DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
Mini truck guys! Ordering my Budbuilt underside stuff and have an option, need thoughts. Going with an IFS skid plate, his transfer case cross member and a skid plate. The IFS plate is 3/16" and will go from the ARB to just behind the rear of the back A-arm. I have a Sonoran Steel IFS truss and so I will drill and tap a couple of holes to reinforce the IFS skid, which kicks up just slightly behind that. Good so far.
Since I'm sticking with IFS for the foreseeable future, Bud has a belly pan instead of the regular transfer case skid plate. This will bolt to the IFS skid plate and cover the area between the back of the suspension to the cross member, behind the cross member it turns up just like the regular cross member skid. It will not be completely flat and smooth like some of the Tacoma guys have, but I will have a continuous skid from the ARB all the way to the output of the transfer case. The fuel tank has the stock skid. It's gonna look like a friggin' IED defusing truck under there!
Any who, he currently makes the belly pans in 0.120" steel, but is going to start offering a 3/16" version of it. Same price and he's giving me the option. Weight penalty is about 30% over the regular version, so probably 15~20 lbs higher than the 0.120" one. That does not look like a lot, but extra pound added does decrease the payload. So 20 lbs is 3 gallons less water or in a better measurement, 32 less bottles of beer!
I told him that the 0.120" would be fine for what I'm doing (and he's already been making these for years at 0.120" without massive failure). But just throwing it out, maybe get a couple of extra viewpoints.
Since I'm sticking with IFS for the foreseeable future, Bud has a belly pan instead of the regular transfer case skid plate. This will bolt to the IFS skid plate and cover the area between the back of the suspension to the cross member, behind the cross member it turns up just like the regular cross member skid. It will not be completely flat and smooth like some of the Tacoma guys have, but I will have a continuous skid from the ARB all the way to the output of the transfer case. The fuel tank has the stock skid. It's gonna look like a friggin' IED defusing truck under there!
Any who, he currently makes the belly pans in 0.120" steel, but is going to start offering a 3/16" version of it. Same price and he's giving me the option. Weight penalty is about 30% over the regular version, so probably 15~20 lbs higher than the 0.120" one. That does not look like a lot, but extra pound added does decrease the payload. So 20 lbs is 3 gallons less water or in a better measurement, 32 less bottles of beer!
I told him that the 0.120" would be fine for what I'm doing (and he's already been making these for years at 0.120" without massive failure). But just throwing it out, maybe get a couple of extra viewpoints.
