Let's see the OFF-ROADING aftermath!

[Danube]

I'm nearly a year into ownership on a TRD Offroad, and have had the privilege of using the trim to its fullest capacity in my backyard of SW Colorado. I pulled the OEM Aluminum skid plate to assess the damage, and it's honestly a lot more than I thought. The aluminum skid loses a fair bit of clearance in some areas as opposed to the composite "splash guards", and I was perplexed for the first few trips after installing it why so many of the lose rocks were tapping the skid. The back/bottom of the skid is where the most clearance is lost (somewhere near an inch) and the excess damage is evident. I did plenty of off road driving before the skid was installed, and never hit anything lol.

This is the only location seeing damage regularly. (To my knowledge), no strikes on the diff, transmission, transfer case or gas tank. I've hung up on the traction bar mounts once or twice, and armor for those is next to buy or fab. It's bummer the hitch sits so low, because that's got me hung up once. Not too badly, but angle of exit is not great

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[TFOUTS]

I’m not really seeing a problem here, after all, it is a skid plate protecting what was meant to be protected.

 

[maxx075]

Plastic/composite --> Aluminum --> Steel

 

[Will721]

Plastic/composite --> Aluminum --> Steel

^

Absolutely true for raw stength. Although an argument could be made about weight savings and corrosion resistance for those of us in the salt.

 

[maxx075]

^

Absolutely true for raw stength. Although an argument could be made about weight savings and corrosion resistance for those of us in the salt.

Definitely doesn't account for weight or corrosion/rust lol

 

[Danube]

I’m not really seeing a problem here, after all, it is a skid plate protecting what was meant to be protected.

Yeah I'm really happy with the TRD skid, especially for the price. I was able to compound some discounts and got it from a dealership for 210. Compared to a lot of other brands, it's been excellent value.

 

[Danube]

Plastic/composite --> Aluminum --> Steel

I've been pleasantly surprised with the 1/4" Aluminum. It's light enough I can install it solo, and it's done the job great. I've used RCI before, but the cost was just too high haha

 

[TFOUTS]

I've been pleasantly surprised with the 1/4" Aluminum. It's light enough I can install it solo, and it's done the job great. I've used RCI before, but the cost was just too high haha

My son has RCI in various places under his first GEN, but I have Cali Raised on my Trailhunter. All the points I want protected are not available from RCI. I also believe that Cali Raised is a higher grade product, especially their fuel tank skid. Takes two hands and a lift, or four hands to install that one. The OEM plastic skid is sad, cut mine up..

 

[FlyAngler]

I definitely use my skids as intended. I've added several beyond the stock skids and replaced the plastic gas tank skid with a steel one. I replaced my rear trailing arms with solid steel Dobinsons. I also replaced my OEM sliders with Westcott Designs sliders recently. This truck easily has enough power to handle the extra weight and this is all are critical protection as I work to improve my offroad driving skills on group rides. Each pic/file is descriptively titled in case you're not sure what you're looking at. The A-Arm skids have taken the least damage thus far. I'm thinking about going with different wheels that have a sacrificial ring. I bought the truck to do this kind of driving and am thoroughly enjoying it!

 

[TFOUTS]

The scratches and gouges are awesome!! I really like the ones on the differential. You can only imagine what if it wasn’t there. And of course, no truck photo is complete unless you can just barely read that it’s a trail hunter because it’s covered in mud.

 

[TacoRaptor]

Off-road aftermath

 

[Danube]

I definitely use my skids as intended. I've added several beyond the stock skids and replaced the plastic gas tank skid with a steel one. I replaced my rear trailing arms with solid steel Dobinsons. I also replaced my OEM sliders with Westcott Designs sliders recently. This truck easily has enough power to handle the extra weight and this is all are critical protection as I work to improve my offroad driving skills on group rides. Each pic/file is descriptively titled in case you're not sure what you're looking at. The A-Arm skids have taken the least damage thus far. I'm thinking about going with different wheels that have a sacrificial ring. I bought the truck to do this kind of driving and am thoroughly enjoying it!

Wow that's some proper usage! I'd love to have that full setup in the future. Are you still at the stock ride height? I'm debating if lifting or armoring would be better money spent. I'm leaning more towards armoring everything before sticking it higher off the ground.

Honestly, I'd vote to keep the trail-worn wheels. It differentiates the vehicle from the mall crawlers lol.

 

[Danube]

Off-road aftermath

Never been sad after a day on the trails!!

 

[FlyAngler]

Wow that's some proper usage! I'd love to have that full setup in the future. Are you still at the stock ride height? I'm debating if lifting or armoring would be better money spent. I'm leaning more towards armoring everything before sticking it higher off the ground.

Honestly, I'd vote to keep the trail-worn wheels. It differentiates the vehicle from the mall crawlers lol.

Yeah, definitely keeping the wheels for now. The only "lift" I have is the Westcott Designs preload collar on the front (1.5" for the Trailhunter front-only version). Keep in mind that the Trailhunter comes from the factory with 2" lift in the front and 1.5" in the rear. I'm running ~35" tires to gain another inch of clearance beyond the stock 33" tires. More details are in my build thread on how I fit them.

I've been eyeing a set of 74Weld portals for quite some time now. I'll likely pull the trigger on them in the next year or so, but we'll see. Big investment, so I'm intentionally sitting with it for a long time to be more certain. This gets at the wheel issue. There are not currently any wheels with sacrificial rings that are compatible with the 74Weld portals. I have a standing search set to keep an eye out for any new products. 74Weld confirmed there aren't any yet. I've reached out the Method to see if they have anything in development, but haven't gotten an answer to that question yet. Not sure they would be willing to tell me anyway.

Good luck with your build!

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