What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

All of my other skids run hex heads except the very first batch. Not a single complaint yet. Countersinking 3/16" is not something I will consider. The strength would disappear with the head of the bolt. I would much rather fix a bolt than have to weld my skid plate because a bolt ripped through it.

 

so the pressure of a rock pushing up on the skid plate would cause the head of the bolt to rip thru the skid?

 

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I was just offering a suggestion, no reason at all to come back with a fucking smart ass response.

 

That's not the only force that ever hits a skid plate. X+, X-, Y+, Y-, Z+, and Z-, can all occur on a trail, no? If the plate catches on a rock and torques, ripping through your skid plate would probably irritate you.

If someone wants to countersink it, that's fine. I'm not. I don't trust it and won't sell it. Especially since I will offer this skid in 1/8" also.

Now I'm getting back to wrenching. Peace out.

 

Really now the bolt would shear long before it would rip through the skid plate. Counter sinking bolts isn't necessary and is alot more trouble than just running regular bolts. It's not like you have to take the skid off every time you work on the truck.

On a side not alot of guys will weld a small bar in front of the bolts to take the hit as to not damage it as bad but honestly if you check them after every trip or so and replace it before it gets to bad to take off. I've beat the shit out of my Ryno skids on only replace one bolt so far because the nut on the frame side stripped and it dropped half way out and took a hit.

 

Ah, I see. You would think that someone would want to make the best product they can and listen to their customer base, but I guess that's just too logical.

 

yeah i know, he knows best. wouldnt take a hint on anyones advice for a crossmember for a tcase skid.

Yeah i understand that. i had my stock skid get ripped off from being pulled backwards. But guess what, it ripped the threads out of the weld nut on the truck. i have yet to replace that weld nut. Now if it was the other way around and it ripped a small hole in the skid it would have already been fixed due to the fact that i can work on the skid on a bench in the shop rather then crawl under my truck with a cut off wheel and welder.

but design away. the fabricators and end users never know what we are talking about.

 

Now that seems like a win/win.

 

oh the nut on the frame stripped. humm, exactly what i said would happen and which is one of the main reasons i would countersink

 

The nut was stripped long before I installed his skids. Only had a couple holding in at the time of installation.

 

and the couple threads left were stripped out the rest of the way when the bolt head hit something.

 

Well no shit. The nut was stripped some how by the previous owner. The only reason it held was there was just enough bite on the nut. It probably came loose from the skid taking hits and vibration transfer.

These are a better option than counter sinking bolt holes. The one picture is small but it's a washer that work well. I my buddy uses a similar design on his JK skids. The other is another home brew option.

 

How's is it loosing ground clearance when it the same height as the bolt? I think the mall must be hard on yall's skid plates bolt because the only time I've ever seen any issues with removing skid plate bolts is on trail rigs that have been beat on hard for a couple of seasons.

 

BTW how is your RAT tcase skid holding up?

 

got my d6xl aal in finally.... holy rake batman.....

 

EDIT: X2 haha

 

didnt take one of it just sitting, but heres flexing.... i measured before and after sitting flat. before ground to fender flare was 40 3/4. now its 43!
i honestly dont like it, way too much rake for me. hopefully it settles. but im going tool box shopping monday so weight will help as well.

more info in my build

 

i swear if i have to change one more thing in the rear end ill flip out.... everything i touch causes 14 other things to need changes. once i get my new shocks its done for a looooooooong time