Aluminum vs Steel Skid Plates

[Nick9323]

Hey everyone, I'm looking to upgrade some of the underbody protection on my gen 2, specifically the fuel tank skid and front bumper skid. It looks like there are quite a few options for both in steel and aluminum, but what's the consensus of which material works best for these? 90% of what I run is faster trails with small parts of rock crawling if required but that's not what I am searching out. Thanks in advance.

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

i dont think the front skid matters. its gonna get bent anyways. the important thing is the bumper itself. make sure its built solid with proper steel tubing. all the companies here make some pretty darn good bumpers, but when it comes to the skid, i have bent and caved in every single one of them. cant expect 1/4 thick piece of sheet metal to withstand the forces of the truck when you go head on into sand dunes or take a jump wrong.

gas tank skid...... never heard of anyone puncturing a gas tank yet. so i would think anything is fine.

 

[84 Sheepdog]

I agree, the stock gas tank skid is fine and I haven't had any issues with it. The front skidplate that covers the engine is also pretty stout and will hold up fine as well. I got into some rocks on the last trip to Moab and really beat up the skidplate that covers the transmission and transfer case though. That's the piece I plan to upgrade before I get into any more rocks. Foutz Motorsports makes a really nice aluminum skid that bolts in place of the OEM skids. I'm planning on buying that and then adding 1/2" HDPE to the bottom of it. I run something similar on my Jeep and it works great. The aluminum will gouge easily and doesn't slide over rocks well. That HDPE is stout stuff and will slide right over rocks. You can also easily and inexpensively replace it once it gets really beat up.

 

[amREADY]

I agree, the stock gas tank skid is fine and I haven't had any issues with it. The front skidplate that covers the engine is also pretty stout and will hold up fine as well. I got into some rocks on the last trip to Moab and really beat up the skidplate that covers the transmission and transfer case though. That's the piece I plan to upgrade before I get into any more rocks. Foutz Motorsports makes a really nice aluminum skid that bolts in place of the OEM skids. I'm planning on buying that and then adding 1/2" HDPE to the bottom of it. I run something similar on my Jeep and it works great. The aluminum will gouge easily and doesn't slide over rocks well. That HDPE is stout stuff and will slide right over rocks. You can also easily and inexpensively replace it once it gets really beat up.

Oh man, that is a great idea! One of those ideas you think damn, should have thought of that.

 

[Nick9323]

Oh man, that is a great idea! One of those ideas you think damn, should have thought of that.

Seriously, was just thinking the same thing!

 

[amREADY]

Seriously, was just thinking the same thing!

Totally, hey.

I looked it up and it wouldn't stand up to being beside an exhaust pipe, but does well in hot weather/ past boiling temps. And needs to be -45 degrees before it gets brittle.

 

[zombiekiller]

Hey everyone, I'm looking to upgrade some of the underbody protection on my gen 2, specifically the fuel tank skid and front bumper skid. It looks like there are quite a few options for both in steel and aluminum, but what's the consensus of which material works best for these? 90% of what I run is faster trails with small parts of rock crawling if required but that's not what I am searching out. Thanks in advance.

I run full foutz aluminum skids. I have once gouge in them that hasn't impacted functionality. Theyve been on my truck since 2017. I would highly recommend them.

I'm running an upgraded RCI steel gas tank skid.

It was rusting 3 months after I put it on. I put it on because, I'm just the lucky idiot that has punctured my gas tank TWICE.

While cosmetically, it sucks, functionally it has held up perfectly and has done its job prescriptively.

If I did it again, I'd go aluminum gas tank skid. No need to haul around the extra weight of steel. Skid plates are there to take the damage so the important bits they protect don't have to.

They are wear items and meant to be replaced when damaged.

 

[B E N]

Kind of a loaded question.

Strength to weight a heavy skid plate in aluminum 6061 is going to be much stronger than a heavy skid in mild steel of the same weight/design still have good flex but is also more expensive.

There are 7 main aluminum alloys, they all have different properties, which are you looking at?

What kind of steel are you talking about? If it's just mild steel its got some give, which is good because if you hit something hard its going to take some of that impact, but if your talking about other steels they have other strengths and weaknesses vs mild.

There is also potential for reinforcement (think ribbing) that could help the plate take an impact better. But again, having the plate deform is a lot better than bending your frame, plus transferring more force to the driver.

There are design questions, what angle is the skid plate at? Effective material thickness changes with impact obliquity. Stamped ribs can add a lot of rigidity for no weight penalty. Welded reinforcements could also add a lot of strength, but there is the weight penalty and additional cost of fabrication.

Like @zombiekiller mentioned, skid plates are there to protect stuff, they are sacrificial. I would much rather mangle a skid than tweak the mounts (frame).

Did you have some specifically you were looking at?

 

[Nick9323]

Kind of a loaded question.

Strength to weight a heavy skid plate in aluminum 6061 is going to be much stronger than a heavy skid in mild steel of the same weight/design still have good flex but is also more expensive.

There are 7 main aluminum alloys, they all have different properties, which are you looking at?

What kind of steel are you talking about? If it's just mild steel its got some give, which is good because if you hit something hard its going to take some of that impact, but if your talking about other steels they have other strengths and weaknesses vs mild.

There is also potential for reinforcement (think ribbing) that could help the plate take an impact better. But again, having the plate deform is a lot better than bending your frame, plus transferring more force to the driver.

There are design questions, what angle is the skid plate at? Effective material thickness changes with impact obliquity. Stamped ribs can add a lot of rigidity for no weight penalty. Welded reinforcements could also add a lot of strength, but there is the weight penalty and additional cost of fabrication.

Like @zombiekiller mentioned, skid plates are there to protect stuff, they are sacrificial. I would much rather mangle a skid than tweak the mounts (frame).

Did you have some specifically you were looking at?

The rci ones for the gas tank and any of the underbody stuff. I like the ADD bumpers for the front skid protection. I know there are quite a few alloys of each material to choose from (I work as an aerospace engineer) but the info on which alloy each company uses for each part seems limited if available at all. And even then, what spec of powder coat and how they end up making it can change how they work significantly. Just lookin for some real world experience from people like @zombiekiller cause the specs don't always tell the full story but they are a good thing to consider. Thanks again for the input.

 

[zombiekiller]

The rci ones for the gas tank and any of the underbody stuff. I like the ADD bumpers for the front skid protection. I know there are quite a few alloys of each material to choose from (I work as an aerospace engineer) but the info on which alloy each company uses for each part seems limited if available at all. And even then, what spec of powder coat and how they end up making it can change how they work significantly. Just lookin for some real world experience from people like @zombiekiller cause the specs don't always tell the full story but they are a good thing to consider. Thanks again for the input.

foutz did a really great job on the skids. When I ordered them, it was before there were a lot of modified Gen2s out there.

I sent them a picture of where the skid for my SVC bumper ended. They got the skid designed, cut and shipped in 2 days from a picture.

When I installed them, the gap from bumper skid to foutz skid was a clean 1/8" and perfect.

Greg and team are who campaigned the Gen2 raptor in the Baja 1000. The skids that they sell are identical to what they ran on the stock class race truck.

If they'll survive the baja 1000 for foutz and 8 trips to baja on my truck ( about 10K baja miles on my truck), they'll absolutely stand up to whatever you can throw at them.

I honestly called foutz right after I did raptor assault. They had the gen2 race truck in the showroom there. I looked under it, saw the skids, and was told that foutz made them. i called and ordered them while waiting for my flight at the airport.