Skids with Chinstrap

After some wheeling today i realized that the exhaust crossover is much more a touch point than the air dam. To me the little risk to damage is far outweighed by the risk of damage to the exhaust x-over, manifold and associated components. The little frame rub i d However, keeping the spoiler and its 1.5l/100km (1MPG) benefit is important for me. Thats $750 a year to run the spoiler full time. I would probably still remove the air dam for specific trips (or amidst one) and am willing to live with that.

With my mind already made up on this, is there a skid plate that goes far enough to protect the exhaust crossover but still allows installation of the air dam? I would want it to also replace the wimpy splash shield too.

EDIT: this is for a DCLB

 

The mobtown trilogy will create a smooth surface from front to behind that x over and it should be fine with the spoiler. That just clips to the plastic bumper, right? And we’ve had reports of customers gaining an mpg from the smooth underbody so you may be able to install skids and ditch the air dam and not lose any mpg.

 

My 2nd gen but you can reroute your 3rd gen as well. Gives you the option of skids with a nice flat surface if desired.

 

By trilogy, you mean a set of the front, transmission and xfer case?

Foe weight but also corrosion reasons (I'm in the rust belt) I would be inclined to go the aluminum ones. Is their strength proven? Im not purposely rock crawling and bumping but just need some slide (its mostly dirt and not jagged rock here) ?

 

Yeah that's exactly what I mean by trilogy. Weight, I wouldn't be concerned. It's so low and so spread out you won't notice it, but I do understand where you're coming from on corrosion. The aluminum ones are plenty strong if you don't plan on playing in the rocks. They'll do their job and protect what's important (and even take some hard as hits into a rock, seen it first hand). It sounds like aluminum would be fine for you.

And I'm only speaking to mobtown and their design. They way the have it internally supported really strengthens it up.

 

Cool. I assume you refer to their regular "non reinforced" aluminum. I want to think the reinforced version i would think would be more appropriate for bumping over rocks regularly.

Otherwise, that looks like a solid $950 option ($1300 CDN). Might have to put thins in a road trip budget, not sure where I'd find a reasonable deal up here. I figure i can handle the install on a trip.

 

For aluminum I would recommend reinforced regardless, just due to aluminum and it's properties vs steel. They're thinking of only offering reinforced for the aluminum skids just because the non reinforced are inherently weaker, in comparison. They'll still work great at protecting what's important but won't take as hard a hit without bending/cracking.

 

Hows the mobtown stack up against the RCI? From this pic it also looks like they would fit the chin.

 

Did you have that done down here in PHX? If so where at? Thanks!

 

Are you sure you've done the math, or do you literally drive 100K + a year?

 

40,000km/yr*1L/100km = 400L
$1.25/L*400=$500L/100km/yr
$500/1L/100km*1.5L/100km = $750

 

Ah, petrol..
They're cheaper when they run on gas. lol

 

They’re not designed as well. That low hanging part in the front is a weak point, exposed bolt heads, non reinforced, not as much coverage, etc.

 

nvmd, you could be anywhere, but holy hell your fuel prices...


Just dipped to $2.39 / gal here.

 

Yep in Phoenix. I took my skid plates with me so they could ensure adequate clearances.

They did an awesome job tucking everything up.

 

Thanks man!