TRD skid and an aftermarket setup to protect the transfer case?

Honestly I was being a little sarcastic. However, it isn’t so easy to find a mid-skid that works with the OEM pro skid, without removing parts like required for RCI. For my uses the pro skid has held up fine. I would like to add a mid skid without removing the cross braces beside the cats.

 

I’m not seeing the bunches, or the millions of mid skids that work with the pro skid.. The RCi is out for me, Mobtown and Pelfrey are out of business.

I will look into the BAMf option.

 

Look into OK expedition. They have an aluminum transmission skid that bolts right up with the stock trd skid. Costs about 400cad and weighs like 30 pounds. Has been excellent so far. Certainly not as tough as a steel option but for what I do it has been great.

 

Thanks so much. I’ll check it out. Sounds exactly like what I’ve been looking for.

 

RCI is the most popular skid sets available and it seems to me, not a structural engineer, that bolting steel plates linking together the frame strengthens the frame. The two crossing bars you remove installing the RCI trans plate can't be stronger than linking the frame with 3/16" steel plates.

 

I just bought their transmission skid. I’m in BC so a no brainer. Thanks for the tip! Should be at my house in a few days.

 

Nice! It's a great product and they have really good customer service. I bought mine on a Thursday at like 7pm and it showed up the Friday morning. Also sent them emails about the transfer case skid and they have always responded within the hour.

 

I am a structural engineer and I guarantee those two bars are structurally bracing the backside of the OEM skid plates and other frame components. You shouldn’t remove them.

Plate steel being put into weak axis bending doesn’t have shit for load (or deflection) capacity and Toyota recognizes this. Those braces are quite a bit stronger than a single plate spanning the opening under the motor. Seriously, if Toyota didn’t think they were needed, they wouldn’t have spent the money installing them on your truck.

Also, you can install the TRD skid without removing the cross bars. You just have to pull the right bolts and install the skid over the bolts and braces.

 

That’s a sweet setup

 

That’s what I thought too. To me it made no sense to remove them

 

These aren't the two pieces we are referencing. The ones we are referencing are below the cats and were only included on 3rd gen Tacos starting in 2018, I believe.

 

Noone is on the same page here. Look at RCI's skid install instructions. Look at wguest's photo. Two totally different things.

 

I was referring to the bars removed to mount the RCI transmission plate. Your thoughts on those bars?

 

Thank you for setting the record straight. I never bought the cat theft deterent idea. Tubes on an angle are for strength. Like clearly they don’t prevent theft, as they are being stolen everywhere.

 

The 3G taco has a heavier front end, and a better crash rating, especially in small overlap crashes. I believe those tubes were added to keep the front end more parallel in a crash so it doesn’t so easily fold on itself.

 

To me these look like reinforcement to keep the cross member in line. I don’t feel comfortable just removing them Willy-nilly because RCI said so.

The in no way prevent catalytic converter theft.

 

Good pics. That clarifies it for me too

 

Shit, my bad guys, I thought you were talking about the front bars. Glad to hear most folks are opting to keep them on though.

With that said, I think the other pair of bars shown in the pic serve two purposes. 1st being a structural beam or buckling brace for resisting force during a head on crash like you guys pointed out. I don’t buy the anti-theft excuse for a second. Hasn’t stopped the tweakers in my area lol.

The 2nd reason I’m a little less sure about and base it off personal experience. I believe those bars serve to act as a quasi-rail system on the underside of the truck. I’ve slid my 3rd Gen over rocks on the trail and noticed that those bars direct the impacting object outwards away from the exhaust pipe that passes under the cross frame beam as the truck slides forward over the obstacle.

I’ve seen first hand that they’re definitely strong enough to support the weight of the vehicle and the round pipe seems to allow for the impacting object to “slide off” easily. This would also explain why the ends of the pipe are flattened.

 

Thanx that should work just not sure how far back it goes, l was hoping to protect the transfercase actuator was all. l like the fact its Canadian- no duty or exchange rates

 

Thieves are using Milwakee cordless grinders with large battery packs you can put the cat in a cage they will just cut through it so obviously the bars are not theft prevention