Finished my Heavy Duty Skid Plate!!

[Jpunt]

When I first got my cart the original skid plate had been smashed and also smashed my cables underneath, so I figured I would make a new one. And since I would be making a new one, why not make it bigger and better?

So basically here are a few pictures of the process. I thought about doing a "How To" write up, so if anyone wants dimensions etc, let me know and I can get something put together for everyone.

I first started by welding a piece of straight steel under the bar towards the rear of the engine (Don't know if there is a certain name). This will hold up the rear of the skid plate.



I then measured everything up to get a rough idea, then cut and bent my steel and started fine tuning it from there.



After I got everything cut to fit. I decided I would make some cuts and weld in some expanded metal to help with air flow and prevent any type of overheating.



I figured this would be the perfect time to completely strip and repaint the underbody of the cart with "Truck Bed Liner" so I did the skid plate as well.



After thinking of a few different ideas for a way to mount the front of the plate, I finally decided to weld two bolts to the subframe and just drill holes into the skid plate. (I thought about welded the plate on for more durability, but I really wanted it to be removable without cutting)



And everything went and lined up great for the final install




I think it should work out great. I should also mention as for clearance, I made it so it is just about equal if not a little higher than my front axle, so I shouldn't have any problems with it since it would interfere with the axle first.

[StoveBolt]

Nice job J looks factory made and if you welded it on, it would have been a little tough changing the oil.

[Jpunt]

Thanks! And yeah, changing the oil was definitely a factor for deciding how to mount it lol. I'm debating on doing something for the rear differential now as well

[caddymankc]

is that bolted to the swingarm and the frame? how is the swingarm going to move

[Jpunt]

Sorry for such a late response, however as far as swing arm movement, its only about 1/16" steel and I did not add any gussets to the bends so it does have some flex to compensate for movement. That's also why I left about 3/8"-1/2" gaps from anything, so in the event it does need to flex, it will not hit or get jammed on anything.