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

That sucks dude. Had the same thing happen to me. But all they stole was my dirty gym clothes....strange

Can't go wrong with Bud Built's...Great dude and mine have held up well.

Mine are all up in my body mounts....Plan on cutting them up this weekend along with the rest of the flares...

 

^^^ wow. what were they thinking mounting the rear of it like that. thats alot of horizontal force on those bolts.

 

Got a pic today of the lift I installed last night

Before


After


Wheels and tires going on now

 

I love mine. Only thing id say in reply to Jason, is his truck is driven "spiritedly" at a high rate of speed quite often. speed obviously results in larger impacts. Every time I've come down on my skid, ive been in the rocks moving very slowly. not one problem with mine at all. and ive high centered dead center in the middle.

 

Points taken! I'll do a bit more research. Not buying for a couple of months. Not sure if I'm gonna get the front skid or the whole thing...

 

They are light years better than stock. But I agree 100% the steering rack mount is terrible idea. I beefed up my Bud Built IFS skid and made my own Belly skid. I have beat them pretty hard. They have held up ok. If I didn't beef up the IFS skid it would not have lasted this long. If you do any serious off roading you need to add gussets and strengthen them up for sure. I am not doing any high speed stuff or jumping my truck. Just a lot of rock crawling and slow speed impacts to the skids. But the will bend even with the all the added support I put in my skids.

 

its all driving style.... I bought skids to help me when I make a mistake. more of an oops moment when I hit them, protection. sometimes ill admit, im on a trail or obstacle I have no choice but to pull the penguin maneuver and slide across it.

on the flip side some people buy skids to literally use them. as in, use them as a way to go where ever they want as quickly as they can vs. where their truck "should" be.

all up to the driver

 

Damn i wish i could have done that when i exploded my steering rack mount.

 

Skidrow is also a viable option as well. I do want to beef up the t case skid a bit but so far they are holding up well.

 

Or you can make your own skid mine takes lawn darts, rocks while lawn darting, lawn dart whoops at 40+ etc etc and I actually use my skid plate to lift my truck all the time and so far just cosmetic damage and a little bending, but I also built my truck with the intentions of pounding the skids so I backed the plate with tubing tied in and gusseted all the way around the LCA mounts

 

That is one area I wish I would have added plate. I still can if I get a wild and pull the skid.

 

I agree with Jason on the skids. It was a big reason I built my own (as well as it was a whole lot cheaper to build my own). My mistake was I have the rear of my front skid mounted to the steering rack like the Budbuilt. It's definitely not ideal and I will change it eventually, just haven't done it yet.

If you build your own, closing up that corner at the front like Jason said is important, as well as some bracing on the backside. Rather than use a single piece belly skid like the bud built I used two pieces so it didn't need to span as far of a distance. I used the factory crossmember and added a bracket to the front and backside of it. The transmission skid is attached at the crossmember and then to the back of the front skid. I don't think I've ever even touched the trans skid. The belly skid starts at the rear of the crossmember and then has another beefy crossmember at the rear behind the transfer case. It also has bracing on the backside. I have come down extremely hard on the belly skid in the rocks and other that scratches it's still straight. The shorter distance and the extra bracing is key.

 

Looks tall! what kind of lift?

 

here is how I braced my belly skid. 3/16" plate and 1"X2"X3/16" tube.