3rd Gen ARB Skid Plate Install...

Just wanted to post a little write up and lessons learned from my install of ARB Skids for the 2005+ Tacoma.

I live in Alaska- soooo getting these shipped up here at a reasonable rate took a little shopping around. Actually, about a weeks worth of shopping around. The ARB "distributors" up here are terrible. Mostly just one specifically, but it was like pulling teeth trying to get them to give me a quote to get a set up here. Ended up going with Extreme Terrain. Once I used a small coupon code, shipping only ran me around $55. Pretty damn good considering the box weighed 95+ lbs. Took a solid week to get up here. Once I received the tracking info from UPS- it was evident that they were just being drop shipped to me directly from ARB in Washington. No worries there.

My mechanical ability level is well above average and I own just about every tool you could think of so the install only took me about an hour and a half by myself. Here are some of my notes-

2019 TRD OR DCSB

-Truck prep was easy. Remove the two original skids and crumple them up and throw them away like tin foil. This would also be a good time to clean up any dirt or debris from these locations.

-I read a lot on this forum about how people were concerned with how these were only 3mm thick and may not hold up as well as some of the other fab shop's skids. I don't see how that is justified. These skids are heavy. The are reinforced. They are folded in the right place. They are also double layered in many places. Bottom line- any of my concerns about what others have said are out the window. You would have to drive slowly over a plasma cutter to get these to fail. I just don't see how these would allow any damage underneath to happen. They are that over-engineered.

The front skid plate goes on pretty straight forward. The instructions tell you to "bend" the hook on the drives side that interferes with the plate. Take a dremel and just cut it off. Its a hook-tab thingy that helps hold the stock skid plate in place.

-Impact driver is necessary. It will make things way more easy.

-Pry bar and drift are needed as well. There is a bracket that gets bolted to the transmission cross member. The drift and pry bar are used to re-align the bolt holes as you re-install everything. Do one bolt at a time and you will be fine. Use a floor jack under the cross member to stabilize everything.

-Thin walled sockets are 100% necessary. The skids have laser cuts in the for wrench access where the skids bolt to each other. Standard wall sockets wont fit.

-The 4th skid plate (furthest towards the rear) mounts to the frame via 4 M8 25mm bolts, flat and lock washers, and nut. The instructions state that for "2nd Gen" Tacomas you will need to drill out a second hole on the passenger side to allow mounting of the 4th bolts. I had to do this on my 3rd Gen. There is no hole for it. Fortunately, once you get the other passenger bolt in a tightened, you can use the brace as a guide to drill the last hole.

-Lastly, take a rubber mallet and tap up and down all of the skids once installed. Listen for noises and clanks. This will help you identify what bolts need additional torqueing to make sure that everything is aligned and mounted properly.

Hopefully this helps-

 

Great write up brotha! When you’re ready to complete the ARB build with a Rear Summit Bumper, let me know when you get back down to the lower 48

 

Thanks for the tips, @lanceputnam! I have a set on the way, and I'm sure you'll save me some headaches with the install. As you mentioned, after reading so of the other threads, I was a bit worried about these, but you have also given me some peace of mind. However, this particular post still worries me. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/anyone-here-have-the-arb-skidplates.502547/page-2#post-21404396

Any thoughts on this after your experience with them so far?

Thanks!

 

I use a Mityvac for oil changes, so not an issue for me. Everyone should be using one anyway- its the only way to change and refill oil. I have slammed mine hard a ton of times. Quite a few scrapes- nut nothing of concern yet. Im still a beleiver.

 

Great to hear! Thanks!

 

Thanks for these very helpful posts!

How many fasteners to undo, to change the oil/filter? I have not installed mine yet, was thinking of having a circle cut at a laser shop and installing 4 rivnuts for a cover plate, to provide oil filter access. I have a vacuum extractor for getting the oil out from the top side, like @lanceputnam .