Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I really can't seem to land on a 'good' skid plate setup for the GX.
Background - I offroad. I'm bad at it. I need good protection.
Here's what I got so far-
I had the OEM skid plates on my OT+.
Test #1: Rival transfer case + OEM front & center.
I added the Rival transfer case skid before heading to my first trip, because it was the only one I found that could be added to the OEM set and was reasonably priced.
I hated the way it bolts to the frame, but I did it anyway. Because there are no frame blind nuts for a transmission skid plate, every manufacturer seems to come up with their own weird solution. In the case of Rival it was a small piece of metal with threading you stick into a frame hole, and try to get the bolts to go in without spinning the metal too much. The metal is thin and breaks easily.
If anyone ever tries to remove the skid plate, that metal will be lost inside your frame rattling forever and no way to reinstall the skid.
Also, the rear part of the skid plate hangs really low and makes for really bad clearance. As if the GX isn't already pretty bad in terms of clearance.
Test #2: Nutserts for the Rival skid plate + OEM front & center.
I replaced the weird nuts Rival provided with Nutserts.
It works, no more pieces of metal that can get lost.
However... it turns out nutsers are not so great for vibration / impact applications. They might loosen over time.
Anyway, took the car on an easy trail. Bent the OEM front plate beyond recognition.
The OEM plates are so thin that when I landed on a rock, it bent the front skid all the way to the front diff. It wasn't even a big rock, it was more about the very soft suspension letting it bottom out into that rock.
Test #3: CBI full skid plates
Looks good, solid build, better clearance than stock and/or Rival, only one weird blind nut on the transfer case skid.
However... the bolts for the transfer case skid are impossible to get to. Maybe if you have some specialty tools or really thin arms. I managed to tighten them a bit before realizing that there's no way in hell anyone will ever be able to un-tighten them and my hand might get stuck there forever. There's just no way to get your hand in there.
Not a big concern except that you have to remove the transfer case skid plate to grease the driveshafts, which in theory means it needs to be removed every 5K-10K miles.
Ended up throwing away the transfer case skid.
Took the car to an OHV area to test the suspension. Guess what- e-KDSS hits the front skid when fully articulated.
CBI told me they're looking at redesigning the front skid for better clearance on the e-KDSS.
idk how other skids are, but at this point, I'll probably stick with CBI, discard the transfer case skid (transfer case looks robust enough
) unless I come up with a better solution on how to bolt it to the frame that's easy to unbolt, and cut the front skid for better clearance of the e-KDSS system.
Background - I offroad. I'm bad at it. I need good protection.
Here's what I got so far-
I had the OEM skid plates on my OT+.
Test #1: Rival transfer case + OEM front & center.
I added the Rival transfer case skid before heading to my first trip, because it was the only one I found that could be added to the OEM set and was reasonably priced.
I hated the way it bolts to the frame, but I did it anyway. Because there are no frame blind nuts for a transmission skid plate, every manufacturer seems to come up with their own weird solution. In the case of Rival it was a small piece of metal with threading you stick into a frame hole, and try to get the bolts to go in without spinning the metal too much. The metal is thin and breaks easily.
If anyone ever tries to remove the skid plate, that metal will be lost inside your frame rattling forever and no way to reinstall the skid.
Also, the rear part of the skid plate hangs really low and makes for really bad clearance. As if the GX isn't already pretty bad in terms of clearance.
Test #2: Nutserts for the Rival skid plate + OEM front & center.
I replaced the weird nuts Rival provided with Nutserts.
It works, no more pieces of metal that can get lost.
However... it turns out nutsers are not so great for vibration / impact applications. They might loosen over time.
Anyway, took the car on an easy trail. Bent the OEM front plate beyond recognition.
The OEM plates are so thin that when I landed on a rock, it bent the front skid all the way to the front diff. It wasn't even a big rock, it was more about the very soft suspension letting it bottom out into that rock.
Test #3: CBI full skid plates
Looks good, solid build, better clearance than stock and/or Rival, only one weird blind nut on the transfer case skid.
However... the bolts for the transfer case skid are impossible to get to. Maybe if you have some specialty tools or really thin arms. I managed to tighten them a bit before realizing that there's no way in hell anyone will ever be able to un-tighten them and my hand might get stuck there forever. There's just no way to get your hand in there.
Not a big concern except that you have to remove the transfer case skid plate to grease the driveshafts, which in theory means it needs to be removed every 5K-10K miles.
Ended up throwing away the transfer case skid.
Took the car to an OHV area to test the suspension. Guess what- e-KDSS hits the front skid when fully articulated.
CBI told me they're looking at redesigning the front skid for better clearance on the e-KDSS.
idk how other skids are, but at this point, I'll probably stick with CBI, discard the transfer case skid (transfer case looks robust enough
) unless I come up with a better solution on how to bolt it to the frame that's easy to unbolt, and cut the front skid for better clearance of the e-KDSS system.
