I agree, I wheeled IFS for years without a skid plate. They are a waste of time and a complete poser product.
A buddy did the same thing in his '86, never ran one, and only had one issue with a stick going into the rad fan, fortunately no damage occurred. They are there for light protection from oem expected harm, not the stuff most of us put our rigs through. The aftermarket ones are built the same way as the oem, and is if you want to use one for in the way most of us would, i.e. ramping the front end up onto, or over an object, you have to build your own.
