This may be a stupid question, idk, but I see a bunch of yall building your own skid plates and your own bumpers and stuff like that, Its awesome. But heres my question- where do you buy the metal to do this stuff? and what gauge do you buy to make your own skid plates for example?
making own armor etc
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slowpoke99
New member
Most of the sliders, bumpers and cages that's I've built we're done with 1.5"-1.75" DOM tubing which can be purchased from any steel supply place. I've build skids out of 1/4"-3/8" plate. It all depends on how hard to plan on beating up your rig. It's also helps to have a good bender, notcher and welder.
MStudt
official vendor
You do realize that the frame on our 4runners is only .090" thick don't you? Which is a little less than 3/32" thick.
Local steel supply will have everything you need. I built my own skid plates from hot rolled steel that was 3/16" thick. Most skids are made from either 3/16" or 1/4". Bumpers can be made from the same, thicker where it matters (winch location) and thinner on the rest. With sliders I use 1-5/8 with a wall thickness no less than .120". You don't need to spend the extra on DOM since HREW will work just fine for your tubing.
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MojaveMadMan
New member
I hate to be a na-sayer, but if you don't know what you are doing, I don't think your 4runner is a good place to learn...
I am all for people learning new skills, and wanting to join the addiction that is metal fabrication, but on a vehicle is one of the worst places to learn.
We put our 4runners through a lot of hell, and if something is welded poorly, or poorly designed it can lead to more damage than you think. Plus there is no money savings from building. The equipment is expensive, the time cost is very high, and the learning curve is expensive (I have learned all of this from experience). If you are not a competent metal fabricator I highly suggest buying quality parts you can use instead of creating a ton of headache for yourself. I have seen countless projects sidelined or not completed because people got in over their head very quickly. People buy cheap tools trying to save a dollar and end up with subpar parts and end up having to do everything over again, or they just give up.
Then there is the safety factor. Poorly built parts can be very dangerous for you, your passengers, or others on the road or trail. Suspension or armor parts can break if built poorly (even pro stuff breaks) and can put you in dangerous situations. Or something as simple as a skid plate can kill someone else on the road if a poor weld breaks and it falls off your rig at highways speeds. I have seen this happen, it's never fun and the couple dollars you think you will save is not worth the risk to yourself or others.
My suggestion, buy quality parts for your rig from reputable builders. Nobody on here will look down on your for buying parts instead of building them. We will all love your rig no matter who builds it, if it is nice, it's nice. I build parts for mine and I say all the time how stupid it is, how I spent too much time and too much money. That I only do it because I have a weird love of doing it and that it's something I truly love to do. If you are really serious about it, my advise would be to learn from the pro's. Take a class at your local community college and get certified in welding so you know how to do safe welds, and know what the right equipment to use is. Or go find a small mom and pop shop that does metal fabrication and ask to be the "shop bi*ch" so you can learn from a professional how to do it. That is how I learned, I put in countless hours learning from people who know what they are doing and now I have the knowledge to do it myself. I spent over 10 years doing it professionally and I still learn new things every day.
Sorry if this is long and not what you are looking for. I just want to give you the tools to be safe and also have fun... Good luck either way.
I am all for people learning new skills, and wanting to join the addiction that is metal fabrication, but on a vehicle is one of the worst places to learn.
We put our 4runners through a lot of hell, and if something is welded poorly, or poorly designed it can lead to more damage than you think. Plus there is no money savings from building. The equipment is expensive, the time cost is very high, and the learning curve is expensive (I have learned all of this from experience). If you are not a competent metal fabricator I highly suggest buying quality parts you can use instead of creating a ton of headache for yourself. I have seen countless projects sidelined or not completed because people got in over their head very quickly. People buy cheap tools trying to save a dollar and end up with subpar parts and end up having to do everything over again, or they just give up.
Then there is the safety factor. Poorly built parts can be very dangerous for you, your passengers, or others on the road or trail. Suspension or armor parts can break if built poorly (even pro stuff breaks) and can put you in dangerous situations. Or something as simple as a skid plate can kill someone else on the road if a poor weld breaks and it falls off your rig at highways speeds. I have seen this happen, it's never fun and the couple dollars you think you will save is not worth the risk to yourself or others.
My suggestion, buy quality parts for your rig from reputable builders. Nobody on here will look down on your for buying parts instead of building them. We will all love your rig no matter who builds it, if it is nice, it's nice. I build parts for mine and I say all the time how stupid it is, how I spent too much time and too much money. That I only do it because I have a weird love of doing it and that it's something I truly love to do. If you are really serious about it, my advise would be to learn from the pro's. Take a class at your local community college and get certified in welding so you know how to do safe welds, and know what the right equipment to use is. Or go find a small mom and pop shop that does metal fabrication and ask to be the "shop bi*ch" so you can learn from a professional how to do it. That is how I learned, I put in countless hours learning from people who know what they are doing and now I have the knowledge to do it myself. I spent over 10 years doing it professionally and I still learn new things every day.
Sorry if this is long and not what you are looking for. I just want to give you the tools to be safe and also have fun... Good luck either way.
5vzT4R
New member
I was stating that as a general minimum guideline for any vehicle, to those of the average person/ truck enthusiast. Not in the case of building something for recovery or hardcore offroad use. Just something the average person would use on a daily basis.
Sorry for not being more informative to the OP.
got alot more responses than expected actually... haha thanks guys, I have really just wondered where the supplies were from for a long time.. if i ever tried to make anything it would be something like a skid plate, not really a bumper or anything like that. I wouldn't know where to even start
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