Downsides of carrying skid plates

Uffe · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:36 pm

Hi guys.

I was just reading around the Patrol4x4.com forum and found a thread asking about skid plates. Many patrol owners said "don't do it" because the skids collect dirt and will rust your car more easily. Another guy says it is a liability because if vegetation is caught on the skid it is prone to start a fire

I have a set of skids fitted to my KJ and here in Denmark the road guys looove to spray salt all over the roads on the slightest sign of cold weather.

I so wish I had a better place to clean my car! Maybe my alu ASFIR plates won't rust, but what about the crossmembers themselves?

I have only had mine for about 2 months and the other day when inspecting my brakes and disassembling them I found a lot of sand on the skid near the front wheels.

Maybe it would be a really good idea during normal cleaning to take the skids off and clean the underside of the car properly

Man how I wish I had a proper garden hose and a compressed air lift to clean the jeep!

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:57 pm

Yes -both can happen but the fire is pretty unlikely - normally driving through tall dried grass with the catalytic converter hot (the muffler normally can't get hot enough) - the tales I've heard have been gassers - not diesel - I'm not sure the diesel exhaust will get hot enough.

The corrosion however - is real anywhere you have NaCl - the only solution is the wash the undercarriage well - even in the summer (they're not putting down salt but if there's any there it's more active with temperature.) - or I guess you could paint/undercoat everything.

The good news is that if you have Aluminum - it's anodic with respect to Steel - so your corrosion will etch your ASFIR skids to plate Aluminum on top of your steel frame.... and if you didn't have skid plates - you'd corrode the Transmission and transfer case.....
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/seagrant/publications/corrosion.html

Threeweight · **Joined:** Mon May 14, 2007 5:57 pm **Posts:** 679

Uffe wrote:

Many patrol owners said "don't do it" because the skids collect dirt and will rust your car more easily. Another guy says it is a liability because if vegetation is caught on the skid it is prone to start a fire

Those sound like people who do not take their trucks off road but are offering advice on off-roading.

Skids may rust, as will every other part of a car or truck (particularly in a place that uses road salt). But they don't mount to the body of the car. Where they come in contact with frame rails, the mounting is tight and it would be impossible for dirt to get in there. They may accumulate some dirt and mud on the top side of them, but then again, so will your transmission, axles, fuel tank, muffler, etc... No more or less of a rust risk than any of that stuff.

The only part of your vehicle's underbelly that should be getting hot enough to be a fire risk is the exhaust. If anything, a big skid plate would reduce the fire risk by keeping vegetation from coming into contact with those areas to begin with.

On the other hand, running a relatively low clearance rig like our Liberties over a rocky, rutted road has a very high risk of cracking an oil pan. In the case of the Liberty CRD, your oil filter dangles down completely unprotected, and is one of the lowest parts of the vehicle. Not running at least the MOPAR engine, transmission, and transfer skids is a really, really bad idea if your Jeep ever goes off road. I only use my Jeep to access hunting and fishing spots, and my skids are already scuffed up with all manner of rock and dirt rash. I shudder to think of how many times I'd have knocked my oil filter off 50 miles from the nearest mechanic.

Over the last 20 years, I've had skids on my old 80's Toyota 4wd truck, a Nissan Pathfinder, a Toyota Tacoma, a Toyota 4Runner, and now the Jeep CRD. Some of those vehicles have seen substantial off-road use. Never experienced a fire (or even smoke) with any of them. The 1985 Toyota pick up has had skids on it since day one, and last time I checked, there was no evidence they were rusting out (this despite them carrying many softball-sized dents from impacts over the years).

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:01 pm

I hate to say it but you are taking advice from a Patriot Forum...Not saying none of them don't know a thing or two about offroading, but the majority of the ones on the site I post on don't. They usually ignore any post from someone with a different vehicle...so I have stopped posting there

CHevy06 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:51 pm

If you want to talk about a potential fire hazard from an exhaust go look at a new 6.4 powerstroke from Ford. When that cycles or what ever it has to do for its emissions the exhuast tips are extremely hot.

GilaMonster · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:43 pm

I'll take some dirt and debrie over smashed tranny or oil pan any day. Sure, you might have to clean some slop out of them, but it keeps the slop from getting way up where it really does not belong.
As for dried stuff and fire, the skids should stop them from getting to a really hot area, but I guess anything is possible.

Now, the only time a saw a skid plate as a liability was on an old Subaru Brat. A guy went into a snow bank, and when he tried to back out, the skid plate acted like a plow (due to its angle only protecting front on impacts) and really drove the snow up into the engine and all around until he could not move.

Put on armor if you think you're going to bash the bottom, it may be the only thing that ensures you get back home.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:49 pm

DarbyWalters wrote:

I hate to say it but you are taking advice from a Patriot Forum...Not saying none of them don't know a thing or two about offroading, but the majority of the ones on the site I post on don't. They usually ignore any post from someone with a different vehicle...so I have stopped posting there

Patrol*

Uffe · **Posted:** Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:24 am

See, this is why I bought those skids in the first place... YOU GUYS!

And yes that underbelly of the CRD auto box is hanging really low there...this is the most important part I wanted to protect. The engine has the crossmember (and on my 03 CRD the oil filter is higher up than you think) to protect itself.

So when you guys wash the cars do you take off the skids or do you just give them a good horizontal spray?

Threeweight · **Joined:** Mon May 14, 2007 5:57 pm **Posts:** 679

Just spray them with a garden hose, or take it to a car wash and use the high pressure sprayer. Mud comes right off, unless you've got some heavy clay action going on.

Where does the oil filter mount on you engine? On my 2.8, it is right beside the oil pan on the right side of the vehicle, tilted at a downward angle so that the very end of the filter hangs below the oil pan itself. Makes for easy oil changes, but nervous rock and rut driving.

Uffe · **Posted:** Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:47 am

There's a pic in this thread of the underbelly where you can see the oil filter sitting. Mind you the car is tilted towards the opposite side so it looks higher:

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... hp?t=27394

(My company has blocked imageshack so I can't figure out which image is the right one to just post that single one)

Threeweight · **Joined:** Mon May 14, 2007 5:57 pm **Posts:** 679

Interesting... ours is in a similar area, but located parallel to the ground, much lower down.

vtdog · **Joined:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:27 am **Posts:** 640

Just checked my plates while the jeep is in the garage. Mine is an '05 in its third winter.
A lot of salt is used here in New England. No rust on either the plates, or any part of the body other than some on the exhaust that I could see. I think that this is good news for vehicle longevity. I don't belive that being a CRD has any impact on the rust resistance as all Libertys (or would it be Liberties) are probably given the same anti-corrosion treatment.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:08 pm

I have replaced fewer exhaust systems on my Diesels over the years than comparable Gassers. I suspect it is due to the lower EGT :idea:

Most of the stainless steel exhaust systems are 304 alloy that can't stand chlorides that are one of the components of salt.
If some one is vain enough they can spray citric acid on the exhaust system and brush it with a stainless steal wire brush

Most of us prefer mud to citric acid washed brushed stainless steel exhaust systems :!:

316 alloy would be better but it is more expensive and hard to work with including bending.

Steve

Albert · **Posted:** Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:28 pm

There are no downsides to skidplates as far as I can tell...maby some extra weight but so what. Mine will stay on. I'd rather have a rusted or bent skid than a busted tranny or a hole in my plastic gas tank in the middle of nowhere. I spray the underside in the winter. That's the best I can do. It's too cold now. In the spring I will check them.

Just my opinion.

Downsides of carrying skid plates

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