skid plate removal

I give up. All bolts out. Front skid plate won't budge. I reached the filter from above and changed it more easily than I figured. But now I can't remember how to get the rear skid plate back on. It came off very easily. Too easily, because it happened so fast I don't remember how it fit. Anyone out there with a photo, or clear instructions?

 

I have a first generation full of rust. The front skid plate is causing me grief. I had to pb blast and heat the front two bolts at the fender (the third has been snapped by who ever I paid to work on it last). The two back ones requiring an extension are not budging and it’s impossible to pb blast or heat them up. I think I will have to go to an exhaust shop near me and have them remove them. The bolts go into the frame I believe.

my question is has anyone removed the back two with heat ? I don’t want to put my torch up there an cause damage to electrical or anything else.

 

Your good to heat them up. Probably not worthwhile while though. Just snap them off as that's what's going to happen anyways. Then either just get rid of the skid plate if you dont need it or go to home depot and milwaukee sells drill bits with a tap towards the bottom. They work really good to drill out the broken bolts.

 

Thank you learnt about a new tool I looked up drill tap. They look awesome. Thank you for the tip.

 

I'm confused about the need for an extension, too. Looks like this is a resurrected thread.

I finally took my skid plates off after too many bolts either stripped or snapped. Tried a tap set and just broke the tap. For now I'm running without the skid.

But I never needed an extension for any bolts. Which ones are they? There must be some difference in years. My truck is a 98. I notice newer 1st gens have a different shape front skid. Must be one of the changes that happened with the slight change in grill?

I wish I had thought of the plastic bag over the oil filter trick years ago. Would have saved me from stripping/snapping the bolts.

 

There are two skid plates one towards the rear that has 4 bolts and one at the front that has 5 bolts. The front one has three on the front and two in the rear about 3 inches up bolted into the frame.

 

If you haven't taken it out yet . . . . the skid is in two pieces, front and back. Take it out as one piece, don't disconnect the two pieces. They're a beotch to get back together under the truck.

Get it jacked up and on stands, put some blocks under about the middle of the assembly which is around the back of the front plate. This will make it easier to drop the whole thing once it's loose without bending the fastening points.

Get the front ones under the radiator out, then there are two deep holes you'll need an extension for, take those out. (See comment below about the brackets.) The front of the assembly should now drop down on the blocks.

At this point you can see where it's still held up in the back, should be two more bolts at the corners. Take those out and it will drop it on the blocks. It's helpful to use the blocks when putting it back in.

You'll probably see the inside is way worse off than the outside because water gets in there, settles, and accelerates rust. The "right way" would be to completely de-rust it chemically but wasn't worth the time to me. Take it outside, hit it with a wire wheel, get to as much metal as you can, wipe it down with acetone to get most of the dust out, primer then paint.

Here's mine before I painted it both sides, you can zoom in and see all the holes. Note the three brackets on the middle of the front piece, the two outside ones are the ones you need an extension for to get the bolts out.

If you DO take the two pieces apart, loosely put them together by the two bolts before putting it back in, it's a beotch to get it lined up right under the truck. I've had this thing on and off so many times I found this is the easiest way.

 

Thank you for the instructions. I have taken the back off. My question was just can I put heat on the bolts that require the extension as they are seized in place.

 

See my previous post and pics. Across the middle of the front plate you will see three brackets. The middle one is just a spacer, but the outside ones get two bolts through them. I can't imagine how you'd get those out without an extension. :-D

You're better off squirting PB blaster in there any way you can and letting it sit overnight. I don't know how you'd apply heat up in there.

 

I played the female card went to the muffler shop and he got it out in a jiffy with impact socket.

 

And people have the nerve to tell me life is fair. LOL

 

I believe you. I guess what I've convinced myself of is that once they changed the headlight/grill/interior on later model first gens, that's when the skid plate changed, and started requiring an extension. I've been taking my skid plate off every 3,000 miles for 130,000 miles and never needed an extension.

 

Can you post up a pic of your front skid?

FWIW, I've owned a '98 and an '02 and the oem skids were identical. The front skid has two attach points to the engine crossmember a few inches ahead of the steering rack. Because of the design, those two bolts are recessed into the skid plate a bit and cannot be reached with a normal socket and need a short extension to be accessed.

 

To use Bill's image, the two points circled in red are the attach points in question. @rocknbil

 

Now you got me curious, I looked around for '98's and looks like all of them are the same, with those bracket bolts (and the 4 runner ones should fit too.) Are you sure someone just left the bolts off of the brackets?

Honestly I've considered leaving them out, the front and rear ones would suffice, but that would cause the two-piece unit to sag and I would expect rattles and squeaks.

 

Had my 95.5 for a year and a half. I have 2 bolts holding the front piece and 2 bolts holding the back. I've been taking out those 4 bolts to remove the whole skid plate as one unit to poke around, change out the steering rack, whenever I change the oil, etc. Way easier to take the whole thing off as a single unit rather than futz around with the clip. It looks like there were originally 3 bolts up front (middle bolt is missing). Didn't even occur to me that those deep brackets were also supposed to have bolts. That makes 7 bolts total? One day I'll buy new bolts, but I don't have any rattling. One time crossing a creek I hit a big rock and then finally noticed a few days later that it was rattling whenever I came to a stop. I just bent the clip on the rear member so it would grip the front piece better and the rattle went away.

 

Right? It's a pain in the A to do under the truck LOL . . . I do believe they're 14mm M8's (but could be wrong.) Those two bolts on the brackets seem like they give a good hold from the center of the plate if any of the others should fail.

Welcome to TW!

 

Thanks! Been searching and lurking these forums for a dog's age. Finally something I can comment on, this skid plate I've already taken off a million times.

Also think I was wrong and it's 9 bolts total. Could be 12mm, could be 14mm. I forget every time.
From front to back:
3 in the very front
2 in the deep brackets
2 to connect the front and back, with that PITA clip in between
2 in the very back

IDK about a skid plate design change but mine is identical to the pics you posted, IIRC.

 

Right, wasn't going to say anything because I figured most people don't count the two holding them together.

But it's 8 if you've snapped off one of the front ones then broke a hardened titanium easy out in it trying to get it out LOL . . .

 

Interesting...could be that someone before me threw those other two bolts away and I just never knew. You're saying these should have bolts in them? Mine never did since I've owned it. Since there are three of them but one doesn't have a bolt hole (what's up with that?), I think I just figured they were spacers/stabilizers or something. They never had bolts so I never gave them a second thought. I stand corrected!