After I dented my oil pan up so bad that it was leaking, my dealer put a new one on. I started looking at armor. I found a few that would do the job and some that cost a little more than I wanted to spend right now. So I found the new one from Rancho and ordered it from my local 4 Wheel parts store. I went to pick it up and brought it home, open the box and the first thing I see is a tube of glue. There was a colored picture for instructions on how to glue it on. I went back to Rancho’s web page to see if I missed something about gluing it on, nope I didn’t. In my opinion if you got caught on a rock like I did the first time it wouldn’t protect your oil pan that much. You would just have two parts made of metal dented up, since it is glued right to the pan. Then I took it back to the store for a refund. The guys at the store understood and give my money back. Just my $0.02 cents

 

Woah. That'll keep me from buyin one.

 

Ya I was pretty surprised to when I first saw these to. I wouldn't trust it in my opinion. I think I'm just going to splurge on the Rockhard engine/tranny skid.

 

Actually, the Rancho skid plate is pretty thick. I've seen one, and it would be very easy to weld in place. Toyota actually welded skid plates to the the old Land Cruiser oil pans from the factory. It worked well. There are plenty of holes on the Rancho plate to facilitate mig welding. Wouldn't take much. I doubt you'd even heat the oil up a whole lot.

 

I'd hate to burn through on that!!

 

Yeah, that would be a bitch. That's why you'd want somebody who knew how to weld doin the job.

 

What is that thing made of? It looks either 3/16 or 1/4. You'd have to be doin somethin pretty stupid to dent that. I understand your point, though. If you can stop the dent BEFORE it gets to the pan, all the better.

 

X2 It also protects the cats and as you get the funds you can add the rest.

 

I have one of these and I used JB Weld to secure it with the high temperature silicone they provide. It fits pretty tight to the oilpan so, it won't just "fall off" on the first impact. Mine has been on for quite a few months now. You can also use lacing wire to tie it on the bolts.

Even though it is mounted to the oil pan, there are several advantages to this oil pan armor...

1) Better clearance

2) Mud and gunk don't collect in it

3) Cheap to buy and thick metal

4) Much lighter weight than other skids

It is not as effective as a larger i.e. Skid Row/Rock Hard plates, but for a little more oil pan protection and better ground clearance, you can't beat it for the price. Plus it doesn't interfere with the suspension, like some of the other large skids do.

 

do you have any pics of your skid to show, i am interested in skids myself and would like to see them really instlled as to the pics you see online.