Yes, that's unfortunate. If I remember correctly, when @jscherb designed the Exogate he had done so with the option to center the spare. It's too bad that option did not make it into the production versions.
Skid plates & armor: When to use steel and when to use aluminum?
- Thread starter L0jik
- Start date
Yes, that's unfortunate. If I remember correctly, when @jscherb designed the Exogate he had done so with the option to center the spare. It's too bad that option did not make it into the production versions.
For me the best answer I can give is that steel performs better in this application. there are combinations of steel and aluminum like the Savvy that give you the strength, some weight savings, and the performance of steel where it counts. Me, I have a 20 year old design that still performs well albeit heavy.
The difference is the radius. Belly skids have an "infinite" radius since they are flat for the most part. It is also very hard to concentrate loads other than the weight of the rig on the belly skid and even then it is very rare to get the whole weight of the rig on a loaded point since that would require all 4 wheels to be off the ground. Possible, not probable.
If you change the radius to be smaller, that increases the point load at the apex or can and that gets compounded by the fact that very often we put the rock rail against something and pivot around it. Now you have those forces added to the weight of the rig and the point load gets high enough that gouging without sliding is very prevalent and the material also bends.
Essentially we are dealing with the same issue steel angle rock sliders have. The sharp 90 degree corner lets the rocks dig into it because the point loading overcomes the material properties in that ultra tight radius and it peels up and the rock stops forward motion.
You are also very accurate on the hood slider thing. There are places in JV where continued forward progress will smoosh or dislocate the flare on an aluminum fender to be flush with the side of the body and I know for a factory that the company will not warranty that type of damage.
And if you adjust the bushing mounts so the 1" goes away and change tire size or weight, you get to do it again. I despise mounting those damn things.
The rockers are 3/16". The thickness holds up well in the type of wheeling we have here in CO.
I’ve only had to do that twice, the first time I mounted it, and on a trail when I gave up my grade 8 bolts to repair a high steer arm that sheared the hardware. I use some crescent bushing that I made in the slotted holes on the hinge side, the top one is on the inside of the bolt in the slot the bottom one is on the outside and the washer traps it in place. I thought about using eccentric bolts to make it easier to adjust.
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I’m in the process of this very thing. Replacing front fenders, rear corners and fenders, belly and engine skids all with Aluminum. I did go with new steel rockers over the same aluminum version but I really like to use my rockers to pivot sometimes. My Jeep was an absolute pig when I had it weighed. I knew with the larger axles, atlas 4 speed, beadlock wheels etc it would be heavier but I was ashamed when I saw it 4900#. And I too want an alumi-lite car hauler one day. When my trailer was stolen last year I thought about it. But couldn’t justify the cost. The one I wanted would have been double the cost of the new 20’ dovetail I got and it wouldn’t have handled the loads this one does.