When I installed my RCI skids roughly a year ago, I came across the exact same problem, and I spent a good part of a day searching for what the hell those S-brackets actually did. What I found was that they serve two purposes. 1. They are a head on collision impact support bracket that attempts to keep the lower radiator frame crossmember from collapsing into the engine block during a front end collision. The stock “bash plates” have little to no compressive strength to accomplish this task. And 2. They act as backing strength for your stock skid plates. If there are other uses for them, please let me know.
This is absolutely MY OWN judgement call, but I ended up pulling mine off, gaining back some clearance, and using my RCI skids as the compression supports for the radiator crossmember. Since RCI gussets their skids at the bend, I felt like that was enough strength. I have since come down fairly hard on my front skid a number of times, and although the aluminum does have gashes to show for it, the lines are still straight and they seem to take the weight of the vehicle very well.
In fact, one of the first things I did after removing the brackets was jack the front end of the truck up with two bottle jacks about 4” in on either side of the front skid to test the yield strength of the aluminum. It didn’t budge, and that was good enough for me. I don’t try to smash my way over obstacles, but it’s good to know that it will hold up if I come down hard on it.
Another upgrade I made was ditching the supplied bolts with some grade 8 units for attaching the skids to the front frame crossmember that would certainly hold up a lot better in a collision due to increased shear strength.
Again, this was a personal decision based on risk/reward analysis, and knowing the consequences before I removed them.
