Sure I'll be happy to let you know once I get them. You do not need to drop them to change the oil in the Tacoma's, so I don't expect you would need to with the LC. I suspect there is a "cut out" to reach the drain plug along with the filter door, but I did ask on the site for confirmation.
RCI vs GreenLane Skid Plates
- Thread starter kerner
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Thank you for asking the following question on our product, Land Cruiser Engine Skid Plate | 250 (24+):
do you need to drop the skid to drain the oil?
We've come up with an answer!
No, the oil can be changed without removing the skid plate.
Click here to check out Land Cruiser Engine Skid Plate | 250 (24+)
- Dec 22, 2024
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- 2025 LC Premium, 2009 Jeep JK Rubicon, 2024 TRD PRO 4Runner, 2022 TRD PRO Tacoma
We may have a winner option I'm assuming you'll need a fumoto installed to not hav
thank you so much!
You are very welcome although it cost me the transfer case skid and recovery points in Chili Pepper red...LOL. At least that's all done when it gets here.
To fit the Tacoma cross bar you will have to cut out the oem LC bracket and widen the holes on the Tacoma bracket so it lines up. They currently do not offer one for the LC but I’m sure as more and more ppl start crawling and braking the support bracket that will change. Or not
There are a few folks out there who are offering skids that don't use the support bracket to mount. As mentioned Victory is one and I think there are a few others. I just went with Victory as the less modification I need to do to a part to make it fit, the better in my world. I'm not wearing the part or otherwise modifying design from the engineering standpoint. Same reason I wont buy rock sliders that you need to drill the frame to fit. Just my take...
So do you need to drill for the Greenland skids? Also, do they mount to the radiator bracket? Looks like you have to drill holes for the Victory skids.
No drilling for greenlane.
It does..
Ok, thanks for the info!
It appears the C4 is out, but they don’t powder coat or paint it. I’m thinking the Victory skids, but I worry about those protruding bolts. There just doesn’t seem to be a perfect product out there.
I think your concern is valid on the Victory skids. I just finished installing the whole set. The four bolts fastening the engine skid and Transmission skid to the vehicle protrude a bit. Other than that, I don't see much that could get hung up.
Slee Offroad is releasing their aluminum skid plates very soon. They've also made high strength steel skids in the past, but I don't know if those will be coming or not. Here's a link: Slee LC Skid Plate
Those look like they may attach to the radiator support.
Victory skid plate in aluminum installed for a month
Filter change easy, drain plug a total mess, going to enlarge the oil drain hole so I can easily install at drain valve
Filter change easy, drain plug a total mess, going to enlarge the oil drain hole so I can easily install at drain valve
Good to know. I changed my oil before the install. Love the skids so far overall. Did you do all three (engine, transmission and transfer case)?
Yes, the Slee does attach to the radiator. I asked Slee about using the tow points and received a lengthy (and informative) response. If you're interested, watch the video starting at 27:45 to see an LC jump and break the radiator on some sand dunes. Then read Christo's response (the owner of Slee Offroad).
Christo's response to whether or not Slee uses the tow points to attach their skid plate:
Looking at that damage there is nothing a set of skid plates that are attached to the tow points is going to make a difference. It is not even clear whether it was the skid plate / cross member or maybe some other part that damaged the radiator without seeing what was damaged during the bottoming out of the truck. There is a relatively large gap between the first cross member and the radiator. The AC condenser is also in front of the radiator. It is entirely possible some internal component or any of the multitude items that are in front of the radiator did the damage. See attached photo. Unless you put a massive crossmember there and try to even lower that skid plate the tow point attachment does not really come into play. I do not believe it was the fact that it was attached to that crossmember that caused the issue.
We designed our skid plates as high clearance as possible and arguably it might not even have bent in like that since it sits as high as possible. We decided not to use hidden fasteners that inevitably require standoffs to be welded on the skid plates and drop the skid plate down. We attach directly to the cross members and use low profile counter sunk bolts with protection washers. That allowed us to get the skids about 1 to 1.5” higher than most offerings on the market currently. The bolts are easily replaced if damaged vs dealing with hidden fasteners and collapsed stand offs.
The LC 250 does not have the sway bar in front of the crossmember, so it allowed us to put the skid plate as high as possible. On the GX550 the sway bar is in that location that got crushed and there is additional brace installed that would help in an impact like this.
We also don’t attach to the tow points since we designed the front skid plate to easily remove for oil changes. You need access to the oil filter, and we found that just leaving a small access port is not conducive to easy servicing. For the drain plug we do have an access port and a built-in funnel to make draining easier.
We will do steel in the near future. With our use of 7ga (3/16”) Grade 50 High Strength steel it would hold up better in an impact like that. Even the Aluminum would be better.
Thanks for this. I've seen this vid. I don't really buy this guys total defense of his skids. Lots of good stuff built into them for sure, and I get it, but there are a ton of issues with the Tacoma's on broken radiator supports and some companies have fabricated reinforcements for them. For me..I'd rather bypass any potential issues and mount the skids to the tow points. It would be nice to have the counter sunk bolts for sure. If you look around, several manufactures have access panels for oil changes so you don't need to drop the skid at all. I guess it comes down to what you like...LOL
OK, might as well make my first post on the forum here. Happy to be here and answer questions. There are obviously different ways to design a product. Our number one question we get asked in regards to skid plates is what is involved with changing oil. We have found that by splitting the front plate in two pieces that it makes it much easier to remove the front plate to access the oil filter vs. working through an opening. It it still only 4 bolts to remove. So we option to address that design criteria.
Merely saying a skid plate that bolts to the tow points will be better does not really address the issue. The radiator would not be better protected unless you add an additional crossmember or sacrifice a lot of clearance. See attached photo. The tow point bolt locations are a good two to three inches below the radiator cross member. Now if one tied those together with some sort of cross member, yes that would be a way to protect the radiator more. Or even if you ran the plate from that section back it would not be close to the radiator, but you are also giving up a lot of ground clearance.
That hit that the vehicle took was pretty substantial. See the screen shot. The factor skid was pushed so hard the eccentric punched a hole it in and the radiator cross member appears to be bent. Not sure there are many skids that will take that impact. Not saying there is not, but there has to be a balance on designing for a outlier or the mass market. We chose to go for clearance and allow the user to hopefully stay away from impacts easier. ''
Skid plates is a little bit of a wrong term, since 6k lbs trucks don't really skid easily. The term ARB uses in Under Vehicle Protection and that is a much better term.
Merely saying a skid plate that bolts to the tow points will be better does not really address the issue. The radiator would not be better protected unless you add an additional crossmember or sacrifice a lot of clearance. See attached photo. The tow point bolt locations are a good two to three inches below the radiator cross member. Now if one tied those together with some sort of cross member, yes that would be a way to protect the radiator more. Or even if you ran the plate from that section back it would not be close to the radiator, but you are also giving up a lot of ground clearance.
That hit that the vehicle took was pretty substantial. See the screen shot. The factor skid was pushed so hard the eccentric punched a hole it in and the radiator cross member appears to be bent. Not sure there are many skids that will take that impact. Not saying there is not, but there has to be a balance on designing for a outlier or the mass market. We chose to go for clearance and allow the user to hopefully stay away from impacts easier. ''
Skid plates is a little bit of a wrong term, since 6k lbs trucks don't really skid easily. The term ARB uses in Under Vehicle Protection and that is a much better term.
