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View Full Version : Andrew's(Medic 5150) Dodge skid plates



Brody
February 24th, 2010, 04:48 PM
Andrew called up and wanted me to go ahead and make him some skid plates, one for his huge gas tank and another for the transfer case. Both of these are pretty exposed to rocks, especially the plastic gas tank. The gas tank didn't even have any kind of factory weenie skid plate on it.

I got pictures of everything except the transfer case plate, but suffice to say, a rock is not going to trash it out..

First of all I made a template for the gas tank, much the same as I later did for the T case. I then figured out how much room I had to play with and where the bends were going to go. Once the skid was cut to fit and the bends were in place, I then located the mounts. These ended up being 1/4" steel welded to the existing cross members on the frame on the inside and to the actual frame for the outside mounts. These were then drilled and welded to the frame. Matching mounts were then welded to the skid plate. Initially it looked as though I could use the tank strap bolts, but this didn't work out.

Once the mounting locations were in place on the skid plate, a strengthening rib was welded along each side all the way to the front of the skid. At some point down the road, Andrew is going to be installing a body lift, so this also had to be taken into consideration. As it is now, when the lift is installed and the gas tank raised, 4 new locating holes will have to be drilled in the mounts, but this otherwise remains unchanged.

With the addition of these skid plates, the whole underside of Andrew's rig is pretty well protected. If he does grind over a rock or two, he will be hitting metal that is designed to be hit, nothing important. BTW Andrew, thanks for the help on these and also for the work!

Smash
February 24th, 2010, 05:18 PM
Awesome!!!!

RockyMtnHigh
February 24th, 2010, 05:26 PM
Awesome!!!!

X2, post some pics of them mounted!

Brody
February 24th, 2010, 05:47 PM
X2, post some pics of them mounted!

I think Andrew is going to stop by tomorrow and we will throw the skid on and take some finished photos. They are decorating the side of the garage right now...and LaDawn doesn't like my style of decorating...:D...they are on her side...:lmao:

Fordguy77
February 24th, 2010, 05:58 PM
good looking skids

Medic-5150
February 24th, 2010, 08:54 PM
you're more than welcome Pete. I can't say I helped much though. I pretty much just stood around...Thanks for making them though! I'll get a picture of the t-case skid up maybe tomorrow morning. As for stopping by in the morning, I'm not entirely sure. I've got plans in the AM but we'll see.

Rob
February 24th, 2010, 09:00 PM
Looking good.

1freaky1
February 25th, 2010, 05:37 AM
nice job guys, look forward to the rest of the pics.

Funrover
February 25th, 2010, 08:10 AM
SWEET!!

CR
February 25th, 2010, 08:13 AM
Very nice fab work brody.

Mporter
February 25th, 2010, 08:37 AM
Looks real good

Brody
February 25th, 2010, 10:33 AM
Installed pictures. Lighting sucked...

scout man
February 25th, 2010, 11:27 AM
yea, looks like great gas tank placement if you want to rip it open. Thats a huge skid plate, but definitely necessary by the looks of it.

Fordguy77
February 25th, 2010, 06:15 PM
Great looking skids, dang that gas tank couldn't of been more in the way.

TxTau
February 25th, 2010, 06:19 PM
looks great. good job Brody.

Brody
February 26th, 2010, 05:46 AM
yea, looks like great gas tank placement if you want to rip it open. Thats a huge skid plate, but definitely necessary by the looks of it.

Huge damn gas tank! The tank is almost 48 " long from front to back(and about 14.5 inches wide). And you are right...it both hangs down too low and is very exposed to damage with no protection and plastic. I can't wait until the body lift goes on and the tank gets moved up. At least this will keep it from being a trail stopper for the time being. I stuck the skid as close to the tank as I felt was practical, too, leaving only 1/2" clearance between the tank and the top of the skid.

Thanks for all of the compliments, too! Much appreciated!