My Plan for Full Plastic Bellypan Skid Plates!!!!!

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:25 pm

Is that the same stuff Marty at Rock Lizard used on my skink sliders (first set) that got tore up at Moab?

Guest · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:47 pm

This reminds me of a show i saw where they sprayed bedliner on a truck bed and blew the truck up with explosives and the only thing that survived was the stuff that was bedlined. Then they build a mock house and threw gale force winds at it knocked the house apart. After that they rebuilt the house and sprayed it with bedliner and it withstood the same winds. I bet if you bedline your skid plates you will get similar results.

501 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:08 pm

icarl wrote:

This reminds me of a show i saw where they sprayed bedliner on a truck bed and blew the truck up with explosives and the only thing that survived was the stuff that was bedlined. Then they build a mock house and threw gale force winds at it knocked the house apart. After that they rebuilt the house and sprayed it with bedliner and it withstood the same winds. I bet if you bedline your skid plates you will get similar results.

Smash Lab!

MNKK · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:40 pm

icarl wrote:

This reminds me of a show i saw where they sprayed bedliner on a truck bed and blew the truck up with explosives and the only thing that survived was the stuff that was bedlined. Then they build a mock house and threw gale force winds at it knocked the house apart. After that they rebuilt the house and sprayed it with bedliner and it withstood the same winds. I bet if you bedline your skid plates you will get similar results.

This guy might be on to something...

You should bedline the plastic coated metal skids.

INDESTRUCTABLE!!! :twisted:

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:57 pm

Wasn't he using HDPE? If so, the way I understand it, HDPE is softer and way less abrasion resistant than the UMHWPE. UMHW shows as being a lot more abrasion resistant than even mild steel.

KJ kyle · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:09 pm

so i know this is a pretty ametuer question... but how flat is the bottom of the skid? and i dont know if you covered it, but how will you fasten them together?

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:12 pm

I'll be using countersunk allen head screws if I do go this route.

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:14 pm

JJsKJ wrote:

I'll be using countersunk allen head screws if I do go this route.

Wouldn't peanut butter work as well :wink:

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:29 pm

tommudd wrote:

JJsKJ wrote:

I'll be using countersunk allen head screws if I do go this route.

Wouldn't peanut butter work as well :wink:

But of course...just make sure it is smooth and creamy!

Guest · **Posted:** Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:56 pm

And allow plenty of time for curing

This is kind of interesting. Granted, it'll kill ground clearance, but 1/4" of it can't hurt. Maybe run longer bolts through the nutzerts

Neatus · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:16 am

tommudd wrote:

JJsKJ wrote:

I'll be using countersunk allen head screws if I do go this route.

Wouldn't peanut butter work as well :wink:

Haha, what ever happened to the peanut butter mag light mount?

2mopar_diesels · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:51 am

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

And allow plenty of time for curing

This is kind of interesting. Granted, it'll kill ground clearance, but 1/4" of it can't hurt. Maybe run longer bolts through the nutzerts

Actually, as for the tranny skid, it's probably better than stock when you consider the laminated and corrugated construction of the OEM piece. But not quite as good as the better made aftermarket brands flat steel skids. And for plating the bottom of the t-case and fuel tank skids, come on........who would ever notice a 3/8in decrease in ground clearance???

tjkoen01 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:50 am

uhmw will retain some of it's shape if it is bent. it is used in industry as a wear surface, not for load bearing. it can be some pretty amazing stuff, however it bends fairly easily (I can bend a 1" x 1.5" with my hands, couldn't do that with steel). I don't think it work well as a skid plate by itself, but if used to line your skid plates would work very well.

i think that 1/2" is overkill, 1/4" would probably do the job. in any case, don't counter sink the screws anymore than you have to, this stuff is pretty easy to pull off of screws...

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:51 pm

FYI - from your link

UHMW tensile strength 4750 psi
1018 mild steel 63800 psi.

I know strength is an issue because I bent my skid plate.
I'm not sure that the friction is.

Good luck

Jeep4me99 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:26 pm

i read on an X-terra board some guys did it....i think it turned out pretty good for them.

MtnLuvr · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:21 pm

First, I think this is a very creative, "out of the proverbial box", kind of idea.

In my former work-life engineering and installing custom machinery for manufacturers to use, I often used UHMW. It can be a good wear surface, but only for something that runs linearly (parallel) along its surface and that is smooth. I always designed the mechanism using UHMW so that the UHMW was easily replaceable because when it comes in contact with something harder, it will be sacrificial, but that is typically what you want. I wanted a piece of plastic, the UHMW, to wear way before any expensive steel part.

I think you'll have problems with it lasting completely intact very long since many, or most, rocks on a trail won't be smooth nor will the interface of the rock to the UHMW sheet be very parallel, rather the motion of your vehicle is more likely to cause the rock to push in, drag and then withdrawl from the UHMW sheet. Thus, I speculate you'll wind up getting gouges into the UHMW and will wind up tearing it, especially at the thinness being discussed here, until it either comes off in sheet chunks or catches on something and rips out from the fasteners holding it in place.

If you're willing to spend the effort and money, then go for it just to see how it does then we'll all know for sure as time goes by and you off-road with it.

Just my two cents.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:05 am

ATXKJ wrote:

FYI - from your link

UHMW tensile strength 4750 psi
1018 mild steel 63800 psi.

I know strength is an issue because I bent my skid plate.
I'm not sure that the friction is.

Good luck

I don't think that tensile strength is as important in this application as the hardness of the material or its ability to resist punctures, scrapes, etc.
then again, wth do I know.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:41 am

oh and fwiw, how about a couple of us try out the idea and then come back to report whatever it is we find out even if it is to say it sucks and doesn't work? I'm up for it...sure it won't be on my IFS KJ but I can Try to scrape up the belly pan some more in the name of KJ science. hell, i'll be the 1st to talk crap about my Jeep if something i did to it didn't work right.

Just go to my sfa build thread and see where i slammed the ball joints i used, or the fact that i get too much chassis flex and blow out radiators. i do it because i am a Jeep addict and i like to share my sob stories for attention...because i'm a Jeep attention whore......just for free, no money changes hands....cept me giving it away....yeah..... :lol:

Fun times.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:36 am

It was really nice having the HDPE on the skink sliders, but they tore. I would be interested in trying the harder stuff on my skinks and perhaps the All J Super Skid.

When slamming down on and scraping along the HDPE, it was nice to not hear much sound compared to the scrapage of metal. and then knowing I will have to treat the metal later and repaint again.

How much does that stuff cost?

2mopar_diesels · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 3:14 pm

JJsKJ wrote:

oh and fwiw, how about a couple of us try out the idea and then come back to report whatever it is we find out even if it is to say it sucks and doesn't work? I'm up for it...sure it won't be on my IFS KJ but I can Try to scrape up the belly pan some more in the name of KJ science. hell, i'll be the 1st to talk crap about my Jeep if something i did to it didn't work right.

Just go to my sfa build thread and see where i slammed the ball joints i used, or the fact that i get too much chassis flex and blow out radiators. i do it because i am a Jeep addict and i like to share my sob stories for attention...because i'm a Jeep attention whore......just for free, no money changes hands....cept me giving it away....yeah..... Laughing

Fun times.

Thats exactly what I have planned. But seeing how many full tilt rock crawlers allready use the stuff and report great things, I'm pretty sure our experience will likewise be the same.

_____________________________________________________________

TokyoJoe, if you look on the 1st page there was a link to a place that sells it. But for some, it might be cheaper to find locally due to package size and shipping costs. But here's the link again in case you missed it:

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cf ... op_cat=181

My Plan for Full Plastic Bellypan Skid Plates!!!!!

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