1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

I have their transfer case skid, it's served me well...I alternate between it and my Budbilt belly pan but usually only put the Budbilt on if I'm doing a real gnarly trail. The Skidrow t-case skid works great in most cases.

 

My Budbilt IFS skid has a small drain hole for doing oil changes but it makes a huge fucking mess if I try and do it that way...sort of a pain to take on and off but I'm less frustrated in the end if I do lol

 

The way my stock skids are bent now makes them do the same. Last oil change the last half quart ended up on the floor cause the skids moved it from the bucket.

 

That's what I do with the oem

 

Currently, my son is in the "RL" program, 4th grade. It's like Gate. Basically nerds. Well, most of the parents are nerds and they want their kids to be nerds too. I'm 100% nerd (I have multiple telescopes and like Excel spreadsheets, lol), but wife and I mostly wanted a path to get my kid out of his crappy school where he was assaulted in the bathroom by an emotionally disturbed kid (long story, but I found out from his mom that his younger brother died in front of him when they lived in NY).

I'm sure I've been subconsciously implanting the idea of going to college in his head - it's hard not to when his mom and I both went and it's worked well for us. Since he's still in the "I want to be an Astronaut" phase, it's hard to know what path will be best for him.

 

Also lets you check on other things if you drop the skid. And the oil filter on the 2.7 causes a hellacious mess and its easier to wipe up with the skid gone.

 

yeah same here. I really like the skid but in the end, it's an non-reinforced 3/16 steel skid so it does bend when hit hard enough, which happens time to time. I need to hammer it back out in one or two spots.

 

OMG I wish they'd stop pretending those tiny holes do anything but make a mess. Even the relatively large hole in the OEM skids just send oil everywhere when you got your fat hand up in there removing the drain plug.

 

Reminds me of some on here said a jiffy lube tech dropped his skid and it was 1/4" and instead of holding it up it feel and gonged off his head.

 

Yep, it's not just removing the drain plug that makes the mess, it's the filter. my 3.4 ends up dripping a decent amount of oil all over the cross member, which, if the skid isn't there is easy to clean up...

 

Out of 5... so, basically a C, lol...

 

Theres a reason why the passenger side of my diff had no rust on it when I got it. Oil gets dumped on it every 5k. Drivers side was nice and crusty.

 

I wanted to do a short remote filter for that reason. Just enough to locate it so I get no mess.

 

at least the OEM one doesn't weigh 60 pounds lol. I have to use my floor jack to take the skid on/off.

The 5VZE has an easy to access oil filter, I never have trouble getting it through the wheel well by hand...no need for a filter wrench. Does sometimes get messy but I usually stuff a bunch of rags in there to catch it.

 

Yeah, I avoided the AP History and English. Some of my friends were in those and it was ridiculous. I remember them writing papers on the meaning of the "cream colored car" in Great Gatsby, or the green light at the end of his doc. Cream is rich, he's rich, and the light is green, money is green, and he's got lots of money, so... write 10 pages on that shit.

 

Yeah, that's always been something in the back of my mind, but like @Blue92 said, it's a good time to be able to inspect the underside of the truck, too, so I'll probably just always take the skids off.

 

Not sure I'd categorize it as "easy" access, but it is relatively easy compared to some. I remember my old Honda Accord, that thing was a bitch.

 

It’s pretty easy to change filters on a 5vzfe

 

I like the one on my sisters Rav4 2AZ-FE the best, 2 inches next to the drain plug, mounted straight up and down. Dont even have to move the drain pan. Can easily get it right after I pull the plug with one of those 3 jaw oil filter socket things. Its in a tight spot so you cant get a strap wrench on it but its still the easiest filter to change in my book.

 

The 5vzfe one you can do by hand right after you take the drain bolt out
Atleast on a 2wd