Anyone built skid plates for their ubolts (that would mean you have leaf springs - and there are not many rigs left with them)? As I am pushing onto harder trails and testing the clearance of my 33s, I have been catching the ubolt ends - even bent one on Chinamans. I cut them off at the nut, but it bent above the nut at the spring plate. I was thinking this was pretty straight forward, and then of course as I thought about some ideas and check around, its never as simple as it initially seemed. Something like this is what I am thinking - hoping making them would be more cost effective as these generally cost around $120 a pair.
I would re-use my existing spring plates (with shock mount) and just weld on the cover/skid (1/4" I think) and drill out the larger holes to access the nuts. This might actually require a couple different pieces as the end piece would need be welded in at a specific angle (I don't have a brake to bend them). I think I would also need something in the center between the plates and the bolt holes to held provide some support to keep the skid from collapsing inward/upward when used. Welding the center support (probably something like 1" square tubing) to both the top and bottom plates is probably not possible given the the tight space, but guessing i could get away with just welding it to one.