Lower Control Arms - Skid Plates

How needed are these or are they just a cool thing to have?

I understand the need for them, but I just wonder...by experience here on this board, how many people have seriously banged up their LCAs while wheeling.

Thanks!

 

I've been wondering the same thing. I've been wheeling for years and never damaged an LCA.

However, I can imagine a bad hit could make the drive home pretty rough if not leave you completely stranded. I'm considering adding them... for <$200 it might be worth piece of mind.

 

My personal take... not needed. Your LCA's are fairly stout and adding an aluminum plate to the bottom is just going to reduce ground clearance and cause you to get hung up on rocks. Aluminum doesn't like to slide across surfaces like steel. It gouges and snags on hard objects.

Additionally, the LCA is right next to the tire, so it would be a weird shaped obstacle that would hit the LCA and not the tire... might just pick a better line.

However, I'm also the person that bought Total Choas Stock Geometry Expedition LCA's, which arguably have very little benefit... but they look cool!

 

Decreases clearance at the LCAs, more likely to hang them up on stuff.

LCAs are beefy as is. The only part really worth protecting are the cams and some IFS skids are wide enough to do that. On 1st gens anyway.

It's not as if the lower arms are like the oil pan, tcase or rear diff, where you're potentially Fed if you smack them.

 

Just a sales gimmick for companys to make money, since I have never seen a "broken" lca. I have never been hung up on my non-skid lcas, ever.

 

Agreed, not needed. I was thinking about those skids early on since they were relatively inexpensive, but honestly, the stock LCA are really strong and can take a hit no problem. I would save the dollars and weight, and just leave the skids off.

 

A LCA gusset makes some sense to me, but a LCA skid plate does not.

 

I believe skid plates would be useful to lowered street trucks as well I’ve caught my sway arm brackets a few times just a thought

 

The only time I've damaged an LCA it was the weld on the frame mount eye that failed and a skid wouldn't have helped.

 

Running the RCI aluminum a arm skids on my truck. left em raw aluminum. They look good and are added protection.

 

Gonna dredge this thread back up.
We do some winter camping that takes us down deep snow covered roads. We cut some ruts on our way in that sometimes freezes back up pretty firmly by the time we drive back out the following days. After last year I noticed one of my cv boots had failed. I have full belly skids which we were dragging the whole time as we were maxed out on clearance with my 3” lift. I’m wondering if pushing dense frozen snow with the control arms and subsequently the cv axles/boot might had led to the failure. All that being said I’m wondering if this is an application where control arm skids might actually be a worthy investment?

 

The ones I had protected the LCAs, not the CV boots, they were still exposed

 

Skid plates are not required for driving on a road.

 

Yeah that’s most of the ones I’ve seen just cover the LCA’s. Anyone know of any that might offer mor cv boot protection?

 

If you plan to ever drive through mud or snow or brush having something that protects the underside will also trap things in and is more likely to cause damage than prevent it.