Don’t you have to do some drilling for the Victory skids? I thought I read that in their description of the product.
Skid Plates and Rock Rails
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There have been a few cases, including one during an early review, showing that if you accidentally hit something there you’re likely to damage the radiator. That cross member doesn’t appear to be very strong, the mistake seems to be that Toyota decided to connect a protective shield to a vital component — if your skid plate takes a big hit now you’ve got to worry about radiator damage. For most of us it probably won’t happen, but decoupling the two is a lot better.
Slee Offroad is coming out with a skid plate soon. I just installed the Slee Rock Sliders which were very well made. I have the OEM skid plate, so I probably won't get the Slee skids.
They look nice but they also mount to the radiator crossmember -- "Factory mounting points for easy installation." I've also got the factory plates and will stick with them unless I see something substantially better.
Check out NYTOP for better rock rails and skid plates. They all bolt on to existing threads. Love mine.
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Yes they come with the hardware
What about something like these skid plate bolt protectors? I'm likely going with the Victory skids because they mount to the recovery points. I'm planning to pick these protectors up.
That would certainly be an improvement.
Agreed. As I was reading the concerns I was thinking that ppl probably shouldn’t be bashing the skids at that location anyway…just slightly behind that area, it’s bolted to solid structure. If you are challenging the skid right at that mounting point, you are probably well beyond the intent of the OEM design…or doing something you shouldn’t be…otherwise, the OEM skid should be fine for the 80% + of ppl that aren’t hard-core off-roading.
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My lower rad support got bent not from rock bashing but from a washed-out part of a trail that I didn’t notice in low-light. The nose of my car slammed into the ground.
Caveat: I had the shitty little debris shield when this happened, so I don’t know if the proper skid plate would have distributed the force enough to keep the bar from bending
There are already multiple posts in the forum of people who took a hard hit while off-roading and broke their radiator mount because their skids were mounted there
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I’m still looking into what’s right for me. I’m with you guys on it not being the best connection point. What kind of speed were you carrying when you took the hit?
<20
That makes me wonder if simply bolting a straight piece of heavy gauge steel from tow point to tow point would protect from specifically that type of impact (i.e., not relying on skid plates for that kind of impact). If it wasn’t dark outside, I’d go climb under my LC and start mentally designing…
Something like this: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...llow-3587263?store=1953&gStoreCode=1953&gQT=1
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I actually got a quote to do this at a mod shop but they never got back to me… guess I’ll just be more careful!
Maybe? But any hit to the sloped skid plate behind it is still going to yank on or press on the radiator mount.
DV8 (once they are available) and Victory 4x4 are the only two I know of that attach to the recovery points. Are there any others?
Dang.. I wish they had a oil drain hatch and maybe one for the filter .. oh well, guess I'll just take them on and off every oil change
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💨 Sold / Gone
Rock Rails for sale
