Noakes75
Active Member
- Messages
- 81
- Location
- Barstow, CA
Alright, so I'm new to this whole RC thing and I just dropped around 80 dollars in my rig getting a lot of the upgrades that the guys on here have mentioned. With that said I really didn't wanna spend another 20 plus dollars on a skid plate right away but I figured it was best to have one rather then have to pay for repairs later. So I started looking around the house for what I could use to make a skid plate. I wanted to use some 18 gauge (i think) aluminum but I was unable to find it. In my search for that I came across some old ABS plastic that I bought a while ago that I was using to customize my 1:1 S-10. So I figured what the heck I would give it a try.
So I took it, measured it all up and started to cut. Luckily this stuff is pretty thin (I think 1/8 inch) so I was able to cut it with just a utility knife. Well after I cut it out to specs I noticed that it was flat going against the frame giving it no curves to bend to the couture of the frame. So I took my handy dandy propane torch and started to heart the plastic up. I was able to achieve a slight curve thus fitting the bottom a lot better. After that I removed 4 screws from the bottom of the rig and drilled holes in the new skid plate, lined them up and screwed it in. It was still a little out of line so I took the torch back to it and bent it just a little more.
SO the end result is what you see. I think it will work for now, the biggest gripe I have with it is that the 4 screws that I used to secure it to the truck are not recessed so they stick out just a little. I don't think this will be a problem for now, but it may cause an issue later. Just figured I would post it up here to maybe give someone else an idea if they didn't wanna spend the extra cash on a skid plate and was looking for something temporary.
Any thoughts on the project? Do you guys think that the screws not being recessed will be an issue or not?
PS: I know I need to clean my truck real good, that's tomorrows project
So I took it, measured it all up and started to cut. Luckily this stuff is pretty thin (I think 1/8 inch) so I was able to cut it with just a utility knife. Well after I cut it out to specs I noticed that it was flat going against the frame giving it no curves to bend to the couture of the frame. So I took my handy dandy propane torch and started to heart the plastic up. I was able to achieve a slight curve thus fitting the bottom a lot better. After that I removed 4 screws from the bottom of the rig and drilled holes in the new skid plate, lined them up and screwed it in. It was still a little out of line so I took the torch back to it and bent it just a little more.
SO the end result is what you see. I think it will work for now, the biggest gripe I have with it is that the 4 screws that I used to secure it to the truck are not recessed so they stick out just a little. I don't think this will be a problem for now, but it may cause an issue later. Just figured I would post it up here to maybe give someone else an idea if they didn't wanna spend the extra cash on a skid plate and was looking for something temporary.
Any thoughts on the project? Do you guys think that the screws not being recessed will be an issue or not?
PS: I know I need to clean my truck real good, that's tomorrows project
