Skids - BudBuilt or RCI (and why the cost difference?)

[High_Country]

Update - Talked to Josh at RCI

Well, after the all the good input I got from this thread, I went ahead and called RCI yesterday (halfway expecting to get an answering machine or automated message). Wouldn't you know, Josh answered and spent 20 minutes on the phone with me talking about his skids.

I asked him questions about the evolution of the product, opinion on strength of the aluminum vs. the steel (based on what I intended to do with the rig), asked him about the grade of aluminum he used (5052) and asked him why his aluminum was so much cheaper than Bud's.
- strength: the 3/16" steel is likely WAY overkill for what I intend on doing (expedition style wheeling, NOT heavy rock crawling). The 1/4" aluminum while a bit softer or more malleable than the steel will still be exponentially stronger than the factory stamped steel and offers way more coverage / protection. No, it's not as strong as the steel, but the benefits of reduced weight, no finishing required, etc beat out the steel for me.
- the 5052 aluminum is a popular fabrication-grade aluminum. It is malleable/ductile enough to allow forming, bending, etc without cracking or breaking but still offers good strength. More rigid or brittle aluminum grades, while perhaps having a higher tensile strength are more prone to cracking during bending and forming (like on a metal break).
- His primary reason for his aluminum being notable cheaper than Bud's is volume. RCI does a lot of aluminum work, buys a lot of stock, and is used to working with aluminum. Bud's chiefly does steel and likely isn't able to cover his costs for ordering, stocking, and working with aluminum without charging more.

I should point out that Josh was never critical of Bud's (or anyone else's) products. He was a really nice guy and never rushed me or made me feel like I was bugging him.

Long story short, I'm going with the RCI aluminum package. I really think for what I intend to do with the rig the aluminum will offer more than enough protection, will keep added weight to a minimum, will not require any sort of finishing, and lastly will look good.

Thanks again for all the input. I'll try and post up some pictures when all said and done.

 

[brentfamily1]

Good Thread

Long story short, I'm going with the RCI aluminum package. I really think for what I intend to do with the rig the aluminum will offer more than enough protection, will keep added weight to a minimum, will not require any sort of finishing, and lastly will look good.

Thanks again for all the input. I'll try and post up some pictures when all said and done.

For someone who recently put dents in his stock skids, this was a very helpful thread for me to compare the various skid options available. Appreciate the research that went into your decision.

Now that a year has past, is there anything you would change?

 

[adkfinn]

For someone who recently put dents in his stock skids, this was a very helpful thread for me to compare the various skid options available. Appreciate the research that went into your decision.

Now that a year has past, is there anything you would change?

Seconded, well put gentlemen, thank you. :bravo:

 

[High_Country]

I'm glad the thread was helpful. I wouldn't change a thing. I've been super happy with the skids, they still look good (no corrosion or anything as expected) and I'm glad I saved the weight. I haven't beat on them much (as expected) but love the confidence of having the protection.
I recently (last week) bought some RCI bump out sliders and just got them installed last night. I'm happy with them as well!

 

[Gclark949]

With the low hanging KDSS front end, the factory skids got pretty bent up immediately. I went with Buds steel for the front and Al for the transfer case and gas skid. I am very pleased with the Bud setup. Actually have managed to dent my steel at the front but only because the low clearance is sometimes hard to avoid.

 

[Lightenup_bro]

I'm glad the thread was helpful. I wouldn't change a thing. I've been super happy with the skids, they still look good (no corrosion or anything as expected) and I'm glad I saved the weight. I haven't beat on them much (as expected) but love the confidence of having the protection.
I recently (last week) bought some RCI bump out sliders and just got them installed last night. I'm happy with them as well!

This is exactly the confidence booster I needed to pull the trigger on the RCI aluminum skids! :cheers:


But also....let us see some pictures!

 

[ADK Explorer]

This guy was nice enough to roll his rig over so we can see his Budbuilt skids.

 

[ADK Explorer]

A decent pic of RCI skids. (Not my rig.)

 

[DeepSea88]

Solid pic

[MENTION=140174]ADK Explorer[/MENTION] what a great pic for us all to see of the RCI skids. I was on their website and could sort of see the full package but this really depicts what's covered.

 

[[APOP]]

BudBuilt Full Set of Skids

I just installed the BudBuilt 3/16" stainless steel skids and thought I'd contribute with some pics.

Front view (showing front skid, mid skid, tranny skid).


Rear view (showing diff skid, fuel tank skid and cross member).


I chose BudBuilt based on user reviews, and even though my expectations for quality were high, this set of hardware left me impressed every step of the way through the installation. Bud's either a genius, either he spent the last 7 years designing and improving this.

 

[Iceman2430]

I went the rci route and love them.

 

[Nickk6]

Does anyone know if you can mix and match budbuilt and rci? RCI transfer case skid doesn't fit my GX, so I am wondering if I buy an RCI full skid kit and a budbuilt transfer case skid plate if I can mount them up.

 

[mazatal]

I live in the wilderness and beat the crap out of my BudBuilt skids, fenders and sliders and all still protect my '13 LTD. Engineered to perform and last. IMHO Bud knows what he is doing.

 

[BudBuilt]

Does anyone know if you can mix and match budbuilt and rci? RCI transfer case skid doesn't fit my GX, so I am wondering if I buy an RCI full skid kit and a budbuilt transfer case skid plate if I can mount them up.

I'm sorry, but our transfer case skid does not work with RCI skids.

Hopefully this better explains how our skid plates are designed, and some theory behind them.

Skid plates can be made very strong rather easily, yet they still need to protect what's underneath them. Unfortunately the Prado 120/150 frame engine cross-members are not the most rigid metal components. So when slamming down a 6,000+ lbs 4Runner on pointy rocks, we need to distribute that load across are much wider surface area. If not, your 3/16" skid plates will usually hold, yet the frame crossmember underneath will push inward at that attachment point.

That's why we don't do one piece front skid plates with the common 6 attachment points that cover the entire engine bay area, but rather a two piece design with 8 attachments points and a boxed load distributing reinforcement on engine crossmember #1.

Imagine all that weight of the 4Runner, coming down on the engine bay area with only 2 sq/in of surface area. That's why we provide 20 sq/in to prevent crossmember deformations.

Now because of the two piece front skid plate, we then looked at the long distance front engine crossmember #2 to the transmission crossmember. Instead of running a single plate, why not run two? So that's why the second engine skid plate travels to about halfway down the transmission pan and ends. The "trans" skid overlaps the engine skid or "mid" as we call it, and the runs to behind the transfer case, and is supported by a .250 DOM crossmember.

That design not only distributes the impact load to every factory crossmember as most skid plates do, but with our overlap design, you end up with not just 3/16" protecting the longest, most unsupported area under the truck, the transmission pan area, but with 3/8" trick metal!

Hopefully that helps, but at the end of the day, if you are out off-roading or overlanding, far away, in remote areas, any increase in protection is better than none to bring you back safely.

There are a lot of good companies out there that will help. We obviously are biased toward our armor, maybe its that engineer in us, or that hardcore wheeler side of us. So please listen to what the forum has good results with, and if you need us, we'll be here for yeah.

 

[skinny420]

pics of BudBuilt skids we installed today. I was very pleased that we were able to keep/incorporate the factory stone guard (or whatever it's called) into the front skid.

 

[jons1133]

Do the skid plates, mentioned in this thread, work with a one inch differential drop?

 

[BudBuilt]

Do the skid plates, mentioned in this thread, work with a one inch differential drop?

I see you have a '99 4Runner in your signature block. Our 3rd Gen 4Runner skids do allow for a 1" diff drop as Toyota engineers placed the 7.5" front diff very high within the frame rails.

For 2003-current/4th & 5th Gen 4Runners/Prado120/150 frames, Toyota engineers significantly lowered the front 8" clamshell diff, so diff drops won't work for those years with our skid plates. For those years, we actually remove as many diff drops as we can because they are not needed, and an antiquated school of thought from the 2002 and earlier IFS Toyota 4x4s.

 

[young]

what is the weight of the stock skids?

 

[darenwelsh]

For the photos of the BudBuilt skids with the bare metal, is that aluminum or stainless? Or did you install steel without painting them first for a reason?

 

[skinny420]

Mine are aluminum and I'd say it's a safe bet that any you see that aren't painted/finished/coated are either aluminum or stainless.

For the photos of the BudBuilt skids with the bare metal, is that aluminum or stainless? Or did you install steel without painting them first for a reason?