Jetboy
New member
I need to do a trip writeup, but I've been busy since I got back. But I thought I'd share this. One trip through the Rubicon - 3 short days of rock crawling - was enough to destroy a TRD Pro skid plate. What you'll notice is that it bent in the middle, broke both welds on the outer sides, and if you notice the mounting points - one of them showed significant plastic deformation around the mounting point.
I did not feel like I was very hard on it. My setup this year was about 1.5" higher than last year (taller setting on front coilovers and 34" tires vs 33's last year). I did not feel any major impacts that should have done this much damage. I'm a finesse driver. I'm not afraid to break stuff - but I try to do it as gently as possible. You can see that there is pretty limited rock rash on it. I think the plate is just not very strong.
I do recognize that I significantly compromised the sides by cutting away for the KDSS sway bar. Either way it still would have been pretty much ruined give how much it bent in the middle and the mounting points nearly failed.
My general opinion is that the original steel skid plate held up a lot better. For long term abuse over a decade - the steel one is going to do a lot better job of protecting the engine in the long run. Overall the aluminum skid is a downgrade in terms of actual functional protection. But it looks pretty cool!
Also - for those who are using them I would suggest getting some 1/4" thick heavy duty washers to put between the skid and the mounting points to spread the load more. The aluminum is not strong enough at those locations to withstand moderate impacts. The welds on the sides also have limited penetration. I would re-weld them on the inside to get a full penetration. And I might consider additional reinforcements along both the sides and the center pan area. I think the skid could be pretty easily reinforced to fix the weaknesses with some pretty easy to add reinforcements.
The Skid did do it's primary job. Nothing was damaged that it was protecting. For that purpose - it did work. I'm disappointed. I thought it would last better than it did.
My plan now is to make a clone of the TRD Pro skid (I like the way it looks) in 1/4" steel using the PRO skid as a model. I hate the weight - but I gotta have something stronger. I don't have time to swap skids after every trip.
I did not feel like I was very hard on it. My setup this year was about 1.5" higher than last year (taller setting on front coilovers and 34" tires vs 33's last year). I did not feel any major impacts that should have done this much damage. I'm a finesse driver. I'm not afraid to break stuff - but I try to do it as gently as possible. You can see that there is pretty limited rock rash on it. I think the plate is just not very strong.
I do recognize that I significantly compromised the sides by cutting away for the KDSS sway bar. Either way it still would have been pretty much ruined give how much it bent in the middle and the mounting points nearly failed.
My general opinion is that the original steel skid plate held up a lot better. For long term abuse over a decade - the steel one is going to do a lot better job of protecting the engine in the long run. Overall the aluminum skid is a downgrade in terms of actual functional protection. But it looks pretty cool!
Also - for those who are using them I would suggest getting some 1/4" thick heavy duty washers to put between the skid and the mounting points to spread the load more. The aluminum is not strong enough at those locations to withstand moderate impacts. The welds on the sides also have limited penetration. I would re-weld them on the inside to get a full penetration. And I might consider additional reinforcements along both the sides and the center pan area. I think the skid could be pretty easily reinforced to fix the weaknesses with some pretty easy to add reinforcements.
The Skid did do it's primary job. Nothing was damaged that it was protecting. For that purpose - it did work. I'm disappointed. I thought it would last better than it did.
My plan now is to make a clone of the TRD Pro skid (I like the way it looks) in 1/4" steel using the PRO skid as a model. I hate the weight - but I gotta have something stronger. I don't have time to swap skids after every trip.
but I'm not sure it would be as much fun in a real rock crawler. I don't think it would be very challenging.
