Skid plate delete

I can do it in under a minute. No jack or jack stands. No ramps. Simply my drill and creeper.

 

Look into the magic creeper. No space lost.

OP keep the skids. I hear stuff hit them all the time while driving down the road. Who knows what the rock might of hot other wise. Also there is no need to remove the skids for oil change, just reach in through the wheel well. Takes me a total of 20 mins for an oil change.

 

Ive got my front skid but not the one that goes behind it, that thing is so rusty and thin, doesnt even look like it'd help if i hit anything, the front one is a bit thicker and looks pretty decent too from the front, I think.

 

removed mine last year and I get the exact same mpg without it that I got with it so that urban myth is BS, as for my advice, no you don't need it at all but it does allow a very small amount of the radiator (about 1 1/2") to be exposed should you get into the "rare" situation of running over road debris.

were I to be in a position to do it again, I would remove the rear plate for sure, but im pretty sure I would keep the front plate only for the added road debris protection and then just cut out the area where the filter access is needed. just to be clear, im talking about the very rare one in a thousand chance of a big rock or something that falls out of a truck or trailer that I am following happens to hit that small 1 1/2" of exposed bottom of the radiator. I don't remember correctly but I think you can cut the front plate just behind the two recessed mounting bolts and that allows full access to replace oil filters.

 

Anyone looking to delete their minimally rusty factory skids? Let me know!

 

While not the beefiest things out there, I've wheeled a lifetime in this truck and they've protected plenty of times. The only one that is utterly useless IMO is the transfer case "skid plate"

 

IMO the smartest reason for retaining the forward tin foil skid(s)
is to protect yer undercarriage components on yer way to the mall

seriously the factory tinfoil skid can deflect a tumbling chunk of 2X4
as ya ghetto cruise yer junk down the highway.
Worth keeping on / secured to the truck IMO

Ever see a tumbling hunk of 2X4 or a rock take out an oil pan !?

They're not really skid plates... just deflector plates.
Smash them up good and they'll conform more tightly !?

 

About the wimpy little oem skids not "doing" anything:

I was the 2nd owner of my 2004 double cab. Bought it in late 05. The only thing "wrong" with it was a triangle shaped puncture in the rear skid plate. My guess is the orig own took it off road once, hit a rock, scared himself and sold it, because the rest of the truck was near showroom new. I win.

Was there a whole it the skid plate? Yes. Was there a hole in the oil pan? No. So, yeah, it works!!

 

My guess is that the puncture occurred when traveling on the hwy. at speed
and a rock, brick or other debris was tumbling in the road as they drove over it.

The PO likely never even drove it off road if the rig was really clean.
And likely didn't know or care that the skid plate had a hole in it.

If it were mine...
I'd probably remove the skid... beat the hole's edges flat (closed)
and weld it for round II.
That'll keep things things from entering thru that hole again.

or get a real skid plate and shitcan that tinfoil plate altogether ~ 3/16" min. thickness ~

But the bottom line...
yours proves why retaining the original deflector skids have merit.

 

That's actually my plan. I've beaten it flat, I have a welder, I just haven't connected the two yet...

I'm pretty sure it was from offroading, though. The rest of the skid plate was a little beat up too. i think they were maying just doing some desert driving and slammed a rock. I don't think a rock kicked up on the highway could have made that hole, but who knows, I wasn't there...

 

Mine is off because all the bolts snapped the first and only time I had to remove it to do suspension/steering rack work right after I bought the truck three years ago. It would probably still be on if that were not the case as the truck has been known to leave the pavement on occasion.

Removal/replacement may be easy for those of you in relatively "rust free" locations.

 

I do not intentionally put my privately owned truck in tough spots, but do rarely find myself there by necessity. I would rather have it than not. Safety is a combat multiplier and a skid plate saves stuff from unnecessary destruction.

PO- it is yours to decide. I suspect the next time you take it off, it will not go back on. So be it. As for me and my truck, we shall let it stay.