What do I have? Help me spend money

inkedrose said:
That’s my concern. Have read conflicting on aluminum. Want protection on trans, it has a few scrapes, the oil pan skid has paid it’s worth several times
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That's because you are a victim of exactly what you are seeing in this thread. The "conflict" is only ever caused by those that know how things work and them correcting and explaining the facts to those that don't. That isn't conflict, that is education.
 
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4Lo4Sho said:
personally, the only places I'd recommend aluminum skids are if you're in a rocky area that's also salty. For example, if your area salts it's roads during winter that you drive on regularly (as in your rig isn't parked inside over winter), but also wheel rough areas. OR if you live on the salty coast, and also wheel. (some area's in Europe are like this and aluminum is a great choice) Otherwise - meh.

BTW, good on you for thinking through what's best. Good luck with the decision.:) (y)
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Shush
 
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Danarch said:
That is what makes the world go around, we all have our preferences / opinions.
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There is a vast chasm of difference between opinion and fact. Done correctly, aluminum makes a perfectly fine skid that can take massive amounts of abuse and perfectly protect what it is designed to keep viable. That isn't an opinion, that is a proven fact and those are not the same things. You may have an opinion that says you don't want aluminum, that doesn't change the facts about what it can do.
 
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jjvw said:
Don't buy aluminum skids made from the same stuff they build box trucks, RVs, and semi trailers from.
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Or beer cans, or architectural extrusions from Home Depot, or marine grade formable, or any other of the unsuitable alloys that don't have the correct properties to be used as a skid. This is going to be more exciting when we try to get him to understand that not all steel alloys have the same properties.

Perhaps however, he was observant enough to note the warning on the trailer frames he worked around to not weld on them. Maybe he'll admit at least that part.
 
Danarch said:
They weren’t skids, they were the top and bottom rails along trailers. It has been a long time and I have no idea what grade or the exact composition the aluminum was. I am aware there are different grades of aluminum etc. but in general aluminum will get sliced cut before steel.
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If you don't know the alloy then you don't know enough to make an assertion about one being better. Aluminum used for skids is not "general".
Danarch said:
I know the Rubicon trail gets a lot of attention, but personally I think the Fordyce trail is more difficult. When I had my YJ I got home and saw the steel skid ended up have a slice in it. I perfer the steel, others prefer aluminum. I feel steel is more durable (not considering rust) than aluminum, but that may simply be my opipion based on personal experience.
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Look at my skid pic and try again.
 
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My LJ is completely protected by steel skids. Should of done aluminum. Knowing is half the battle. The future holds Aluminum skid upgrades and steel skids on marketplace for sale. 😉
 
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Danarch said:
Fair point on the comparison. What makes it go around is a person individual preference of aluminum vs steel. Some prefer steel, some prefer aluminum. Therefore some manufactures make produce both to get a portion of the market for what each prefer.
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Only manufacturers who pander to ignorance do that. Instead of doing that, a good manufacturer will educate the consumer. I never once compromised a single design to use steel in place of aluminum to appease the ignorance of the masses and I never will. I'm more than capable of designing a very high performance steel gas tank skid. It is much harder to design one in aluminum and make it work so that is what I did.
 
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inkedrose said:
The ucf sight says 3/8 aluminum is comparable with 1/4” steel. It’s the 6061
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And that right there is most of the battle. One of two things is true. Either he is not using 6061 T6 or he has not educated himself about the materials he is using. This stuff isn't even that hard to figure out or learn. Here is a press brake tonnage chart. It is used to figure out how much is needed to bend X thickness of a specific material at X length so you know if you have enough ass in your press or need to change something.
Note the area I circled in green please.
1713017898093.png
 
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mrblaine said:
And that right there is most of the battle. One of two things is true. Either he is not using 6061 T6 or he has not educated himself about the materials he is using.
View attachment 518198
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So if he's using the material he's claiming, it's the same strength as steel. Then why can't a steel design be adapted to aluminum as @jjvw was saying? I know that you know this stuff, I want to understand. With the long arm lift I have is there any reason I can't replace with aluminum or should I be calling manufacturers to ask the question?
 
Weasellee said:
Savvy delivered our UAM in 14 days of order and we ordered during EJS

Edit:

And emailed to let us know he was at EJS and would ship upon return.

Once shipped email and tracking was received.

Still waiting on the engine skid and we will see.
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Did you order through site or actually call? How long has your wait been so far on the skid?
 
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inkedrose said:
So if he's using the material he's claiming, it's the same strength as steel. Then why can't a steel design be adapted to aluminum as @jjvw was saying? I know that you know this stuff, I want to understand. With the long arm lift I have is there any reason I can't replace with aluminum or should I be calling manufacturers to ask the question?
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The problem is what welding does to the aluminum. You can't take a steel design that derives a lot of its function from welds and directly interchange that with aluminum and get the same results. If the design has to be a certain way AND you have to weld it, then you have to come up with work arounds for the welded areas or they will fail.

It is like the upturned flange on the early Savvy surfboard skid. At the angle change, the two flanges butted up and were welded. I built a plate out of stainless that went on the inside with 4 bolts to prevent the joint from cracking if the skid was flexed. In steel, a simple weld would have been fine.
 
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jjvw said:
I might look into a similar custom bent angle plate design that was thick enough to not need the steel support structure beyond maybe a rear stiffener and then build my own crossmember with a trans mount.
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I'm no fabricator..my welds are ugly and dangerous at best. Looking at aluminum companies for TJs seems to be Savvy, UCF or Genright.... Motobilt is doing a little now too. Am I missing someone else?
 
inkedrose said:
I'm no fabricator..my welds are ugly and dangerous at best. Looking at aluminum companies for TJs seems to be Savvy, UCF or Genright.... Motobilt is doing a little now too. Am I missing someone else?
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You are in Arvada. Unless you have somehow managed to piss in the cheerios of a very good group of helpful folks in that area, then they are there and generally willing to help them that help themselves. They won't and shouldn't do it for you but if you get stuff cut and ready to weld all tacked up, I'm almost certain a few of them would help with the final welding. That's how you go from not a fabricator to "I really like how this turned out".
 
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RHanna said:
It looks like part of you skid is welded to the frame and it attaches your arms. How will you do a full replacement without replacing the arms?

You could get more belly clearance if you went with a full replacement. UCF isn’t “amazon” fast with their shipping but probably better than savvy.
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It's part of long arm kit that was on when I got it. Been looking at buying just the engine part of skid and think I can drill and bolt onto existing skid if measurements are right. I would prefer to replace the entire thing but not sure thats possible. Sounds like I'm going to need to make some phone calls Monday
 
mrblaine said:
You are in Arvada. Unless you have somehow managed to piss in the cheerios of a very good group of helpful folks in that area, then they are there and generally willing to help them that help themselves. They won't and shouldn't do it for you but if you get stuff cut and ready to weld all tacked up, I'm almost certain a few of them would help with the final welding. That's how you go from not a fabricator to "I really like how this turned out".
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Working on getting out and wheeling with those guys soon... meet in person. I do my best to keep piss out cheerios when ever I can :ROFLMAO:
 
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jjvw said:
Do you have a compelling reason that you are keeping a secret? 😂
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haha, no. Here's some of my top reasons.
  • Less cost (steel is almost always cheaper, sometimes by a large amount depending on aluminum used 6061/7075, etc.)
  • putting weight down low deliberately for better COG
  • more manufacturers = more choices, drives competition leading to improved designs
  • steel is easier to weld on if mounting/brackets get busted (for example my tcase skid incorporates long-arm brackets)
  • aluminum can tend to gouge and "stick" in rocks where steel tends to scrape and slide
Different strokes for different folks, though. :)
 
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