Cutting Boards anyone?

[Dbrown016]

Been reading around on other offroad forums and found the idea that UHMW plastic is a great material to use for a skidplate. Its cheap, flexible when you want it to, easy to cut and easy to drill. UHMW is the same material used for cutting boards in your kitchen. im very interested in playing with this idea to cover my oil pan. I had a friend with a second gen literally tear the oil pan off from a rock. Now hes got me worried, so i need a cheap solution to protection. Flame on me if you want, but i think I have found my solution.

 

[TKDx00]

Hey, if it works great... but don't think you'll get flaming here...maybe a few be careful comments... good luck.

 

[NMTerras]

Is that substantially different from hdpe? I know some folks have tried that with varying degrees of success


Sent from my brain using technology

 

[NMTerras]

Xterra mike on cx comes to mind


Sent from my brain using technology

 

[drbandkgb]

The only issue most have is heat from the motor or exhaust... The heat tends to warp the plastic..
I think Xterror04 has had luck with this..

 

[NMTerras]

That and protection. A good enough blow and the plastic might not get the job done. Better than nothing for sure though

 

[mudchet]

Some questions:

1. What thickness are you planning to go with? 0.5"?

2. Is the cost for stock plastic that much cheaper than steel? I bought HDPE for my drawers in my cargo space and was surprised at how much that stuff goes for. I havent priced out buying a piece of steel to make a skid plate with, what does a 2' x 2' x 1/4" piece of steel cost?

 

[xterror04]

I had these for a while, mine warped near exhaust you have to get pretty thick stuff, over 3/4" to keep it from flexing much, even then if you go over a rock it will still flex the plastic, you could get some thinner steel and pair it with this and it would work awesome, but buy itself unless your going with incredibly thick stuff 3/16 steel works better and is cheaper

 

[xterror04]

I purchased a steel plate 2'x4' 3/16 in thick for $80 at loftis steel in Nashville, I was able to make the transmission and radiator skids from it

 

[NismoFire]

I purchased a steel plate 2'x4' 3/16 in thick for $80 at loftis steel in Nashville, I was able to make the transmission and radiator skids from it

Dude you have a metal brake at the shop here?

 

[granitex]

A good friend of mine ran them on his comp. rock buggy for a short while. He started using them for the weight savings, but the problem that he ran into was how slick they were. When he would start to drop off of a ledge the skids would offer no traction, where steel or aluminum would offer some traction.

I looked at doing plastic skids a while back, and steel was still cheaper in the long run.

 

[granitex]

I have used some as part of the laptop mount that I made. They can very light weight, and help to reduse vibration.

 

[xterror04]

Dude you have a metal brake at the shop here?

Nope I slightly grinded a line. In the sheet where I needed the bend and attached a come along to each end of the sheet and pulled it together (incredibly sketchy lol)

 

[NMTerras]

Nope I slightly grinded a line. In the sheet where I needed the bend and attached a come along to each end of the sheet and pulled it together (incredibly sketchy lol)

That sounds very similar to how I bent my aluminum skid on my bumper!