Homemade skid plates?

Yea i'm near glasboro. I'll be in that thread eventually for sure! Thanks for the input.

 

Made a trans and tcase skid.

 

I work with stainless a lot as well as aluminum and all types of steel(a36, 572) blah blah. Anyway, I didn't see any mention of the significant difference in weight from a36 to stainless. I don't want to sound like a hater but I think your over thinking this. If you don't plan on getting crazy off road 1/4" aluminum is more than adequate for the occasional big ass rock in the road. Just guessing here but I think it would be close 50% lighter than stainless as well. If your just going with a front skid than do whatever floats your boat. If you are going all the way to the transfer case that's a lot of unnecessary weight.

 

I forgot about this thread. I recently picked up a 5'x10' mechanized plasma table and am building a 50" SwagOffroad finger brake. These will be easy to build once my house is finished.

 

I mostly agree, no arguing the weight. The strength of the stainless is great though and I'm planning on having this truck for a long time. Plus i'd have to weld and for some reason i struggle with aluminum as ameteur welder, and i can flow stainless and A36 really well. I'm probably just going to end up ordering skids though, i was really excited to work on my brand new truck when i first got it. Now i'm more excited to bolt things on and use it. Typical. Thanks for the feedback.

 

Tell the wife function over form!


Does the ifs skid use OEM mounts? Maybe cut the end of the ifs skid off that mounts to the OEM holes (if it does)

 

You could just put a spacer there and not worry about bending. Not sure how that may look though.

 

@Trident904
The Lil hamster that I call my brain is spinning on the hamster wheel non stop about the discussion we had last night.

 

I have a couple questions if you don't mind @Dirty Pool

The bolt pockets:

Did you drill out a hole and then weld a small piece of plate to make a recessed mount?

The bends on the edges:

It looks like you had three main beds from a fabricator, but the bends on the edges aren't in your picture until later. Did you have the three bends done, then cut out the sides and bend them at home?

Front and rear mounts:

I think I saw you post more about this somewhere. I'm guessing I could use some 3/16 angle to replace the front mount and fab new rear mounts. Is that what you used?

 

Rear pockets.
First I drilled the one inch pocket holes in the skid and backed them up with 3/16 scabs. The cross member here is more or less an upside down U and the new mount plates to be welded in were sized to allow one corner to be accessed and tacked in place (one tack, nearly blind) with the skid in final position and the new plates sitting semi loose on top. Also at this time the hole locations were traced/transferred from the skid to the plates. At this point the skid, supported in place with a jack, was removed and the plates "twisted" out (breaking the tack weld). The plates were then drilled for bolt clearance holes and flange nuts welded on top. Finally, using the broken tack weld as a guide along with some other reference marks, the plates were welded in for good.

A front support could be all kinds of stock. 1"x2" .120" rectangular tube mimicking the factory shape works well and looks original. One could even reinforce the factory hanger. Now would be the time to make decisions in harmony with intended bumper design.
On the other hand many folks get by with the OE front mount.

The "tabs" on the sides were added after the 3 main bends. Fully butt welded, ground and finished on the outside. My drop was not wide enough so weld on scraps was the only option.

This is the final template. Note where it says "add tabs" and the middle main bend 1/2" ahead of the control arm cut outs. This adds a bit of strength to the area and creates less of a "rock hook".
The finished skid built exactly to the template bolted right in the first time with no "fitting" or cussing required.

1st gen, man trans radiator only.


Pardon the rust.

 

Finally got some time to start on this project.

Once again, thank you @Dirty Pool. I had made a template of my own in the spring, just to fool around w cardboard and fabbing. Mine wasn’t far off from the measurements you offered, so I went with yours. Total credit to you, sir.

Everyone says to use 3/16 or 1/4 inch plate, but I’m broke at the moment and have 10 gauge laying around. I’m using that. I guess we’ll see how it holds up. I’ll add some angle to brace and maybe beef it up a bit.

I’m not so precise, but Ill always get a project done. I cut everything to size, and bent it into (relative) shape.

 

What is the whiskey bend method?

 

you cut a line on the metal, most of the way through, then you can bend it by hand. BoxRocket has a pic up somewhere in this thread showing some plate, a cut, and a wrench used to press and get extra leverage.

I used the whiskey bend method to make up this skid today.

 

Wouldn't this compromise the skid for strength at these points?

 

Subed

 

Added to my list of todo's

Edit: todo/make

 

Haha my bad. You gotta weld the cut after you bend it. You’re essentially scoring the metal so you can make a nice bend by hand. Then fill the cut with some weld material.

 

The OP did not have a welder in his tool items list. Wonder how much it is to have someone do this

 

Glad it's working out for you.