Vibration after Savage skids combo install question.

Road Bull

Road Bull

Senior Member
Sup guys!

So I got my shiny new Savage skids combo painted and mounted up. I took it for a short test drive and was surprised to notice a new vibration and drone.

It was night time and I was trying to run an errand before heading out of town on a plane. I scrubbed my little mission and parked it. It felt like a pulsing vibration as if some unknown geometry had been effected. There was a pulsing drone as well. I didn't notice this when I was coasting, only when accelerating.

I suspect that the skids are somehow resting against the transmission diff or something. Again, I couldn't see as it was dark and didn't have time to investigate.

I researched it a bit on my vacation. I found no definite answer. My skids came with no mounting instructions, so I don't know if I am missing something obvious. It was a handful to install without jack stands so it is possible that I didn't notice the skids body resting against something that would make it vibrate.

Two possible causes that I researched involved anot OEM transfer skid resting against new skid, or adding washers to some unknown location.

Anyway tips or suggestions for clearing the issue?
 
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i just installed savage transmission and transfer case. No issues. Make sure everything is tight, not crazy tight but tight. And make sure its installed properly. i dont use savage front skid plates, i dont like the design and its to many pieces. My front is only one solid skid



make sure this bolt is tight
 
I will try to take some pics if I ever make it out of this layover in Baltimore. Man! It is snowing here...

Anything is possible, but I thought I had them all lined up. I guess we'll see.

[MENTION=99565]kolelt[/MENTION] Thanks for the pics. I will use these for reference when I get back. I like the Savage design due to the individual pieces. This makes oil changes as easy as it can be with heavy skids.

Maybe somewhere down the line I will have my welding friend cut and oil change service hole to skip removal all together.
 

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Road Bull said:
I will try to take some pics if I ever make it out of this layover in Baltimore. Man! It is snowing here...

Anything is possible, but I thought I had them all lined up. I guess we'll see.

[MENTION=99565]kolelt[/MENTION] Thanks for the pics. I will use these for reference when I get back. I like the Savage design due to the individual pieces. This makes oil changes as easy as it can be with heavy skids.

Maybe somewhere down the line I will have my welding friend cut and oil change service hole to skip removal all together.
Click to expand...

Oh my front skid has a hole for oil drain. So no need to remove it.
 
Road Bull said:
I will try to take some pics if I ever make it out of this layover in Baltimore. Man! It is snowing here...

Anything is possible, but I thought I had them all lined up. I guess we'll see.

[MENTION=99565]kolelt[/MENTION] Thanks for the pics. I will use these for reference when I get back. I like the Savage design due to the individual pieces. This makes oil changes as easy as it can be with heavy skids.

Maybe somewhere down the line I will have my welding friend cut and oil change service hole to skip removal all together.
Click to expand...

https://www.fumotooildrainvalve.com/


i installed one of these during my last oil change and leave a small piece of tube connected to it to drain into my pan. no more mess.
 
Fist full of pictures.

So here are some rather cramped pictures I snapped in the garage. I do not have the benefit of ambient daytime lighting though.

Batch #1 (Most of these are taken from the passenger side.)
 

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Batch #2

Most of these are taken from the driver's side.
 

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Did you by chance remove any of the large, rubber attachments that hang off various components like the transfer case (I think that's where mine is) or the exhaust pipe? Those are vibration dampeners and without them you'll get the shakes or noises.
 
The only thing that I took off besides the original skids was that little plastic splash guard that covers the fuel filter on the driver's side. But that's it.
 
It could be the dampener on the transfer case. Can you get a pick of that? I had to remove mine for schrockworks skids
 
Pic of the trans skid from above.

Taken from rear of vehicles looking forward.

The little harmonic balancer thingy and the little factory plate under the transfer look pretty close. Good chance one of these might be the issue.
 

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Here's a pic from the front of the rear skid looking toward the rear of the vehicle. The factory skids looks like it is touching.

The two fixes that I'm considering are either just removing these items, or just add some washers to the very rear mount of the last skid plate to give it enough clearance. See this is the kind of usable information would be handy if it came with the Savage skids.
 

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Problem solved!

Ok. First, I want to say this aggravation could have been avoided if Savage Off-Road would send installation instructions with their skids that covered these issues. I don't know why, but they don't.

Hard to say what equipment was standard for the 3rd gens so I can only speak from my experience with my 2002 SR5 automatic. I would have had an more favorable install had I just been able to stumble through my research of other Savage skids owners, but if you install these skids as they come after removing your front two skids, you will more than likely run into vibration problems.

I solved my vibration problems by doing two things.

1.) I removed the small transfer case skid by removing the 4 bolts, (12mm).

2.) Added 7 fender washers, 3/8ths 1x1.5, to each of the 2 most rear bolts on the rear Savage skid.

This gave me just enough clearance to clear the bottom of the transfer case, but just so. I took it for a drive, and no more vibration.

The fixes I researched, even far off the standard research path fixed their issues by removing either, or both the small transfer case skid, the Tuned Mass Damper, or some refer to it as the Harmonic balancer, (supposed to cancel drive line vibration), while others add washers between the body and skid to give more clearance.

My fix took a hybrid approach. By eyeballing the degree of contact that was happening between the Savage skids and the small OEM transfer skid, I knew that it was going to be a pain in the ass, and that I would have to add washers AND remove the OEM transfer case skid.

Let me tell you, finding out about this problem after install sucks ass. It's just a lot of extra work to correct the problem that could have been addressed from the get-go. I was looking at having to possibly take off the rear 2 skids in order to address my problem, however I was able to remove the mounting hardware all the way to the rear on the last skid as well as Loosen the hardware that connects the rear skid to the second most rear skid. This gave me enough room, but just enough room to remove the OEM Transfer Case skid. I was then able to add 7 washers between the 2 rear most mounts on the rear Savage skids. I saw that this gave me enough room so that I would not have to completely remove the rear skid and possibly the second most rear skid. I buttoned it all up, took a test drive, and called it good.

Perhaps not everyone will have the same experience, but I feel that these should come with install instructions with tips and likely issues, or Savage Off-Road could simply design the skid to clear all existing hardware, or at very least, include some washers to serve as a band-aid fix to the rear skid geometry conflict.

I think I will put together a write up on what I learned installing these things real soon. Stay tuned.
 

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Savage Off-Road Install instructions on their website.

http://www.savageoffroad.biz/assets/images/SkidPlate2012/Skid Plates Installation.pdf

These are the instructions that are offered on their site.

Somehow I never noticed that their website had instructions. However, if I simply followed the instructions, my results would have been the same. That, and the pictures are of little help. T4R.org, 95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners - YotaTech Forums , and Google images are your friend.

I will still try to put together a usable write up to make it easier for the next person.
 
References.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/133632-natemobs-dd-build.html Nate had an AWESOME 4runner build! Great underneath pics for Skid plate reference. Thanks Nate!!!

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/152414-transfer-case-help-its-hitting-my-skid.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/217962-what-hell-thing-[answered].html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/163243-am-i-missing-skid-plate.html

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-is-hanging-off-my-transfer-case.332600/ ( A Tacoma, but great for illustrating purposes)

I am sure that I am missing a few that I used, but this is a great start for anyone researching and contemplating picking up some Savage Skids.

Thanks goes out to all who have tried to lend a hand in solving my issue. You guys are awesome!
 
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