the only issue I had was at about 15 miles while I was turning around I tagged a rock with my rear tire and snapped the valve stem...and down she went...changed the tire and slowly poked my way back to the trail head.....now I need to search the forum to see what the options are for replacing / repairing the TPMS valve stem.

Kyle

 

[Jono.ful]

Stock skids might as well be made of tin foil, This becomes extremely evident when placed next to any aftermarket skid plate system. They are very pliable and once you have them off, you'll find they are fairly easy to bend and twist with your hands.

 

[JB.]

Stock skids might as well be made of tin foil.

Exaggerate much?

They don't do the job of aftermarket skids but they do a job. I'm guessing sliding over that rock with tin foil would have had a slightly different result.

 

[eddiebx]

I have been contemplating upgrading the skid plates on my TE and still might at some point but just wanted to testify to some unintentional testing yesterday on Third Flats Road near Grand Junction, CO. I decided to explore the Billings Canyon Jeep Trials area yesterday via the Third Flats Road which skirts around the actual 4x4 trail that is for "experts" only (I did NOT do the expert only section). My TE is stock w/ Michelins LTX M/S 2's so I knew the tires were at risk but the trail was fairly tame. As I continued south for about 15 miles it became more adventurous and there were numerous sections that required a little skill. There were a few times I had "tagged" the skid plates (gas tank and front skid plate) and knew there would be little damage....upon inspection this morning I was surprised at how little damage actually occurred. A couple of times I know the skid plates took much of the weight of the truck as I "skidded" very carefully across one big rock.

Anyhow...the only issue I had was at about 15 miles while I was turning around I tagged a rock with my rear tire and snapped the valve stem...and down she went...changed the tire and slowly poked my way back to the trail head.....now I need to search the forum to see what the options are for replacing / repairing the TPMS valve stem.

Kyle

I think the only reason you were that impressed with your factory skids is because you didn't really put much weight on them, lol. Try jacking up the vehicle from the skid and you'll see how little weight it can actually hold before deforming (please don't actually do that though, I don't want you to damage whatever is behind it).

As far as the valve stem, I don't think our pressure sensors have serviceable stems...unfortunately you might have to replace the entire TPMS

Overall sounds like you had a great time, so jealous of you CO people!

 

[Jono.ful]

Exaggerate much?

They don't do the job of aftermarket skids but they do a job. I'm guessing sliding over that rock with tin foil would have had a slightly different result.

I took my stock skids off a couple weeks after going through a fairly significant mud hole. there was an inch or so of dried mud on top that might have weighed 15lbs. Holding the front skid by the edges with only that little bit of mud on them, you could feel a startling amount of flex in the steel. IIRC they are constructed out of less than 1/16" plate, without any significant ribbing, or reinforcement points.

about two months ago, I dragged my ARB transmission skid over a decent sized log, causing a deformation of approximately 2 1/2" to a highly reinforced area of 3/16" plate and to the related support bracket. I do not have a photo of the actual damage before I bent it back with a 5 lb sledge, but it took significant force to even partially repair the damage. Needless to say, I shutter to think of the damage that would have resulted if I did not have aftermarket protection.

post-repair, this was completely straight and level before the damage

 

[Limbwalker]

I tagged the front skid on my 3rd gen on the difficult section of Tincup Pass pretty hard recently. Thankfully, It didnt do any damage to anything behind it as it simply flexed in. Im Gonna need to upgrade at some point. Ive torn open gas tanks and oil pans in the past in my other trucks. Its not a cool way to end your day.
So, Fruita huh? Sweet! to my utter shame, I still have yet to go mtn biking up there.

 

[adam2562]

might are BEAT TO HELL but they've done the job well.. i think you'd be amused if i took a picture of them.. maybe i will.. but it is what it is.. theyre not amazing but they do the job for stock skids

 

[Jono.ful]

I'd be worried about the false sense of security they provide to someone who doesn't know better

 

[STX4Runner]

I took my stock skids off a couple weeks after going through a fairly significant mud hole. there was an inch or so of dried mud on top that might have weighed 15lbs. Holding the front skid by the edges with only that little bit of mud on them, you could feel a startling amount of flex in the steel. IIRC they are constructed out of less than 1/16" plate, without any significant ribbing, or reinforcement points.

about two months ago, I dragged my ARB transmission skid over a decent sized log, causing a deformation of approximately 2 1/2" to a highly reinforced area of 3/16" plate and to the related support bracket. I do not have a photo of the actual damage before I bent it back with a 5 lb sledge, but it took significant force to even partially repair the damage. Needless to say, I shutter to think of the damage that would have resulted if I did not have aftermarket protection.

post-repair, this was completely straight and level before the damage

The ARBs are 3mm according to ARB.com. That works out to about 1/8 or 2/16 inch. That may not seem like much less than the 3/16 of Bud, Shrock and RCI, but it is a big difference.

 

[JB.]

about two months ago, I dragged my ARB transmission skid over a decent sized log, causing a deformation of approximately 2 1/2" to a highly reinforced area of 3/16" plate ....Needless to say, I shutter to think of the damage that would have resulted if I did not have aftermarket protection.

Yeah, it could have been ugly, but if you're implying you might have taken the same line or the same obstacle with the stock skids, I don't think the problem lies solely with the skids.

The key to the stock skids is understanding their limits which extend quite a bit farther than tin foil.

 

[snivilous]

about two months ago, I dragged my ARB transmission skid over a decent sized log, causing a deformation of approximately 2 1/2" to a highly reinforced area of 3/16" plate and to the related support bracket. I do not have a photo of the actual damage before I bent it back with a 5 lb sledge, but it took significant force to even partially repair the damage. Needless to say, I shutter to think of the damage that would have resulted if I did not have aftermarket protection.

I wouldn't call it highly reinforced. Either the designer was retarded or it was meant to deflect under that high of a load. Otherwise there wouldn't be lightening holes on the bottom of the square cross section, since that drastically decreases your stiffness due to material being removed from the most extreme fiber (bottom/top of the cross section). Did your cross member (assuming that's what you bolt to), deflect at all?

 

[Jono.ful]

The ARBs are 3mm according to ARB.com. That works out to about 1/8 or 2/16 inch. That may not seem like much less than the 3/16 of Bud, Shrock and RCI, but it is a big difference.

you're right, I was looking at the wrong column for metric conversion.

Yeah, it could have been ugly, but if you're implying you might have taken the same line or the same obstacle with the stock skids, I don't think the problem lies solely with the skids.

The key to the stock skids is understanding their limits which extend quite a bit farther than tin foil.

I'm not implying anything. I said quite directly that I was happy I had protection beyond what the stock skids provide. In fact the stock protection wouldn't have even covered the area where I took the hit. The entire point of my argument was that the stock skids, while they do prove a basic level of protection for casual off-pavement travel, will not provide the level of protection that an aftermarket system does, and that some may be lulled into a false sense of security because these trucks come with stock skid plates.

I wouldn't call it highly reinforced. Either the designer was retarded or it was meant to deflect under that high of a load. Otherwise there wouldn't be lightening holes on the bottom of the square cross section, since that drastically decreases your stiffness due to material being removed from the most extreme fiber (bottom/top of the cross section). Did your cross member (assuming that's what you bolt to), deflect at all?

Relative to the stock set up, how can you not call this highly reinforced? the material is double thickness in the horizontal plane, and there is boxed section with one vertical and one near vertical section. I'm not an engineer, but certainly metal in this orientation is much more resistant to crushing that two pieces laminated back to back (double thickness). This is a feature that you will not find on the BudBuilt piece, which is just flat plate steel, albeit thicker steel, with folded edges.
BudBuilt skids below

Look, I am not trying to say these things are bomb-proof, but they are strong, and ARB is a leader in the 4x4 market, despite your assertion that "the designer was retarded".

The first photo I posted of the skids on my truck shows them bolted to a drop bracket, which is bolted directly to the transmission cross member (under the exhaust y-pipe). The cross member has not deflected at all, but the bracket has in both the horizontal and vertical.

 

[Jeremy556]

Howdy, neighbor.

Billings is rock buggy only territory. Bang's Canyon is nearby and will be challenging and a lot of fun for a stock T4R, though you may have issues with P tires. I go there pretty often as its a short trip (see pics in the last pages of the Off Road Pics thread).

If you broke the valve stem, you need a new TPMS sensor. You can get them cheap from ebay. Make sure and get the code off of it. Most tire shops these days can program them, but if they can't/won't, I have techstream/cable and can program it for you.

Trust me, if you continue to wheel in this area and Moab, your stock skids are going to take a real beating. Even the ARB skids are far lacking for this environment. They do their job as far as preventing vehicle disabling damage, but they very quickly get to the point that they can't be removed or reinstalled without serious hammering and torch work.

 

[Jeremy556]

about two months ago, I dragged my ARB transmission skid over a decent sized log, causing a deformation of approximately 2 1/2" to a highly reinforced area of 3/16" plate and to the related support bracket. I do not have a photo of the actual damage before I bent it back with a 5 lb sledge, but it took significant force to even partially repair the damage. Needless to say, I shutter to think of the damage that would have resulted if I did not have aftermarket protection.

Have you noticed the rattling sound at low RPMs and high engine loads yet? You probably will soon. It is the exhaust hitting the ARB skid plate. I started off by spacing out the plate with washers to keep it off the exhaust, but pretty much every time I went off road, I ended up bending that L shaped bracket into S shapes. Eventually, I had a metal fab shop make a new L bracket out of some massive angle iron and built in spacing to keep it away from the exhaust.
6 months later, the new bracket is still going strong, but the rest of the skid plates aren't. I will be replacing them pretty soon, probably with BudBuilt.

 

[Jeremy556]

Relative to the stock set up, how can you not call this highly reinforced? the material is double thickness in the horizontal plane, and there is boxed section with one vertical and one near vertical section. I'm not an engineer, but certainly metal in this orientation is much more resistant to crushing that two pieces laminated back to back (double thickness). This is a feature that you will not find on the BudBuilt piece, which is just flat plate steel, albeit thicker steel, with folded edges.

I believe in the case of the BudBuilt skids (I don't actually have them yet, only the ARB), but it appears the BudBuilt bolt directly to the cross member, and then add an additional steel tube cross member.

 

[Jeremy556]

Look, I am not trying to say these things are bomb-proof, but they are strong, and ARB is a leader in the 4x4 market, despite your assertion that "the designer was retarded".

The ARB skid plates are certainly a step up from stock, but the rear trans skid mounting bracket is a serious design flaw, and they do not hold up to rock crawling, even with additional gusseting.

 

[Jono.ful]

Have you noticed the rattling sound at low RPMs and high engine loads yet? You probably will soon. It is the exhaust hitting the ARB skid plate. I started off by spacing out the plate with washers to keep it off the exhaust

Immediately after installation actually, I too spaced it out with washers

but pretty much every time I went off road, I ended up bending that L shaped bracket into S shapes. Eventually, I had a metal fab shop make a new L bracket out of some massive angle iron and built in spacing to keep it away from the exhaust.

not a bad idea, may consider this if they skids hold up.

6 months later, the new bracket is still going strong, but the rest of the skid plates aren't. I will be replacing them pretty soon, probably with BudBuilt.

I went with the ARB's initially because of cost and weight savings, but if I have to replace them in the future I plan to consider the RCI's if the long term reviews are good.

The ARB skid plates are certainly a step up from stock, but the rear trans skid mounting bracket is a serious design flaw, and they do not hold up to rock crawling, even with additional gusseting.

I absolutely agree. I was immediately displeased with this and the hokey cage nuts that ARB utilizes to join the plates. Like the Bud's, ARB uses mild steel. The advantage that Bud's has is the frame rail to frame rail coverage that they use to add strength to their system, whereas ARB relies on reinforcements and gussets. This is insufficient for rock crawling applications as you point out, fortunately most of the country we wheel in here is pretty varied and there is not too much in the way of boulder fields. So in spite of a few flaws, the ARB's are adequate for my purposes for now.

 

[Jeremy556]

:keyboard:
When I get my replacements, my bracket belongs to you. Same bolt spacing for the cross member, but the angle is made out of something like 3/4" mild steel. and it doesn't budge even as the trans skid plate bends into unnatural shapes.

 

[Kbstone]

I think I'll pass on that trick

 

[Icufltrn]

Here's mine after a recent trip

It was completely folded over and facing forward like a plow. Was able to bend it back to the point you see it but it is no longer on the truck.