One piece rad & oil skid plate

[Beamer]

After reading through all of the oil and radiator skid plate posts, it was time to replace the plastic oil plan flap and also protect the radiator. Mikes plates look awesome, but I wanted to try something myself. I have a front brush guard that I purchased a few months after I bought my TB and I have no idea of the manufacturer and I needed to work around that.

I bought a 2'x4' piece of 1/4" steel plate, 10' of 3/16" x 2" angle iron, some 5/16" bolts, washers and nuts and 2 stainless hex recess screws. About $120 total spent.

I do not have a welder, but I did all of this with a drill, grinder and portable band saw.

Started by mounting 42" piece of angle iron to front side of radiator bracket (the mount for my brush guard is c-chanell that is mounted inside of the radiator bracket)


you can see the angle iron through the tow hook opening


two 29" pieces of the angle iron bolted to the first one and to each other to step down and back (they form a W shape).
from top side


from bottom side


1/4" plate mounted to bottom piece of angle iron


plate cutout around the frame skids


the 4 original bolts used where the factory plastic skid plate was mounted.
Not too worried about the bolt heads getting mashed up as I am mostly trying to protect the vitals from small rocks, sticks, cornstalks etc.

I drilled a 1-1/2" hole for around the oil drain plug in the big plate, then made this little plate with the 2 counter sink stainless hex screws and drilled a 3/4" hole to give clearance to the drain bolt


I do not have the approach angle that most of you have because I am limited by my brush guard.

[MrSmithsTB]

Very cool! I have been trying to figure out how to do the same thing without a welder or a brake. I think a variation of this may work with a body lift

[bartonmd]

Looks good! Especially if you're leaving the brush guard and bumper cover on...

The only things I'd add are:

1. Make the drain plug hole a little bigger... When you torque up the engine, it will rotate, which will move that drain plug side to side... I would put another piece the same shape as the one you made, but put a 1.5" hole in the middle of it, to offset your 3/4" hole down another 1/4"...

2. On the angle iron that goes in front of the radiator, I'd bolt another couple pieces of angle iron up to the frame, to help support some weight... Without a welder, you can just take 2" of one side of the angle off, then stick it in your vice and bend the remaining tab over... You don't have to bolt it to the frame if you don't want... you could use the bolts that hold your brush guard to the radiator supports to hold them on the way up, then not have to bend the tabs over on the angle pieces...


I'm a cheap ghetto-fabber from way back (as "way back" as I could be, given that I'm 30), so you don't ever have to apologize for making something yourself, rather than buying it from me! The full underbody protective shields for our SCCA rally car in college were made from cut and welded up shelving from a K-Mart that went out of business, and the skid plate under the radiator and engine/trans was... well... here:



I'm a pretty busy guy, so I'm not going to CAD design everything for everybody, but if you want some input or ideas on anything that you're making yourself, feel free to send me a PM or shoot me an email at mdbfabllc to gmail.com...

Mike

[Beamer]

Mike, Thanks for the input. I have noticed a quick rattle when starting the engine, it does not happen everytime, but it is probably the oil drain plug hitting the cover. I will make another piece as you suggested. I may also add some strengthening to the angle irons mounting to the frame next oil change.

[Trail X]

Looks pretty sweet, Beam.

Also looks like you may need some new front springs!

[bartonmd]

Mike, Thanks for the input. I have noticed a quick rattle when starting the engine, it does not happen everytime, but it is probably the oil drain plug hitting the cover. I will make another piece as you suggested. I may also add some strengthening to the angle irons mounting to the frame next oil change.

Beam,

No problem at all! If you're not going to make the extra offset piece today, I'd take off the one that you've got! If it's doing that at startup, it could possibly do the same thing under load, and could either break the drain plug head off, or break off the whole drain plug part of the oil pan...

Mike

[Beamer]

Fixed this morning!

The drain plug was in fact rubbing the cover. I had scalloped out the back side of the cover with a 4" grinding wheel so there was more clearance than just the 3/4" hole.


Made a new larger plate with 1-1/2" hole.


Installed.



Thanks again Mike!

[Beamer]

Looks pretty sweet, Beam.

Also looks like you may need some new front springs!

Thanks JD. I have the 2" lift from Rough Country on there, so hoping that is good enough for now.

[bartonmd]

There ya go! Looks great!

Mike

[djthumper]

Looks nice!

You would be surprised what a bench vise and some stout angle iron and do for bending metal. Though not so much on 1/4". I have had to resort to some ghetto manufacturing since getting out of the air force.

[fishsticks]

My truck is one giant ghetto fab. (except for the stuff I bought from Mike)

I made my first rad skid with a sledge hammer. True story.

[mikekey]

I LOVE THIS! And it makes me feel more confident about sharing some of my personal hacks.

[bartonmd]

I LOVE THIS! And it makes me feel more confident about sharing some of my personal hacks.

Yeah, the competition liked it, too! Most of them had 1/2" UHMW or Teflon full underbody skids. You work with what you've got!

Mike

[NC_IslandRunner]

Looks good!