Anyone here have the ARB skidplates?

Have you bashed these up yet? I'm interested in them but the post above is worrying.

 

yes but not to that extent

 

Really curious about this part myself. Just bought the whole get-up from ARB, and having to remove the skid every time an oil change is needed sure is making me think twice about using them. Might sell the whole package and go with another company that leaves access to the bottom of the motor.

 

Or you can just make your own oils change port.

 

Yeah, thought about just drilling a hole in it; instead I just installed a Fumoto valve. We will see how it works when the next oil change comes around, who knows.....having a hole there still might be more convenient.

 

Great post w/ great photos, showing that obviously the ARB armor kit can't stand up to serious rock-crawling.

I bought the ARB armor kit early on in my built-out of my rig, without doing much research on it. I have an ARB Deluxe bull bar that I like, so I figured the ARB underbody armor would be just as good.

After having the armor kit sitting in my garage for >2 years I finally got around to installing it the other night.

Thoughts:

- Earlier posters suggesting that this is useless & close to the stock Toyota splash guard pans are misleading. This is way heavier and more robust than stock splash guards. Each piece is about 25 lbs of steel (not aluminum,) and a bit of a struggle to muscle into place if working alone. It provides respectable impact protection, it's just not 'bombproof'.

- At 3mm or ~1/8" thick steel, this is overlanding armor, NOT rock-crawling armor. Overlanding = designed to absorb occasional moderate impacts from unexpected obstacles. I weighed the entire ARB skid-plate set before installation, it came out to about 94 lbs. By comparison, BAMF's 1/4" thick steel skid plate set w/ equivalent coverage is 200 lbs.

- Installation of the ARB armor is a bit of a bitch. Not a nightmare, just .. annoying. It is a challenge to get the many angled M8 bolts threaded in, without cross threading. I managed to do it but it took 2.5 hours or so in a clean, dry, flat garage. I sure wouldn't want to try doing it on a wet, muddy, sloped, uneven trail, or outdoors in the winter.

- Super disappointed that in stock form the ARB armor covers the oil pan bolt. Even with the Fumoto valve I have on my truck, I don't see any way to access it. Looks like I'll have to cut a hole in the ARB skid & then rig up some kind of cover-plate for the hole.

- It would have been nice if ARB designed in a stamped/formed guide for the front center lifting (floor jack) point. It appears the plate is reinforced in a way that allows normal use of a floor jack there, they just didn't "label" it at all. It's a smooth flat expanse of metal that requires some guess work as to where exactly a floor jack should be positioned. (Compared to the round, obvious downward projection of the stock lifting point.)

- I don't like the loss of clearance due to the angled-down section under the transfer case. Not sure if all skid plate setups do this or it's just an ARB thing.

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One thing I noticed, which is not ARB-specific, just a skid-plate thing in general, due to the weight & position of the skids:

- It subtly alters the entire suspension of the vehicle. Not only does it add 100-200 lbs (depending on style of skid plate), it adds MOST of that weight to the front suspension. AND, in doing so, it also lightens the load on the rear axle by a certain amount. This is a bit annoying because Tacos tend to be light at the rear already, so it requires compensating w/ more ballast and/or cargo to get the rear back to its previous loading.

- The added weight down low up front makes a very noticeable improvement in cornering, esp. above 40 mph, by lowering the overall CG (center of gravity.) Subjectively, cornering feels ~15-20% better at speed, with just 100 lbs of armor slung down low up front. Probably it also helps by increasing contact force on the front tires.

 

For what it's worth, my RCI aluminum skids DO have an oil drain plug access hole and I still rather take the skid off for changes. The hole is pretty much for putting a socket extension through and good luck taking that plug off without making a mess.

My preferred way to take off the plug is to finish taking it off by hand and quickly getting out of the way and the skid doesn't really let that happen due to the size of the access hole and the walls up the sides. I thought a Fumoto might make it less of a pain but I'm not sure there's enough room on the sides to get my hand in to manipulate the valve.

As annoying as it is, I think I'd rather take off the whole skid instead of getting a small hole to work with. Now if it were a whole access plate like RCI does for the filter on 3rd gens... I might accept that.

 

Fumoto valve, an absolute must.

Lots of threads on TacomaWorld here about them, here's one of many:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fumoto-fact-s-you-might-not-know.740535/

 

Right, I considered it but I can't fit my gorilla arms anywhere near the drain plug with my RCI skids on.

 

Just putting my two-bits here. First oil change w/ this full set of ARB plates on. IDK why ARB didn't engineer in a removable coverplate for the oil pan bolt/outlet.

Once the front end is up on jack stands, it takes just 2-3 minutes to drop the single plate (2nd one from the front,) IF you have a 3/8" power ratchet, short 2" or 3" extension, and a 13mm socket.

Putting it back on is more of an effort, probably 10 mins or so. I start w/ the two vertical bolts lightly threaded in to hold the plate in place, then do the front 3 & rear 3 bolts.

Next oil change I may take the time to drill out an access hole. With my Fumoto valve I think I could get away with maybe 1.5" to 1.75" diameter for the hole.