PSA 4TH GEN OWNERS - FROM RCI OFFROAD

4th gen owners want PLASTIC skids?!
What has the Tacoma world come too lol

 

The OE plate bolt to bolt is 16", the Fiber one off a TRD bolt to bolt is 14". Does your crossmember allow the 14"plate to bolt up??

 

Trading up from the felt one.

 

Flat out want one? No. Want one over the dumbass felt one with two channels/ruts/whatever shit that is drooping down? Yes.

 

defiantly need to look into this. The one under there now doesn't look like it is going to hold up well to the weather with the front plow taken off.

 

Hey!

1. I cannot speak for other companies processes. Ours is still made of the same steel we make our plates out of, and we believe it's BS that Toyota didn't include factory skid plates with all models like prior generations of vehicles. Trying to help everyone out

2. Our 24 Taco is an off-road, which we use for most testing. We borrowed a limited 24 and Confirmed Fitment, We have great faith it will fit the sport but don't like to promise anything until we physically have our hands on it! (From our scans, Limited, Sport and SR% are the same!)

 

I can guarantee you our racks are some of the strongest!

 

Thank you for the reply! And 100% agree with the criticism of Toyota and skid plates.

 

@RCI-Offroad - question for you guys - are the holes in the center of the x-member tapped ? If so, what are they tapped to? M10?

 

Anyone have a pic of this composite skid plate on the TRD OR? I'd be interested in this for my Sport. Or a part number?

 

Overall, I think the construction is fine, especially given the value. One interesting note is they decided to use u-nuts rather than tapping the holes on the x-member. I suspect this is to allow for a slight tolerance in lining up the bolts between the skid & crossmember, and given that most force, if any, will be exerted upon the bar itself from the plate in an upward motion (from hitting a rock etc), this design choice is perfectly acceptable.

Install is quite simple. First, prep the x-member by sliding the u-nuts onto it over the holes. Under the truck, remove the the stock front recovery points by removing the 4x M10 bolts on each side (2 per side). The x-member then mounts by sandwiching between the stock recovery points and the bolts being reinstalled.

Then, attach your skid plate with 6 bolts. The RCI crossmember doesn't come with extra bolts, so you'll need 2x M8-1.25 flange bolts. I found that 25mm length was perfect. I realized after that the fact that I'll need some washers as well, thought I had some M8s laying around the garage but will just have to make a quick run to Ace.

Once again, props to @RCI-Offroad for releasing this at a very competitive price point. Happy with it, and now I don't have to think about the "missing" attachment points of my skid.

 

It turns out I was able to add the RCI front cross-member, even with the Rough Country Front Shackel brackets. I made slight modifications to the brackets shown below;

'Just made a small channel w/o affecting the structural integrity of the bracket. I did add 4, half-inch, thick (.156") stainless washers as spacers.

Now ready for the RCI front skid plate, still on order.
BTW, no thanks to Rough Country that ignored my several inquiries about this adaptation. But thanks to RCI Metal Works for making the front cross member (at a fair price) and publicizing it on this forum.

 

Thanks for posting this. My crossmember came in and I am just waiting on the skid plate to ship now. I also wanted the RC front recovery points but heard they didn't fit. Glad you found an easy solution to make them work together.

 

As you can see from my 1st pic, the slot made didn't extend down into the weld of the bracket, thus the addition of the spacer washers. Also, the existing bolts are long enough, no need to replace them.

 

Perfect, thanks for the additional info. I haven't even crawled under yet to install it, figured I would wait for the skid plate to arrive. Now I can go ahead and order the RC recovery points too. Did you get the RC rear recovery points as well?

 

Yes, they were a fairly easy install. They basically wrap around the trailer hitch lateral tube.

 

I got front and back.

 

Looks good! Guess it's time to pull the trigger on these.

 

One more close-up pic of the RCI cross-member fit into the slightly modified Rough Country front shackle bracket. (w/ thick washers in between).

 

What tool did you use to cut out the notch and do you think I can do it while the shackle is attached to the frame? Also, thanks for sharing this info.