[Built4thrashing]

With the help from Christover and Ollies Ive measured up and made a prototype skid plate that bolts onto the factory gearbox cross member. Chris has kindly offered to be the tester for them. Now that i have a template for ill be making more of them. I'll offer them for sale to you AZ members first. Price to be comfirmed but will be around the $100 mark.

I already have some available for the LWB GVs. Similar design.

To keep the costs down they are just spray painted black (not powder coated...yet).

pics






there is about 20mm clearance under the t/case




Only down side is it hangs below the chasis rail by about 20mm




and just coz i can here is a pic of chris...not his best angle....lol

[christover1]

I will get well tested. It won't be clean and shiny too long
Transfer case hangs below chassis rails anyway,
so the skid plate must, too.

[Built4thrashing]

Once i sort out a few issues with advertising these will be available to AZ members for destruction testing... PM me if you want to buy one and help with the testing.

[gregdixon]

Nice job, I made one identical. It did save my t case but was beat up after. Needs some angle running down either side to support the long section as it bends up against the t case. I will post some pics of mine if I can find it.

[gregdixon]

This was only 2.6mm, but did it's job as alien and 96coily would remember. The entire weight of the gv was on it and didn't bust the t case.

[Fatzook]

Disposable parts? needs to be 10mm thick with that design.

You could use a thinner material ( say 5mm) if you had a folded return along both sides ( lengthways).

Or use 5mm Bisaloy.

[Built4thrashing]

If these were made from 10mm plate they would be way to heavy and extremely expensive... The idea is to gain some added protection without weighing as much as a tank. 5mm plate is a nice compromise between strength and weight..... And the simplistic design makes it easy to re shape if it does get bent.

5mm Bisaloy would be nice but dam expensive and hard to work with.

[Gwagensteve]

Fatzook wrote:

You could use a thinner material ( say 5mm) if you had a folded return along both sides ( lengthways).

Is anyone else getting a strong sense of deja vu here?

Steve.

[BlueSuzy]

Ok im biting

It looks weak, bent in wrong spot so it sits below chassis, flatbar around tube, bolts not close to tube. Half arsed effort to make a few $. Goodluck with selling them.

Whats next? Tank guard?

[ajsr]

BlueSuzy wrote:

Ok im biting

It looks weak, bent in wrong spot so it sits below chassis, flatbar around tube, bolts not close to tube. Half arsed effort to make a few $. Goodluck with selling them.

Whats next? Tank guard?

a bit rough dont you think mate???

[Fatzook]

Gwagensteve wrote:

Fatzook wrote:

You could use a thinner material ( say 5mm) if you had a folded return along both sides ( lengthways).

Is anyone else getting a strong sense of deja vu here?

Steve.

Echo echo echo

[christover1]

I've done some serious testing,
it does need a fold along the flat area at least.
Or some bracing or similar.
I will be having a go at doing that tomorrow.
Probably beat it around a pipe for a curved edge.

[Built4thrashing]

Thanks Chris. this is what i wanted . I needed some one to do some real world test to se where it needed to be modified. The original ideas behind these was to offer a cheap alternative to what is already available. But the more work thats required to make these the more expensive they will be and npbody will want them.....


now if these are made to be too strong they can create another problem. If you happen to really get caught up on something you would rather the skid plate fail than have it tear the crossmember or tube brace out....

And making them out of 10mm plate means they will just then hang down 30mm instead of 20mm.

Oh and BlueSuzi, if its such a half assed effort i wanna see what you come up with.... not just an idea... make it so we can shit can it too...

[stockman]

Built4thrashing wrote:

Oh and BlueSuzi, if its such a half assed effort i wanna see what you come up with.... not just an idea... make it so we can shit can it too...

Prob not someone you want to fab challenge!

[Fatzook]

Built4thrashing wrote:

And making them out of 10mm plate means they will just then hang down 30mm instead of 20mm.

Oh and BlueSuzi, if its such a half assed effort i wanna see what you come up with.... not just an idea... make it so we can shit can it too...

I'm only going to comment because these have been on my to-do list for a while. But from what I can see from your pics, there is no0 reason that it need hang down below the rail.

As for making them cheap so people buy them..... well thats all good and well but, what happens when joeblow ( not OUR Joeblow ) sees a crumpled up skid plate and says 'where did you get that thing from?

Most people will pay a higher price for a premium product before buying a poorly designed, cheap part that has a very limited lifespan.

I try and work by this one rule.

If you can't make a quality part for a fair price, then don't bother.

This is why there are things that I would NEVER make. Because there is no way I can make them cheap enough, and still keep the kwality.

[BlueSuzy]

I may be harsh, i may be rough, But if it looks shit, noone will buy it.

Its like those stupid 2mm sheet tank guards. Weak as piss, yeah good for mud, woo.

Speak the truth, noone likes it, Speak oh yeah thats great, people think they are marvelous.

Move the bend, why is it below chassis?
Ubolt the plate or use a bracket tight around the chassis so its not rubbing it in half like a loose ubolt on a diff (see want33's 75series repair)

If someone dislikes my work, i ask why, weight it up if i should change it, not caring how rough they ask, Its criticism. If i change it again, who cares, its a better product in the end.

[Built4thrashing]

We tested out the GV one this weekend on Bohulers GV and it got smacked pretty hard and did not move. The tracks we drove scraped all the paint of the bottom but it held it's shape.

I agree a gussett on the sides would make it alot stronger but i dont think its required.....

[GRPABT1]

I would move the bend back closer to the front of the transfer then run the skid up on top of the tube cross member and attatch it there with u-bolts. This would make the bottom flat surface smaller, create a more angled and stronger fold at the point of most likely contact and probably not hang below the chassis rail. this also would not cost any more to make and be easier as U-bolts don't require the extra bits of dodgey flat bar to be cut up for the front mount.

It's one thing to make things cheap, but your design needs to be as thoroughly thought out as possible to get the most out of the limited budget. A quick glance had me thinking of how to improve it without costing more so your design must have been somewhat rushed.

[christover1]

Tried real hard to hit it with a Rocky Track rock,
but missed, not a scratch on it yet

[Built4thrashing]

christover1 wrote:

Tried real hard to hit it with a Rocky Track rock,
but missed, not a scratch on it yet

At least ya trying.....keep up the punishment