Rough Country Front Skid Plate

"I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool"
--Dr. Who, just before Amy Pond snatches it from his head and River Song blows it up.

 

heck that piece of shit off there and start bolting some Pep Boys accessories on.

 

So the wife bought me the skid plate kit. For 149.00 I don’t think you can beat it. It weighs around 30 pounds both plates total. It was a little bit of a pain in the butt to install by yourself even with the truck on jack stands. If you had a lift or a buddy with one it wouldn’t be an issue at all to install by yourself. It feels really strong and it’s around 1/8 inch thick so it definitely has a little bit of weight. So regardless of what others say I think it’s very good quality especially for the price. It’s not some kind of thin cheap sheet metal. Will try to post better pictures later.

 

I'm a little OCD so I'd have to grind the welds off smooth and repaint before I could bolt anything on. And where would I get official Toyota frame paint from?

 

Shouldn't be too hard to keyhole a couple of bolt holes like the Toyota plates if you need to pull them off frequently.
Or replace a couple of bolts with studs.

 

it would definitely make it easier to do exactly that keyhole or studs. You do have to take both plates off to change the oil but with that said I like the fact it wraps and covers everything oil pan, differential etc.

 

Did you notice why it would require the crossmember to be removed? That's pretty much a deal-killer for me. If it's something that could be modified on the plate instead that would make it an option.

 

Well, good news and bad news. First a few specs:

• Calipers say thickness with powder coat is .1300" so 1/8" steel sounds right.
• Weight of differential plate is 14.4 pounds.
• Weight of engine plate is 16.6 pounds.

The good:

• Fast free shipping, and a great price for what you get.
• Seems really well made.
• Rear four bolts attach directly to the frame.

The bad:

• Both plates have to be removed for oil changes. The front to access the oil filter and the rear to access the drain plug.
• It's a bit of a pain in the ass to mount and remove the plates, mainly because the front and rear plates share the middle row of bolts. It would be better if the rear plate mounted to the frame, and then the front plate mounted to the rear plate. That would make installation and removal approximately one million times easier.
• The front two bolts attach to flimsy stamped steel brackets that are toast if the plate ever comes in contact with, well, anything. (edit - this is the OEM bracket that holds the front two bolts for the felt cover, not something provided by Rough Country.)
• Mine didn't fit. I could get five of the six bolts in, but the sixth was impossible. It was only off by about 3/8" but that's enough to make it impossible to get the bolt in. And yes I had both plates mounted correctly and had left the other five bolts loose enough to be able to slide both plates around. There was no way to get the sixth bolt mounted.

So now I have to call them Monday and see how they want to handle this. But so far this is a big miss in my book.

Just get a skid plate that works with the crossbar. Trust me on that one.

 

Im not sure what would hit or be in the way my truck is a SR5 so mine didnt have the crossmember to begin with luckily. Just my two cents theres no way i’d personally cut one out if it would've required it but thats just me. For the price i like it and have no complaints other than having to remove them for oil changes which might be a pain without a lift.

 

Thanks for the details and taking one for the team. I may just do that DIY plastic one a member did several months back. Buy the cheap cross member and do the TH plastic skid.

 

I talked to Chris at Rough Country and he was very helpful. Dimensions of my plate matched up with his drawings and no other customers have had fitment issues, so the problem may be unique to my truck. Overall my experience with RC has been great but the plates have to go back. Between the fitment issue and the other compromises I think I'm going to get a crossbar and go that route.

 

Alright, bit the bullet on this since I have a Sport that does not have the front bar. It's $149 so expectations were not too high.

Overall, the quality is decent; it’s thick and should provide some protection. However, mounting it was a huge hassle due to its design. I understand they aimed to keep costs down by bending metal instead of contouring it, but what should have been a 15-minute process turned into a 90-minute ordeal for just six bolts! Since it comes in two overlapping pieces, getting everything lined up was a real challenge without a lift.

I’m looking forward to taking my truck in for its first oil change; I can only imagine how much the Toyota tech will enjoy working with this setup!

If my truck had the additional crossbar, I definitely wouldn’t have purchased this. For those of us with trucks lacking that crossbar, I’d rate this as a budget option—just make sure to set your expectations accordingly.

 

Hey all, I also purchased the RC skid for my Sport and thought I'd throw my .02 in as well. For me, I was wanting something that would hopefully hold up better than the stock felt panel in Ohio winters- but also know that the extent of my off-road driving would at most be on a grassy field or a short fire road. I didn't feel like I needed to go the after market crossbar+skid route for this, so if this sounds like you, I think you will be more than pleased the the Rough Country. I was able to install it myself without a jack or lift... it was extremely helpful to use a 9 inch tall tote I had as an "extra hand" to hold the end of the plate that I wasn't securing to the frame. The front 2 metal brackets that held the felt panel had to be bent down ever so slightly by hand to line up with the front of the plate better (this was pretty easy, it really just helped the bolt threads catch better). In all, the whole job took about 35 minutes. Hope this helps someone.

 

I ordered one yesterday... Should be here this week

 

I wouldnt put one on my truck that makes regular maint. a PIA....
dealer breaker, regardless how cheap...

 

Well, it is 6 bolts to remove. The factory cardboard/felt plate (if I can even call that a "plate") has 4 bolts to remove.

I really don't see it as a PIA. More like a slight inconvenience...

 

Why not get a TRD plate, that does not need to be removed to change oil?

 

You mean this one...?


It still has to be removed, and it also has 6 bolts.

 

That is the one I found on the Fred Anderson Toyota site. It would need the front crossmember though. I like it, but I prefer black - and cheap!

I do not know if this is what is factory installed on the TRD Off Road trucks.

 

No. 2024 TRDOR gets plastic