Heavy Duty Skid Plate

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

**I had sent a message to Donahue about a product idea, b/c I wasn't sure if it was cool w/ him that I post in the 3 Leaf sub-forum. He said it was, so here the request and his response**

I've been looking for a metal front skid plate for my '02 blazer. I don't think that anyone makes one that will work w/out a 6" lift. So I wondered if this would be the kind of thing that you would be interested in taking on?

I'd like someone that is strong enough that I could hit it with some decent force while off roading and not do any real damage to it, but I also am not looking to spend a fortune.

that might be something i can work out. i would probably need some measurements and such, and would have to have you approve the design before anything was built because i dont have the truck here. but im sure we can work something out. and feel free to post in the sub forum, its for everything 3 leaf fab related.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

Before I contacted you about this, I had picked up a ZR2 (carbon fiber) skid plate thinking that I could use it on my blazer. The cross member that the lower bolts attach to must be a little different on the ZR2 b/c there was a gap that I could not fudge when I tried putting it on mine. So these pictures/dimensions are from the ZR2, just to get a basic idea started. I'll try to get the real ones sometime within the next week.

I know there are a lot of angles in this, so I'm not sure how close to the original you can make it, or how you will want me to measure these. There is a lip on the front/top that I showed measurements for off the top of the pic. It's 1.25" at the center and tapers down to 0.5" at the edges. This one is .173" thick. There are 6 bolts total. 2 on each side at the front/top, and 2 at the back/bottom. This orientation of the pic is as if you were looking at the vehicle from the front, but the outward facing side is laying up. Just trying to give you the best description I can, b/c I know all the angles make it look a little confusing.

some things that I'd like to see:
-keep the oil filter access door
-not lose any ground clearance
-something that is going to not rust out quickly--stainless steel, powder coat, aluminum? what do you think?

And then with all this information, I was hoping to get a possible time frame and then start getting an idea on the cost. I don't want to waste your time if it's going to be out of my budget, but if it is at least I have a goal to start saving for.

Thanks again!

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x45/treasonagainstcaesar/IMG_5493.jpg

[Donahue]

well, first off i can say that you probably dont want it out of a similar thickness of steel. it will be super heavy and overkill. something more like 10 or 12 ga which i think it around .085-.110 or something in there. mild steel will be the cheapest by far, which is something i would look for in a product like this. powder coating is off course an option, it would hold up much better than paint. depending on how it was designed, to keep the oil door it might need something welded to it, which also says mild steel to me. i feel i need to get a TIG welder but currently dont have that so that kinda kicks out stainless and aluminum.

as far as the cost or time, that kinda is up in the air. this is something we probably would keep (the design) to sell again in the future, so i really dont think its too big of deal to spend some time programing the part. i will look into the cost of the laser/material and get back to you on that part.

one other thing that i dont know is this. would a skid plate from a first gen fit a second gen? i have stock first gen parts and trucks that i can mess with all i want, but currently nothing second gen. so if i designed it to fit what i have, would it still work for you, or be what you wanted?

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

You're right--I don't want to add a ton of extra weight, but like I said I do want something sturdy (with some quick math, I see that at 1/8" and mild steel we're looking at around 16lbs). To give you an idea of why I want something strong, I was off roading and hit a bump hard enough that I broke through one bolt hole on my plastic skid plate and pushed the whole thing back far enough that the hardware for the oil door left a dent in my oil filter. I just don't want anything like that to happen again.

I've done a little checking around, superlift and fabtech are using 0.1875" steel. Skyjacker is using 0.125" at least for the Colorado. So from what I'm thinking right now, 11 or 12 gauge, would probably be good. And, yeah, I realize that properties of steel vary from one type to another, so maybe that isn't the most pertinent information.

From what I see, the 1st and 2nd gens don't use the same skid plate. LMC lists 2 different part numbers, and it doesn't look like a first gen has the oil filter access there.

I'm pretty sure the only dimension that is going to be different for my non-ZR2 plate is the 15". If you need more pics, let me know from what angles.

[jhedstrom]

I have a 98 zr2 that has an aluminum skid plate that is allmost indestructable. Try drilling out the plate to match?

[Donahue]

i dont know about you guys, but i feel that if you need to skid plate something, it must be important and therefore should be able to support the weight of the truck without deflecting too much.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

I have a 98 zr2 that has an aluminum skid plate that is allmost indestructable. Try drilling out the plate to match?

Thanks for the idea. I'm pretty sure drilling isn't going to be an option. More like I'd have put some washers between the cross member and the skid plate. But then I'm loosing ground clearance and the skid plate isn't going to completely do the job that it was designed to do.
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Devin, sorry about the delay on those measurements. We got another blast of cold weather here in MI and I didn't feel like sitting on the snowy ground to take my shield off. I'll make a serious attempt to get them to you by Saturday.

[Donahue]

Thanks for the idea. I'm pretty sure drilling isn't going to be an option. More like I'd have put some washers between the cross member and the skid plate. But then I'm loosing ground clearance and the skid plate isn't going to completely do the job that it was designed to do.
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Devin, sorry about the delay on those measurements. We got another blast of cold weather here in MI and I didn't feel like sitting on the snowy ground to take my shield off. I'll make a serious attempt to get them to you by Saturday.dont worry, im in no rush

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

I have it pulled off right now. Besides the angles, what measurements do you want that I did not include on the other skid shield?

As a side note, mine is pretty banged up and deformed. I hope this isn't going to throw to much variation into the measurements. Would you want to try and get a good one from a junk yard and use that as a template? Then you could just include the cost of that into my price as you see fit.

[Donahue]

i would probably want to take the measurements off of something my self. remind me again what its going on, i might see if i have a friend or something with a similar setup.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

a 2nd gen blazer. Specifically a 2002.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

here is a pic of the stocker--like I said, pretty rough shape. Let me know if you need anymore info.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x45/treasonagainstcaesar/blazer%20stuff/IMG_5538.jpg