Inv4drZm
Senior Member
IMO skids are often overdone. I wheel with a guy that doesn't have any on his FJ, and we've done some serious rock crawling. There is probably a percentage of luck involved with that but I would say stock skids or ARB are overkill for 'overlanding'. Aluminum skids are weird because they are more expensive and dent so easily, probably about like stock skid strength. I don't see a use-case for them at all.
Full strength steel skids are great for rock crawlers. If they are well designed they won't deform too much making it easier to take them on/off. But like I mentioned if you were super weight-conscious and stripped out weight everywhere else, I could see running stock or ARB skids even if you did a fair bit of rock crawling, just expect to have to reflatten them every once in a while. You won't notice a weight difference with only swapping out the skids, you have to do other stuff like tubular bumpers if you can't get by with stock, removed roof rack, lighter wheels, synthetic winch line or no winch, etc.
Something else not often mentioned is lift amount and tire size plays a big role in how much you beat up on your skids. My buddy with no skids had 35's.
I made all my skids except the front skid from RCI, it has held up great, really no dents at all. The stock fuel skid is caved in but my tank isn't leaking so I guess it's fine?
I have driveshaft rubbage on the stock fuel tank skid support, but the support is slightly bent outwards from crashing into rocks, and it only started rubbing after installing heim rear links (upper/lower). No sway bars.
Full strength steel skids are great for rock crawlers. If they are well designed they won't deform too much making it easier to take them on/off. But like I mentioned if you were super weight-conscious and stripped out weight everywhere else, I could see running stock or ARB skids even if you did a fair bit of rock crawling, just expect to have to reflatten them every once in a while. You won't notice a weight difference with only swapping out the skids, you have to do other stuff like tubular bumpers if you can't get by with stock, removed roof rack, lighter wheels, synthetic winch line or no winch, etc.
Something else not often mentioned is lift amount and tire size plays a big role in how much you beat up on your skids. My buddy with no skids had 35's.
I made all my skids except the front skid from RCI, it has held up great, really no dents at all. The stock fuel skid is caved in but my tank isn't leaking so I guess it's fine?
I have driveshaft rubbage on the stock fuel tank skid support, but the support is slightly bent outwards from crashing into rocks, and it only started rubbing after installing heim rear links (upper/lower). No sway bars.
