Rubithon Armor Hall of Fame (and Shame)

[DaveInDenver]

How about a thread about stuff that worked and maybe stuff that didn't. Bill Morgan (sliders, 'Con tested!) and Terry Holben (mid skid, 'Con tested!) both made up custom stuff for me that I wanted to throw out some club props for that. Plus some of the other stuff that I put on that made it through the Rubicon.

Here's some of the cross member/skid dealie that Terry made up for me. Based on the dents and scrapes, this last minute thing was probably a major good thing to do. We made it quite a bit too low I think and that's probably why it took a beating, but it never hung me up and being a low under belly I went with the theory that all that steel was gonna be used. Same with the sliders, rather than avoiding them I just used the outriggers as a part of the technique to get around and over stuff. Will snap photos of Bill's work, but suffice to say, his welds held up to the punishment.

View attachment 9945

View attachment 9946

View attachment 9947

 

[DaveInDenver]

Bud's cross member worked like spades. But the decision to go with 0.120" thick material on the belly pan was not good. He no longer does 0.120" and this part is 3/16" like the rest of his armor. Just to make sure to note that I am a little disappointed that it bent do badly, but Bud never represented it as hard core and he has offered to sell me a 3/16" plate at what's below his cost. So Bud's doing the right thing and I don't want to make it sound negative. The IFS skid in front was 3/16" and it barely shows any hint of deflection what-so-ever.

Not to mention, I'm a lousy driver and I really worked all this junk underneath. So other than the PITA to keep it from hitting the front driveshaft, I can't complain in the least that it got abused...

 

[Red_Chili]

Thanks for the kind words! I know you got some grief for the unusual slider configuration, but after you told me what you wanted to do, I figgered their design would work best for you. Let me know if you want anything changed.

 

[Rzeppa]

Not to mention, I'm a lousy driver and I really worked all this junk underneath. So other than the PITA to keep it from hitting the front driveshaft, I can't complain in the least that it got abused...

LOL! When Wayne Smith helped me put my lift on my 40, he commented on all the dents and scrapes underneath. He said "You should learn how to drive". I just smiled and said, "you should come wheel with us on some Colorado rocks". Wayne's from Calgary, and most of their wheeling is in muddy stuff they call "skag". Good post Dave!

 

[farnhamstj]

Dave that skid plate looks like it did it's job to me. You just clearanced it a little. nice.

 

[Crash]

So, Dave, if you go for Bud's offer of a heavier duty skid plate can we interpolate that you are planning on going to Rubithon next year? The OMEs will be up to the task.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Dave that skid plate looks like it did it's job to me. You just clearanced it a little. nice.

Keep in mind that what you see is after a couple of trail side Hi-Lift handle pry-to-straighten sessions and complete removal-and-jump on it session. LOL!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Another Rubicon-approved product. Running a Sonoran Steel IFS truss, which connects the rear two lower control arm mounts. From the factory Toyota has one in the front and the front diff hangs on it. The back ones are just heavily gussted, but still hanging in space. There are various ways to reinforce it, but it was a bit harder to remove the bolts this time (I take it off to change the oil) and took a little encouragement to get all the bolts in. Used to be that the bolts fit right into the holes and now the are tight to the outsides of the holes and I had to use a tapered punch to get one side pulled over. I'm very sure that without it I would have tweaked my frame... As an aside, I used 5/16" Gr.8 bolts instead of 3/8" that I thought about. None of them showed any sign of deflection, plenty strong.

View attachment 10075