Just finished DOI skid plate prototype

[youngguns4x4]

Originally Posted by evldave

ok, I'll bite. A couple questions:

Thickness?

Have you tested full of mud (between skid plate and T-case)?

Any ventilation?

Please provide details of mounting points

Weight?

In the absence of any answers I have the following comments:

That's gonna weight 100# at least (3/16). Any less thickess and Steve from San Jose might as well use it. And the weight will have a significant impact on vehicle performance.

No ventilation=burned up tranny/t-case. I'd recommend adding a (free) transmission temp gauge. Too much and shut it down. Without a tranny temp test, I wouldn't recommend this to my worst enemy (mostly because it will break down on the trail and I'll be obligated to help them out no matter what).

Unless that's a fully sealed unit, mud will get up in between the tranny/t-case and skid plate. BAD NEWS. It will never come out. See tranny temp above.

Other than those fundamentals, at least it looks good. At a [font='Times New Roman']connoisseur [/FtONT]of ghetto engineering, I have to give this (absent any responses) a C-. Many people who want to look good will love it, those that use their vehicles should avoid it because of the potential issues. Perfect for a Jeep Liberty...

I think i'll bite back. First off, I don't understand how the weight is going to have a huge impact on the vehicle performance. Do you hesitate to invite friends to go wheeling with you in fear of it effecting your h3's performance? Not to mention the fact that it isnt effecting the center gravity. Especially not anymore then anyones gobi roofrack.
If i was worried about vehicle weight my first choice of vehicle would not be a 4700 pound suv powered by an inline 5.
I don't think the tranny and transfercase heating up is going to be a problem. Indy cars are fully panned underneath and sit low as hell to the ground yet they dont have any cooling issues. If you bring up the side vents then look at desert trucks. There running thousands of miles at a time with bigger tires and motors and they are holding up. It looks to me in the picture that is posted the exhaust is sitting outside of the skidplate anyways. Even if for some reason my tranny were to overheat i would rather that happen then the darn thing to get smashed on a rock or the pan to crack and leak fluid out on the trail. Tread lightly wouldnt be to happy.
As for mud getting stuck in between it and never being able to get it out, it looks like the fabricator did a good job of keeping that in mind. I see quite a few holes for that problem. Not to mention you can just pressure wash it out.
It looks like the mounting points are pretty good useing the factory crossmembers. By the looks of the companys website it doesnt look that ghetto to me. If i was going to build a skid plate theres not much I would change. I see alot of good products coming out from smaller companys or just guys building it in there garage that someone always comes along and bashes. But you'll have that when you get a bunch of web wheelers going in and out of forums.