I enjoy messing around with my X. And I am currently contemplating making my own skids for my X, because being a college student and all, I don't have the cash to drop for a full set of the skidrow skid plates. Any thoughts on my project? Advice?

Ask ChuckH his are three-quarters complete!

Well, as long as you've got a welder, a good drill (drill press recommended), and a grinder you can do it yourself. Word of warning though, they still end up costing a lot! I made cardboard mockups of mine and then ordered all the metal pieces pre-cut from onlinemetals.com because I don't have a plasma cutter or a metal brake that will bend such beavy steel. If you have access to a hydraulic metal brake and a plasma cutter you will definately have an easier time and it will be less expensive and time consuming. I had a TON of pieces to weld because everything had to be cut and welded to make bends instead of just bending.

Anyway, my prototype set is done except they need to be painted. I'm going to be making another set for a club member which will incorporate changes to make them simpler, stronger, and easier to install (I hope). So, take into consideration that your prototype set won't be perfect either, although I still intend to use mine on my truck since the changes aren't anyuthing critical to performance.

The two key design features of mine are that they have no bolts exposed to impacts at all and two bolts on the front plate release it so it will pivot down to do oil changes. Also, since I don't do much rock crawling, I made the main plate a bit narrower than the Skid Row plate for better ventilation and recuced heat buildup under the truck. I believe the plates to still be similar in strength to the SR skids though and they cover the critical components that I am mostly worried about.

All in all, I think they turned out pretty good for my first set, but they would probably be an embarrassment to sell. I figure I spent about $200 for steel, bolts, welding consumables, etc.






And I know XOC will make some smartass comment about my welding so I'll get this out of the way in advance...

Better than MVM

Thanks for the pictures. It looks like a lot of work. I checked out onlinemetals.com and it gave me the idea of trying to make all aluminum skid plates. I don't know a lot about aluminum and have never really worked with it, but I do know that it is a heck of a lot lighter than steel. Would it be alright to build skids out of aluminum? and would it be a little easier to work with?

To get the same durability the aluminum will have to be thicker and the weight will go up. Being thicker it will be more difficult to bend. Also welding aluminum requires more expensive gear than steel and that will drive up the cost. This is a case where steel is probably the best choice.

ChuckH, what happens when your design bends? Will your reinforcement ribs impact on any of the delicate bits under the body? Overall I say good job. That's good work even if the welds don't look absolutely fuckin' perfect. Speeking from my experience, I would crush them at some point.

I have a SR skid that is bent to the point it's resting on the transmission. Whenever I come to a stop in Drive it rattles pretty badly. I wish there were more reinforcement in the middle of the skids.

The ribbing isn't in areas where anything fragile is in close proximity. However, on an automatic they might be close to the tranny pan. My next version will have soemthing a little different going on but still be reinforced. I'm also going to change the area around the engine pan drain plug because I'm afriad that area may be too sharp and could be driven into the pan. I'm also going to redesign the mounting system to be more simple. It just seems no matter how much thought and design you put in beforehand, the first version has things to work out. It's just too cold out there now to work on them!

Oh yeah; I agree about aluminum plates. You need to be able to do TIG welding, which not only requires special equipment, but is more difficult. Plus the strength issue, although there's no reason the front plate couldn't be aluminum since there's mostly just empty space behind it.

Cool skids.

Nathan
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