Skid Plate Spacers? Nylon? (RCI - Transfer Case Skid, 3rd Gen)

I just installed the RCI Engine, Transmission, and Transfer Case Skid Plates; however, the transfer case skid plate touched the exhaust pipe.

To fix this, I added a nylon spacer.

Here's what I ended up with:








Have you guys used and had any hits with nylon spacers between the skid and frame?

My concern is that the length of the plate isn't supported by, and in contact with, the length of the frame now - reinforced only by the two pieces of plastic.

I couldn't find a thick steel spacer and it didn't seem correct to be stacking a half-dozen steel washers.

Is there a more preferable and durable steel spacing option here or is the nylon spacing sufficient?

 

I don’t see anything wrong with stacking steel washers. Can you drill some additional holes so you have support other than just on the edges?

 

Looks like something is up with your install/skid plate. There shouldn't be a need for spacers between the transmission and transfer case skid plates.

If you look around on here there's a number of folks who have installed them with no spacers an sufficient clearance, I went with the exhaust reroute version so didn't deal with this personally. Also if the instructions didn't mention the spacers, then something is wrong either with the skid plates, install or the truck/exhaust.

 

You're better off putting some metal washers/spacers in there than plastic IMHO.

 

if you switch the plates around does it clear? where the nylon spacer is located, put the plate that you have on top on bottom instead, that will give you a spacer the thickness of the plate, right?

edit: I looked up the install instructions and I think you have them right, can you post photos of all three plates? something has got to be up here.

 

I would loosen everything up and re-tighten from the front of the vehicle to the rear. I just installed the cat protectors on my transmission skidplate and found that I had to loosen the front skid and do a re-tighten from front to back in that sequence. Maybe that helps I don't know.

 

Thanks all for the responses - you guys have confirmed my concerns with the nylon likely being insufficient.

I'm wishing I did a reroute.

The instructions called for two included nylon spacers at the rear of the front (engine) skid plate, which is what gave me the idea, but that also has four ADDITIONAL and direct heavy duty bolt mounting points whereas the ones I added are in a sketchy load-bearing position.

I found a small handful of posts with similar contact issues and resulting vibration/noise in some cases, but I don't know what is off about ours in particular. Maybe just the exhaust pipe just being run/mounted with inconsistent tolerances?

RCI simply suggested "spacing it" when I called them about it and don't directly provide a solution for if the fit contacts the exhaust.

Yeah, the back plate in question is supposed to be mounted closest to the frame so there isn't a lip to catch when driving forward at the overlap points :/

I can add pictures when I get a chance in case this helps someone in the future too. (It's also set up exactly the same as the stock photos on the RCI website.)

Yeah, I am thinking I'll stack steel washers in the meantime. In my head it just didn't seem like they would be very stable/strong if it wasn't a single solid piece, but I guess compared to nylon the metal washers are still a better option.

I'm thinking of heading to a local metal or machining shop and getting a 1/2" thick x 2" wide steel plate that runs the length of the skid plate with drilled/aligned mounting holes. Then the whole plate will be spaced AND in full contact with the frame!

 

So, the nylon is only in compression so I would be willing to bet it would be fine, but if your not comfortable with that you can definitely get unthreaded spacers from Mcmaster, they should have what you need. Something is funky with your setup, either a broken exhaust hanger or the skids are on kind of sideways.

https://www.mcmaster.com/unthreaded-spacers/

 

It's weird. The exhaust is solid and there is only one way to mount the skid plate with no real room for adjustment. The only explanation RCI had was varying Toyota manufacturing geometry/tolerances, because if the plate itself was bent or out of spec it simply wouldn't fit. It seems to be a common Toyota issue when searching Google, usually in the form of a noise/vibration complaint :/

Thank you for that website!!! It was driving me crazy looking for specialty fasteners/spacers.

I'm leaning towards some variation of metal spacing just for the peace of mind now, if not ultimately a 1/2" steel plate the length of the plate for full contact/support.

 

Are you the first owner of the truck? Maybe previous owner had a exhaust hanger break off and they didn’t quite weld it on exactly back in place. There’s a bunch of things it could be.

 

First owner. Currently at 7,408 miles. So far the 4x4 has only been needed and used for snow conditions on paved roads. No damage/repairs.

For whatever reason, it simply doesn't clear the exhaust out of the box. While a little annoying, it's not a big deal and is nothing I would return the skid over since it still functions after a simple spacing fix.

I was just more concerned with the NYLON SPACING aspect in a skid plate application in general

 

I recently hit the crap out of my RCI Trans skid on some culverts. Nothing sharpe, just a wide blow. It is warped pretty bad and was hitting the exhaust on the bottom of the bend. I also added spacers mine are metal thou. One more thing you can do is if you fallow the bend back towards the driver side there is a hanging mount welded to the frame. You can't miss it. I took a sledge hammer and hit the mount up it will bend and put more up-word pressure on the rubber hanger. It helped a little. Unfortunately my skid is so warped its making a a squeaking sound when I drive. I may have to take them off and beat them back into shape.

Here is a photo. This was taken from a small video I shot on the day after the trail ride. This was intended for the trail boys in our group chat so not the best quality. You can see where it's touching the exhaust. You can see in the pic I'm using a big ass screw driver to move the the exhaust. I marked the hanger with an arrow. Hit that straight up. If you want the 1 min video let me I'll figure out how to send it to you.

 

Sorry to revive this thread but does anyone know the spacer size of the OEM skid plate in comparison to the one provided by RCI? I would like to replace the nylon spacers for the OEM aluminum. Picture below as reference.