[GraphicX]

made this, took about 4 hours all up & used just over a metre of steel (65x5mm, if i did it again i'd probably go 3 or 4mm).

first up a template using cardboard;

Attachment:

2014-12-07 13.55.28.jpg

then by magic made this (welds on the other side are much flatter, welded both sides just for the sake of it). all joins are welded, but one part is a bend, cut through the steel most of the way & then folded & welded it. getting the angles right was a matter of trial & error, tack the join, fit to car & gently bend until correct (easier said than done);

Attachment:

2014-12-07 10.38.00.jpg

fits neat as a pin;

Attachment:

2014-12-07 13.55.57.jpg

Attachment:

2014-12-07 13.56.21.jpg

[jimmey]

I like.
very simple and looks like its a neat fit!

well done

[JAYZUKI]

how long till you make a batch up to sell

[GraphicX]

lol, trying to nut out a way to do a front bash plate in the same fashion atm.

[pezz]

Might be worth adding a front and rear upswept bit,
it will add some strength to it too

[GraphicX]

i've still got plenty of steel to do that, would it catch mud & cause rust though ?

i'm not too stressed about the strength, mind you i've never broken a transfer case mount. the 5mm steel seems too thick & it feels like it belongs on a tank, but like i said i've never broken a transfer case mount so can't really say.

[CMichels35]

Love the design, I created mine today took around about the same amount of time, I used 50mm x4mm steel outcome was good fits nicely

[henno]

Wowzers, the undercarriage of your jimny is clean enough to eat off.

[CMichels35]

Wasn't that clean last weekend, went beach driving so I spent many hours under there scrubbing and cleaning ahaha degreaser is a wonderful thing as well ahah

[GraphicX]

looks great, best thing about these is they won't collect as much crap under there as those you can buy (plus they're cheap haha).

[CMichels35]

Yeah exactly! Cheap easy to make and if it does connect anything you can just pull it out easily without taking it off

[ak47]

Sweet! Very nice work. So who is going into mass production? Or just one extra?

[Chester]

Ive just got one from Tanshi at ADD Engineering. Took about 10mins to fit up, worst part was laying under my dirty car lol. Some photos:



Before:


After:

[tanshi]

Glad your happy mate.

[just_cruizin]

The ADD one looks the goods as the way it's made looks rigid. The bent up bit of flat would flex up pretty easy. You probably aren't taking the Jimny over huge rocks so that might not be an issue but I'm saying with a bit of bracing could be improved.

[GraphicX]

the guy on bigjimny who i sort of copied the design from scrapped this design as he didn't feel fixing it to the transfer case mounts was strong enough for it. his second design went away from the existing mounts & used other existing holes in the jimny with new bolts.

i think you'd be surprised just how strong the guard is, i'd hate to experience any impact that may damage it at all as i'm sure the transfer case threads would likely be destroyed in the process (which of course are the same mounts used in the commercially available plates, so they share the common weak point).

if i ever come across the build thread on bigjimny i'll link it here, i'm sure it's the blue jimny owned by dave martin with a number plate similar to S200KYS.

[tanshi]

the threads are not going to get damaged as the impact is taken buy the chassis around them.

the bolts only hold the plate up and tight to the chassis,

[GraphicX]

wouldn't that depend on the angle you took the hit ?

sure if you picked the car up & dropped it straight down it'd be all on the plate (which is 5mm steel), but if you were traveling forward & caught it on something it'd be against what it is fitted to.

the plate can only be as strong as what it is fastened to from what i understand, in this case it's bolted using threads & nuts used to support the transfer case.

either way, any hit that would bend 5mm steel, or break the welds of that steel would surely also damage other parts of the vehicle (need to remember we're also only talking about a jimny here, not a 3 ton patrol etc that would have a plate made in 4 or 5mm steel also).

[tanshi]

um, just no.

I don't know what you wheel on. and don't really mind what you build for your car
but I hold an objection to people voicing opinions when they aren't based in fact.

I run a 3mm full belly plate under my Suzuki (which weighs probably 3-400 kg less than a jimny ) which I pull off and straighten after every run. I slide over rocks, onto and around them on it.
it bends but im willing to make the sacrifice of the extra work straightening it for the reduction in weight.

saying that a Suzuki isn't heavy enough to bend a guard is just garbage and irresponsible.
as I said im fine with it. for the purposes of stopping sticks and grass from getting to your transfer and ease of cleaning its fine.

there's this thing called friction, and when a surface is bolted to another surface It acts upon it in such a way that they resist sliding across each other.
there is no way that the bash plate is going to cause damage to the thread of the bolts if they are done up tight unless your hitting something at 60kph in which case you need to rethink your driving technique.

[just_cruizin]

Take your 5mm guard off place it upside down on the ground and stand on it, I garantee it will flex by 20mm unless you're Scrawny. (Name drop intended)

Given ADD's design deflection would be about 5mm.

Good design will beat bulk material 99% of the time

[tanshi]

if I remember ill do this on the weekend. and take pics.

You talk like your an engineer or something Just_cruizin what would you know!!!

[GraphicX]

@ tanshi; i'd say there's a bit of a difference between 3 & 5mm, as there is between a daily driven jimny & your car which has a fully belly plate.

this topic has been covered many times & i'm confident that 5mm plate under a jimny will be more than adequate to cope with the rigours of 'normal' 4wd'ing (not competition as you may have set your car up for).

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewt ... 6&t=119005

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewt ... 10&t=50722

reading through those discussions (although they're about cars weighing 2 & 3 times as much), the consensus seems to be 3mm is fine for normal use, although not in aluminium & that it will bend under impacts endangering your equipment. however, 5mm may be in fact too strong, leading to broken bolts that secure the guards (like i believe it would do to the transfer case 'mounting bolts').

i know you're promoting your product, & honestly it's superior, but it has the same design as many of the other commercial units & it's also sharing a mounting system not designed for it. like i said previously, the guy i borrowed this design from scrapped it as he saw the mounting system was the weak point & went in favour for a design using all new bolts specifically for the guard.

@ jc: i weight 85kgs & can't picture my weight distorting the guard even with it unbolted & sitting on the ground. i've gotta go stuff around with my wife's car shortly, if i finish early enough i'll try it.

[tanshi]

im not promoting my guard in the slightest. maybe indirectly.

if your taking anything that's said on 4wd action forum im clearly wasting my breath

[atari4x4]

anchor VS skid plate

[jdk81]

The material and material thickness isn't the only factor, cross section is just as important to your design.
However GraphicX when yours bends up (which it will with relative ease), it will also be easy to straighten.

Some light reading on wiki to help you with basics. I know it's wiki, but a bit more useful than 4wdaction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending_stiffness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_di ... ion_method
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment-area_theorem

This whole argument reminds me of this
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=31207&hilit=crossmember

[henno]

jdk81 wrote:

This whole argument reminds me of this
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=31207&hilit=crossmember

That is exactly what I thought of also, when reading through this thread.

[GraphicX]

just_cruizin wrote:

Take your 5mm guard off place it upside down on the ground and stand on it, I garantee it will flex by 20mm unless you're Scrawny. (Name drop intended)

well i stood on it, at the peak of the triangle with one foot, it didn't flex/bend/droop/sag/warp one bit.

Attachment:

2015-06-26_15.40.24.jpg

Attachment:

2015-06-26 15.40.44.jpg

tanshi wrote:

You talk like your an engineer or something Just_cruizin what would you know!!!

well we can cross one thing off that he knows about.

so i guess i can cross off 'do the dumbest thing possible' off my list. it proved nothing (well beyond making just_cruizin look like just_a_goose *tongue in cheek*) as the forces involved in me balancing on it have zero relationship to those that it'd experience in hitting a rock (but we knew that).

@ jdk; i'm sure it'd bend, given enough of an actual hit. the clear weak spot is where it bends over the exhaust & then fits to the single transfer mount. my belief is though that it won't ever experience enough of a hit to break things (we all hope for the best right ?), but if it did, it should have some give before it breaks that mount or anything else of value. therefore i see it as being 'fit for purpose' so to speak.

had a look at that GV crossmember thread, he had the same issue where i have a bend in the plate where you can clearly see it would cop all the forces & give. i could gusset it up & strengthen the crap out of it, but as i see it if i were to build it fit for battle then what about my fuel tank, diff pumpkins, axles, shocks, radius arms etc etc ? i don't need all of that beefed up as it's a daily driver that only sees proper 4wd'ing perhaps twice a year with the rest just being a muck about.

[jdk81]

Before you are sure you made just_cruizin look like just_goosing, you could try supporting it only at the very ends, like it would be on the car.
This would allow the maximum bending etc.
Although I do agree his estimation of deflection of both was a bit optimistic, to say "it didnt flex/bend/droop/sag/warp one bit" is technically incorrect.

Luckily there's a few differences between the GV crossmember thread, as your skid plate isn't structural, at least if it fails (bends or breaks a weld) it's not game over.

[GraphicX]

if it were supported at the points as it is on the car i'd say it'd be stronger, since the long straight part is across the mounds on the chassis & the other part is fitted flush also. it seriously didn't give at all, it scraped on the concrete as it went down, but didn't open out or anything, i'd say i could have had one of my kids on my shoulders (if i could balance) & it still wouldn't have budged (although that too would prove nothing as to how capable it would be on the car protecting the transfer).

i still think that the nuts would go before the plate though, even when putting it back i was concerned with how little thread sits proud of the nut, it wouldn't even be one full wind which is what the guy on bigjimny found also (if i'd gone to perhaps 4mm plate i'd have more thread out).

[tanshi]

LOL ok