Is a full skid plate necessary?

I greatly appreciate all the advice on this thread and all the thoughts shared from folks, I've gotten incredibly valuable insight into things I hadn't thought of before. I agree that this thread has a been great tool to discuss and I'm grateful for everyone's thoughts. More often than not, I'm on the Blue Ridge Parkway at 5-6kft elevations in the spruce-fir hiking and aside from occasional USFS roads, that's about all there is for me. Mostly highway but I'm currently using running boards that are similar enough to sliders that I think may work for the time being. Maybe in a year or so I may consider an armor upgrade.

 

This is piece that I have but haven't put on yet. Should I?

 

Just be sure to not rely on the running boards too much. Sliders weld/bolt into the frame, but other products rely on rocker-panel attachment too much.

Still, good that you have a complete picture.

 

Running boards are not comparable to rock sliders. Because running boards are attached to the body rather than the frame and they hang down low, they are more likely to cause damage than protect you from it.

That said, rock sliders are severe overkill for your use case. I suggest you stick with what you have and stop worrying about it.

 

In the west a lot of those forest roads have turned into forest trails that only buggies can navigate. Thank goodness Camrys and my Celica of 40 years ago can no longer get out into the forest. The Forest Service has had to get modified Jeeps themselves to get a lot of places.

 

Exactly what I was trying to get at, forest road meaning changes a lot. Last year, saw a lot of melt, was deep in the woods, forest road, made it out fine. The other truck (full sized Chevy, probably shouldn’t have been there) I saw got stuck, called the fire dept, pissed them off, and the road got closed. I was like, but, I was gonna camp down there. Used my sliders, and skids that day, possibly could’ve picked a different line and avoided some spots, but why?

 

The piece you have looks like the factory OFF ROAD package. Mine gets use and has held up. I don’t rock crawl, just deep rutted dirt and mud roads that can scrape against the under carriage.

Add the middle piece for the hell of it and should be more than enough.


I also upgraded my bolts for both skids and added a heavy dose of thread sealant!

 

Yep I don't do rock crawling but I do live in Colorado and take some squirrely roads sometimes. I bought sliders after a rock jumped up and bit my panel underneath my door. Hell of a lot cheaper than body work

 

If your forest roads look like this, you need skid plates:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqI19eWOqps/

 

I went out into the Oregon Owyhees late in spring and the one good line in a few spots was so full of mucky mud that I slid into the bad lines and bashed my skids multiple times. I've also had skid plate hits happen due to suspension compression when coming down off a ledge.

I don't go hunting rocks or OHV areas, but I'm happy to take the weight penalty of my aluminum skids. It's cheap insurance that's already payed for itself multiple times over.

About 6 months ago I ran over a brick that was laying in the road at night. I saw it too late to do anything.

My front tire kicked it up into my slider, where it punched a hole in the tubing, and then it dented my leaf spring shackle on its way out. Without my slider, that thing 100% would've put a hole in the floor of my truck.

A lot of people misunderstand what those thin (16 gauge I think?) steel plates are.

They aren't skid plates or bash plates, they're gravel spray protection...and they're fine for that job. It's the same job the plastic cover on the gas tank does, too.

 

Gotcha, thanks for all the info and expertise, always thankful for folk's advice and knowledge!

 

If you feel you must buy now, start with basic package ... TRD Pro aluminum or something from a place like RCI (steel or aluminum) ... covers the front/back of the engine. Transmission of you want to as well. But do not just throw $1500 at it because someone here says you should.

 

I gotcha, I'll take a look at some used sets online like marketplace maybe and see what's available to maybe save some money in the process.

 

The full RCI skid package is less than $700 shipped right now and you'll end up spending $500 just for the aluminum TRD engine skid. Just food for thought.

 

I had this allpro one for a while and it held up to crawling decently. Swapped to steel now but for your usecase 1/4" aluminium would be overkill.

Super light too and easy to install.

 

Yep - at least that is the case I have encountered here in NC. I see Camery's doing car camping off the forest roads at Uhwarrie. So by some of the logic I see here a Camery should have sliders and skid plates if they are going to do car camping in a National Forrest even though they never go off the forest roads to get to them (yes there are camp sites off some of the OHV trails - that's different). Some of these post are ridiculous. For the OP's use profile a stock Tacoma with the aluminum engine skid plate is fine - and I would say that isn't even really needed. Getting a 3/16 steel engine skid plate is a waste of $$$ and only adds unnecessary weight. Sliders ? for riding down forest roads . . . . are you joking?

I have all that stuff and more but not for the forest roads and all that stuff (sliders, skid plates etc.) have never come close to coming into play on forest roads that I ride down in 2WD.

 

If anything a Camry has more reason to have a skid plate than a taco, because it has less ground clearance.

No one needs a skid plate until they are skidding over rocks or they have very little confidence in their driving skills. They do attract the ladies though.

 

Will these skid plates get me a supermodel girlfriend?

 

Doesn't sound like you really need them, but if you decide to go full skids I highly recommend the BAMF Trio.

https://www.bayareametalfab.com/200...4MwvkzI64x8DYRmKZLqjjovWraNydCXG0MQzI0jFBfcMd

 

No… she be mad you be showing them off to all of us.