Underbody Armor

[dirtychevymama]

Ok Guys if you don't like this idea let me know or move it too off topic or something. Just curious as to your opinions of the belly of the NF. I have seen the pics of your oil pan armor and such what do you think of the protection under the NF? What would you change or keep or do differently? I know for one the damn spare has got to be moved....I have never liked the idea of it under there!!

[MrSmithsTB]

Looks exactly like mine(except for the missing cover for the oil plug ). Def should change the oil pan skid plate. Fuel tank one I think is sufficient enough as is.

[Gordinho80]

It all depends on where you'll be wheeling. If you're going to be in the mud, then what you've got is fine. If you're gonna be on rocks, you want something a little stronger.... ie Barton's oil pan plate, radiator plate, and maybe a custom gas tank plate... that idea has been kicked around a bit on the OS. I'm sure its a matter of time before the post makes it way over here...

[dirtychevymama]

I was assuming there was something different about the NF then reg. models? I have no idea! Ehhh I didn't even bother looking over there...I wanted your opinions.

[Gordinho80]

Understood... and the reason it hasn't made its way over here yet, is cause its not THAT big a deal, really. The stock skid plates are only a hard plastic, which is fine for small rocks and such that could get kicked up while wheeling...

[bartonmd]

It all depends on where you'll be wheeling. If you're going to be in the mud, then what you've got is fine. If you're gonna be on rocks, you want something a little stronger.... ie Barton's oil pan plate, radiator plate, and maybe a custom gas tank plate... that idea has been kicked around a bit on the OS. I'm sure its a matter of time before the post makes it way over here...

Yeah, yeah, yeah... Been a bit busy lately...

I already sell the aluminum (and steel) oil pan plates, and have a prototype for the radiator skid plate that goes from the bumper all the way back to the front of the oil pan plate, but I haven't gotten past that yet... Got busy doing 15 different other things... I'll move the thread over here from the OS, but it's searchable over there if you want to see it now...

I'll probably do something for the fuel tank/T-case, but I'm not exactly sure yet... LOTS of fab work in that one, and would be prohibitively expensive to ship... Plus the fact that you can jack the rear of the vehicle up by the rear of the stock gas tank plate... It's just weak where it spans under the T-case...

Mike

[Trail X]

Plus, the TC is stuffed up in there pretty high. You'd have to be in a pretty nasty area to put it at risk.

Crap... still something I need to add to the list... fuel tank skid...

[bobbyblaze]

Gonna be working on a gas tank skid plate myself. Prob 1/4" steel again.

[bgwolfpack]

Gonna be working on a gas tank skid plate myself. Prob 1/4" steel again.

Are you thinking of wrapping it or shielding it with a plate? Could a plate extend across, from frame rail to frame rail, to offset or prevent the damage roadie did to his driveline, Driveshaft Carnage?

[The Roadie]

Hehe. Love your signature.

I'm certainly in the market for a gas tank plate. Probably get Neil to fab it for me. I also hit my previous cat one too many times and had to replace it, but there's some folklore about not enclosing the cat too much for feat of overheating the vehicle's floor above it. Needs airflow from below, so a front skid plate would have to have some effective airflow holes. Not certain how to get more facts about this risk.

[Philberto]

you know, if you had a skid plate under your cat, even with airholes... you could also use it as an oven


That said, I don't think I have a gas tank skid factory... is that an option or something? or just NF?

[The Roadie]

Option available for all:

[bgwolfpack]

roadie is that steel or plastic? Are they common enough to be had off a wreck? If someone already has one on their vehicle could we get measurement and fab copy's?


A side note= The guys at Compnine are wonderful.

[The Roadie]

It's like the oil pan skid shield - glass fiber reinforced plastic. Can't put the weight of the vehicle on it reliably. I've seen kits on Ebay even. I don't see any today.

[bobbyblaze]

Gonna be working on a gas tank skid plate myself. Prob 1/4" steel again.

Are you thinking of wrapping it or shielding it with a plate? Could a plate extend across, from frame rail to frame rail, to offset or prevent the damage roadie did to his driveline, Driveshaft Carnage?

I suppose I could wrap the entire TB in kevlar coated carbon fiber and be done with it.

Other than that, My tank didn't come with the factory shield I have seen. I just plan on making one that protects the front and the bottom to where that cross bar is. Just enough to take frontal hits.

[bgwolfpack]

Gonna be working on a gas tank skid plate myself. Prob 1/4" steel again.

Are you thinking of wrapping it or shielding it with a plate? Could a plate extend across, from frame rail to frame rail, to offset or prevent the damage roadie did to his driveline, Driveshaft Carnage?

I suppose I could wrap the entire TB in Kevlar coated carbon fiber and be done with it.

Other than that, My tank didn't come with the factory shield I have seen. I just plan on making one that protects the front and the bottom to where that cross bar is. Just enough to take frontal hits.

Do you think that's possible, to use Kevlar coated carbon fiber? I realize most of us don't need that heavy duty of protection, but there are some around here that could use it so to not step in their own bull shit

[bobbyblaze]

I prefer dinosaur shit, thank you.

[Trail X]

A decent skidplate would also replace the crappy under-tank frame-rail crossbar. Mines bent all to shit... looks like a banana.

I'd think ideally that would be replaced with a nice 1.5" DOM tube that's welded or bolted to plate coming off the front and rear. I still like the idea of using aluminum when possible... lighter and doesn't rust... yet provides adequate protection.

For shipping, it could come in 3 peices... front half, rear half, and center bar, all bolts together at center bar?... just a thought. BartonMD...

[bartonmd]

A decent skidplate would also replace the crappy under-tank frame-rail crossbar. Mines bent all to shit... looks like a banana.

I'd think ideally that would be replaced with a nice 1.5" DOM tube that's welded or bolted to plate coming off the front and rear. I still like the idea of using aluminum when possible... lighter and doesn't rust... yet provides adequate protection.

For shipping, it could come in 3 peices... front half, rear half, and center bar, all bolts together at center bar?... just a thought. BartonMD...

I actually started that one first, and have a half-assed CAD model of it... Thing is, there's enough material in it, and enough fab in it, and enough weight, that not only would nobody want to pay what it costs to make (let alone any profit), but nobody would want to add the $75-$100 to ship the thing... There are maybe 3-4 people who would actually end up ponying up for one, and at least a couple of them, I'd want to give GOOD deals too, to test it...

I also tend to stay away from flanges and bolts directly under the gas tank...

It's one thing to make something on your vehicle, where you can grind here and there, and weld here and there to make stuff work (using your vehicle as a fixture/jig), and it's something competely different to make quantities of something that's anywhere NEAR as "plug and play" as people want it to be... especially without welding each of them on your specific vehicle...

Mike

[mikepeters1983]

So what ever came of the testing and fab of the under body armor, and are you going to have some to put on the EXT's? I would be willing to pay 100 for shipping, and where is it getting shipped from? Hell I can test it for the EXT's to lol.