Homemade skid plates?

Looks good dude! Had fun building it and hanging out.

 

Just met with a local steel shop to discuss details. quoted me $175 to plasma cut the skid plates out for me of 3/16" steel, materials included. though we did discuss that he may need to charge a little more if his guy ends up needing to use a press to cut out some of the bolt holes rather than his plasma cutter. We'll see. Either way I think its a very competitive price and I can't wait to get this project rolling. I was in the Ozarks over christmas break overlanding and bashed the hell out of the wimpy stock skid plate so its definitely time to get that upgraded. Once i get it put together and installed I going to work on an extension skid plate to extend back probably just past where the exhaust dips down near the middle of the truck. if that works out I'll share the file here.

 

[QUOTE=" I was in the Ozarks over christmas break [/QUOTE]

sad face emoji.. I miss them hills

 

PM'd

 

Great thread , this is definitely on my fab list now . Great info everyone man I love TW!

 

@JDUB-Fabrication do I need to cut off the center jacking point at the front of the truck to fit the skid plate with the 2.5” and 0.5” spacers? It looks to me like it will be in the way.

 

Negative, no need to remove the jack point. I am now doing 2 3/4" for the front risers and 3/4" for the back. But you can probably get away with 2.5 and .5 just check the distance to the diff.

 

Decided to try out a .25” aluminum version for my truck. Planning on a little more internal support than the steel.
Got some 1.5” OD .25” wall tubing scrap for the uprights. A bit thicc but will be strong! Stay tuned for how it handles off-road.

 

I got some CAD from JDUB a while back (thanks JDUB!) and decided I would try and make my own version.
First off, I don't plan on banging this thing off of rocks and tree stumps.
It will be more of a lightweight skid that is easy to remove when needing to do maintenance.
I also want the skid to cover most, if not all of the front cross member. Kind of like the OEM Pro skid plate.

Anyways, a lot more measuring and designing to do, but here is the start.

 

I need to get back into this thread. My camper is almost done so I clearly need something else to do

 

Absolutely huge thanks to JDUB!
Just got the file. Turned out awesome, will make some minor changes in the future but this works for now. I have no need for the square cut out up front but went with it anyway. Placed BERG reversed so you can read it like an Ambulance in the rear view mirror.. totally on purpose not cause it’s 200 dollar worth of 3/16 steel.

 

Looks Great!

 

First, thank you for an amazing alteration to the files that were created for the 2nd gen. Your information and iterations are appreciated immensely. In the next week or so I am going to get started on the front skid.

I just wanted to follow-up on the 1/4" aluminum and how it has held up? This is the option I am going to be going with.

Thanks again!

 

1/4 inch aluminum holds up well, but I find aluminum to be gummy over rocks, doesn’t slide like steel. Definitly lighter though.

 

gett'er done!
I'm super close to finish mine.... ( a year later... )

 

I just take the stock ones off and hammer them back into shape. Its getting a little old though.

 

It's been about 18 months I think since I had this design cut out by a local shop and welded it together myself. first off: 10/10 design. its held up to a lot of abuse. I made mine out of 3/16" plate steel and I've taken the truck through a lot of pretty tough, rocky trails in the rockies and Moab, Utah. an additional note, with minor modification (repositioning bolt holes) this skid plate will match up with the Bay Area Metal Fab transmission and transfer case skid plates.

Now, its time for a lift for my truck. So I'm on to a question for those of you running this skid plate and a lift with diff drop spacers. Was any modification necessary to the skid to make it fit? mine it currently completely flat on the bottom but I know there was an iteration of this skid that had a bumpout for the diff. Is that enough to fit a diff drop? Any info is appreciated. trying to time the upgrade between trips.

 

My front skid is completely flat and sits flat against the LCAs. I've got a 1" diff drop, and it doesn't interfere with the skid at all.

Details on the truck are in my build thread (sig) or here: https://adventuretaco.com/2000-tacoma-details/

 

Sooo stoked to find this file! Thanks OP!

 

Built mine this past week. I went with 12g to save weight but can already say I should have gone with 10g.... and.... I got metal in my eye and it sucked for a couple few days. Lol but now I have goggles AND a skid plate! Thanks again for the file! JDub is still active on here and got me squared away quick.