Topic: Skid Plate

[90 Runner]

So i'm installing and 3inch lift in my IFS 4runner and i am trying to find out a good place to get a new skid. Is there any other Toyota skid that will fit or do i need to start looking for a shop to custom build me one.

[hman913]

Budbuilt is the first place that comes to my mind.

[junya92toy]

You can make yours work if you can weld. Dont let a aluminum one, it will just bend and get ripped off. I made one with diamond plate, it was all one piece that went to the transfer case too. that didnt require any welding, I just found a piece with the right width and had it bend then drilled holes.

[zippo]

http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new/ sells a nice one.

[Snowtoy]

Buy or build, I built my own out of aluminum diamond plate w/steel frames.

3" Suspension lift:                                         Stock Suspension:
                         

[90 Runner [OP]]

I was thinking of Diamond plate but i was concerned about weight

[junya92toy]

Well if its aluminum its 1/3 of steel. But steel will be a tank and you dont ever break anything when you bash into it

[emsvitil]

What about a plastic plate made of the stuff they make cutting boards out of?

 

[junya92toy]

Can you say thick and BREAK

[emsvitil]

Not the brittle ones, but the plastic that gives............

[junya92toy]

Yes I know what type. A 4000 pound truck slamming into a rock at how fast? its gonna break.

[emsvitil]

1/2 mile per hour isn't much of an impact.............   

(duals with 2.28 & 4.7 in 1st)

[junya92toy]

Ever consider how fast it drops onto something?

[THK Matt]

the UMHV is fairly strong at .75in or 1in thick aint it?

[junya92toy]

If you drop 4000 pounds one foot, its 60,000 foot pounds of energy providing it bounces back up.

[emsvitil]

I'm wondering if you could make a composite sandwich (to save weight and cost)..

inside and outside sheet aluminum, center piece of the plastic.............


Might actually be stronger than equivalent weight of solid metal.... (or lighter for equivalent strength)

[Snowtoy]

Simple physics for horizontal force is F=M*A, and falling force is F=M8G. 

If my math is correct a rig traveliong .5 mph would have an impact force of 2.933lbs, i.e. F=4000*0.73333333(.5mph in ft/second).  However seeing how most trail impacts often from lurching, which could easily be 5mph, a plastic skid plate would have to stand up to at least 29,333lbs of force, or F=4000*5mph(7.3333333 ft/second).

Dropping onto a rock would be F=4000*9.8m/s/s(32ft/s/s).  A 4000lb rig dropping for a 1/10 of a second would have 12,800 lbs of force, i.e. F=4000*3.2(32ft/s/s*.1).

[Snowtoy]

I'm wondering if you could make a composite sandwich (to save weight and cost)..

inside and outside sheet aluminum, center piece of the plastic.............


Might actually be stronger than equivalent weight of solid metal.... (or lighter for equivalent strength)

Carbon fiber and kevlar might make something that could withstand the impacts, but it likely would stand up to repetative impacts.  Anything from plastic alone would have to be dipped in Line-X to keep it from shattering, and then again it might not hold up that long.  When my buddy had his Line-x store he sprayed a cinder block w/line-x and could drop if from the top of his shop(about 25ft) and it would just bounce.  But after about 30 drops it started to show wear and tear.

Aluminum diamond plate and a steel frame is about as light as you can go and still have enough strength on the trail for the skid plate to work as impact protection.  I have even used the skid plate in my '91 to slide the truck up onto rocks, and it is holding up fine. 

[junya92toy]

Simple physics for horizontal force is F=M*A, and falling force is F=M8G.  

If my math is correct a rig traveliong .5 mph would have an impact force of 2.933lbs, i.e. F=4000*0.73333333(.5mph in ft/second).  However seeing how most trail impacts often from lurching, which could easily be 5mph, a plastic skid plate would have to stand up to at least 29,333lbs of force, or F=4000*5mph(7.3333333 ft/second).

Dropping onto a rock would be F=4000*9.8m/s/s(32ft/s/s).  A 4000lb rig dropping for a 1/10 of a second would have 12,800 lbs of force, i.e. F=4000*3.2(32ft/s/s*.1).

My number was for the energy that it would see . Also your math is alittle off. The time part is not the speed of the object but how long it is under the force. Its hard to explain. Think of it as catching a egg if you just hold your hand there and try there is no time. But if you move your hands as you catch to lessen the force you add time. That lessens the force on the egg and allows it not to break.

\ I did say if it bounces  back up.  a ball hitting a wall will carry less force then a ball hitting a ball and rebounding back more. There are 2 different kinds of force.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/flobi.html#c1%22

[jtaco1]

On my 88, I do not run a front skid plate and have not had a problem yet in 4 years of wheeling hard.  I feel that a front skid actually hangs you up more than it helps.  The front diff is pretty well protected by the suspension components.  For my dual cases I have a BudBuilt crossmember with skid plate and it has taken a beating and laughed everytime.  My stock fuel tank skid lasted all of two runs before it was beat to hell and the tank started to collapse.  I purchased a Skid Row Xterra gas tank skid and modified it to work, which works out perfectly.  This is the skid that I tend to hit the most since the gas tank hangs down about 4" below the frame rails.  I do drag my belly often since I have no lift and 37's, but the skids that I have work well.

[H8PVMNT]

I agree, I wheeled IFS for years without a skid plate.  They are a waste of time and a complete poser product.  After I first bought my truck new I had one of those pretty aluminum northwest off road ones from the old days and it just helped me get hung up on things and eventually got destroyed beyond recognition.  I did end up making a new cross member out of .25 wall 2x2 square tube for under the diff because I tore off the tabs that bolt to the IFS diff cover from the torque of 5.29s and lockers.

If it's not there it can't hit stuff!

[jimbo74]

skid plate? the frame is good enough

anything that hangs below was meant to be drug on stuff anyways

[Snowtoy]

My number was for the energy that it would see . Also your math is alittle off. The time part is not the speed of the object but how long it is under the force. Its hard to explain. Think of it as catching a egg if you just hold your hand there and try there is no time. But if you move your hands as you catch to lessen the force you add time. That lessens the force on the egg and allows it not to break.

\ I did say if it bounces  back up.  a ball hitting a wall will carry less force then a ball hitting a ball and rebounding back more. There are 2 different kinds of force.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/flobi.html#c1%22

I wasn't attempting to correct you, my last physics class was over 23yrs ago, that is why I said simple physics.   Had I been quicker w/my post it would have been posted before yours.  I know you have to factor in either acceleration of the object being hit, or the object moving objects decelleration if it hits has more mass or is planted in a way that it wont move when being struck, but this makes a more complex equation for most of us(myself included) to understand.  I like you was just trying to show that even at slow speeds, a 4000lbs rig is going to exert quie a lot of force on whatever it hits.

[Snowtoy]

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.

[junya92toy]

I wasn't attempting to correct you, my last physics class was over 23yrs ago, that is why I said simple physics.   Had I been quicker w/my post it would have been posted before yours.  I know you have to factor in either acceleration of the object being hit, or the object moving objects decelleration if it hits has more mass or is planted in a way that it wont move when being struck, but this makes a more complex equation for most of us(myself included) to understand.  I like you was just trying to show that even at slow speeds, a 4000lbs rig is going to exert quie a lot of force on whatever it hits.

No worries, I was trying to do the same thing. People under estimate load, force, and impact stuff a lot it seems.

And I noticed with a ifs lift they add a second front crossmember that I always got hung up on personally, so thats why I built a skid plate for that portion too.

[emsvitil]

Maybe there should be two terms:


Skid Plate for sliding over stuff

and

Bash Plate for bashing into stuff


 

[junya92toy]

Well you want to be as easy as possible and just slide over stuff, but if its there its gonna take a hard hit from time to time. Might as well make it to stand up to that abuse too.

[90 Runner [OP]]

In regard to running no skid i know in the areas that my truck seems it would be death with out one. Although it may not need  to be that strong. From my experience it isn't the rocks that i am concerned with but more the trees that can stick up into the engine or the CV joints that are the problem. It doesn't take a lot to break off all of your fan blades.

[blackSR5]

I hat

So i'm installing and 3inch lift in my IFS 4runner and i am trying to find out a good place to get a new skid. Is there any other Toyota skid that will fit or do i need to start looking for a shop to custom build me one.

I hade this skid plate on my 91 pickup with a 4" lift. Beat it half to hell and it never broke. Looked great and was functional.

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Explorer-Pro-Comp-Skid-Plate.aspx?t_c=79&t_s=467&t_pt=3545&t_pl=1867