Diy Skid Plates

Hey I am new here but I have been lurking for awhile. I have a new to me 02 that I am building up for a primarly moderate dedicated off road rig. I have the parts ordered for the PML, rear springs, rear sway delete and a 2 inch body lift. The first thing I would really like to do is get some kind of protection for the front of the undercarriage (front bumper to trans maybe gas tank if I have enough material) no rock crawling for me but a very rocky area. I couldn't find anything on home made skids. Has any one done this? Doesnt seem like it would be too hard I was thinking a 4x8 sheet of 3/16 and just using whatevers left over after the rear bumper.

Question 2 somewhat off topic it sounds like lots of people have fit 33 by about 11's with stock rims with some cutting (not afraid of doing that just needs to stay nice enough they won't call the police when I roll through nice neighborhoods), but I dont know how much these guys are doing serious offloading with rocks, so I wonder if at full flex I will have issues? I would like the extra height over my 31's but maybe 32's would be safer.
 

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kirk

Butterfly King
Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
Allen, Texas
32's are easy. you can basically do that stock. For 33's you dont have to cut the rear at all as far as I can recall, and the front has to be cut back to the cab corners and mash the pinch weld flat. Nothing anyone would notice right off i dont think. They will rub when stuffed though. And on the insides at full lock.

I think your plan for home made skids is a good idea.
 
32's are easy. you can basically do that stock. For 33's you dont have to cut the rear at all as far as I can recall, and the front has to be cut back to the cab corners and mash the pinch weld flat. Nothing anyone would notice right off i dont think. They will rub when stuffed though. And on the insides at full lock.

I think your plan for home made skids is a good idea.

Perfect I will probably go with 32's when I upgrade then, the extra ground clearance would be awesome (especially as an older toyota guy going to an xterra) but definitely form over function, and its freaking rocky around here so I need full flex. I think the skids will help but I dont know much about them so hopefully someone will help me go in the right direction.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Perfect I will probably go with 32's when I upgrade then, the extra ground clearance would be awesome (especially as an older toyota guy going to an xterra) but definitely form over function, and its freaking rocky around here so I need full flex. I think the skids will help but I dont know much about them so hopefully someone will help me go in the right direction.
I'm not familiar with the 1st Gens but you might watch forums and the Xterra and Frontier yardsale page on FB.

The first Xterras are over 20 years old and aging out. You might find someone parting one out and get a full set of skids for a steal.
 
I'm not familiar with the 1st Gens but you might watch forums and the Xterra and Frontier yardsale page on FB.

The first Xterras are over 20 years old and aging out. You might find someone parting one out and get a full set of skids for a steal.

That is actually a pretty good idea. I did order the material already but still worth looking out for some.

Personally I have always loved older stuff, shoot I would have bought another mid 80s toyota pickup to beat the cr*p out of but the wife said it had to have Ac. And you cant really beat the 300 starting price tag. (Plus a junkyard motor)
 
Bump, also open to name recommendations. I was thinking Stich (lelo and stich) because it's fairly small, blue and kind of scrappy. I also like the idea of calling it the mall crawler since it is basically the opposite of a mall crawler since it's old, generally dirty and kind of crappy.
 
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