- Location
- Atascadero, CA
Since i put two massive dents into my gas tank when wheelin with no skid or anything i thought it might be time to either buy an aftermaket skid or just use one of the stock ones that came on some xj's.
i came across one for almost nothing and then i came across another one for almost nothing as well. so i had an idea to cut and weld them both together so it will be twice as thick.
so here goes pics and writeup to make your own dual stock gas tank skid.
(pictuers follow instructions for each explanation)
1) First what i did was take on of the skids and cut both sides off of it so it was one peice, the bottom part. the easiest way to do this is sawzall the vertical welds holding on the side so the only welds holing it on are the ones on the bottom, then fold it back and forth till it tears of and breaks the welds. repeat on the other side.
2) After you take off the sides there is going to be whats left of the welds holding the side on so you need to grind all of those smooth so it fits over the other gas skid.
3) Take the other skid and find the lip that is on both sides of the skid, grind the outide of each lip somewhat smooth so that the other skid that the sides are cut off so it fits over top of it better.
4) I wire brushed the bottom and inside of the skids i put together just so there wasnt a bunch of dirt clangin around in there but thats up to you.
put the skid with the cut off sides on top of the other one and jump on it or press down on it in someway so they fit together as closely as possible.
5) Now there will be a small gap between the two skids and this can be fixed my pounding the bottom sheet of metal up and they should come together nicely. this prevents mud and dirt and stuff from getting in between the two skids.
from this:
to this:
6) Now to secure the two skids together you need to weld the lips, but before you do its a lot easier to grind on them a little to expose bare metal so your not welding through paint. you dont have to grind all of the paint off just enough so you can run a bead inbetween both skids. for the process of welding, i welded the far left lip then went to the opposite right side , pressed it down with weigths, then ran a full bead there. i dont know if it helped to weld in a zig zag kind of way but i didnt want the skids to warp on me and make one side uneven or anything.
7) Since the welds holding the sides on to the origonal skid(the one i didnt cut the sides off of) looked a little weak i ran some beads along that edge in hopes of giving it more strength.
8) This is the skid all welded up and dirty
9) I wire brushed it and cleaned it off. i didnt go all the way through the paint because i just didnt care to take all that time just so it would look really smooth when i painted it.
10) Primed and ready for paint
11) Rustoleums version of army green-
I hope this helps some people that are looking for a good, effective and cheap way to protect their gas tank without spending the $200 on an aftermarket product.
Im 16 and just got into four wheeling and wrenching on trucks and what not and this is my first writeup and what i did wasnt too complicated but is sort of unique i think. dont flame too hard
hope this helps
-Ryan
i came across one for almost nothing and then i came across another one for almost nothing as well. so i had an idea to cut and weld them both together so it will be twice as thick.
so here goes pics and writeup to make your own dual stock gas tank skid.
(pictuers follow instructions for each explanation)
1) First what i did was take on of the skids and cut both sides off of it so it was one peice, the bottom part. the easiest way to do this is sawzall the vertical welds holding on the side so the only welds holing it on are the ones on the bottom, then fold it back and forth till it tears of and breaks the welds. repeat on the other side.
2) After you take off the sides there is going to be whats left of the welds holding the side on so you need to grind all of those smooth so it fits over the other gas skid.
3) Take the other skid and find the lip that is on both sides of the skid, grind the outide of each lip somewhat smooth so that the other skid that the sides are cut off so it fits over top of it better.
4) I wire brushed the bottom and inside of the skids i put together just so there wasnt a bunch of dirt clangin around in there but thats up to you.
put the skid with the cut off sides on top of the other one and jump on it or press down on it in someway so they fit together as closely as possible.
5) Now there will be a small gap between the two skids and this can be fixed my pounding the bottom sheet of metal up and they should come together nicely. this prevents mud and dirt and stuff from getting in between the two skids.
from this:
to this:
6) Now to secure the two skids together you need to weld the lips, but before you do its a lot easier to grind on them a little to expose bare metal so your not welding through paint. you dont have to grind all of the paint off just enough so you can run a bead inbetween both skids. for the process of welding, i welded the far left lip then went to the opposite right side , pressed it down with weigths, then ran a full bead there. i dont know if it helped to weld in a zig zag kind of way but i didnt want the skids to warp on me and make one side uneven or anything.
7) Since the welds holding the sides on to the origonal skid(the one i didnt cut the sides off of) looked a little weak i ran some beads along that edge in hopes of giving it more strength.
8) This is the skid all welded up and dirty
9) I wire brushed it and cleaned it off. i didnt go all the way through the paint because i just didnt care to take all that time just so it would look really smooth when i painted it.
10) Primed and ready for paint
11) Rustoleums version of army green-
I hope this helps some people that are looking for a good, effective and cheap way to protect their gas tank without spending the $200 on an aftermarket product.
Im 16 and just got into four wheeling and wrenching on trucks and what not and this is my first writeup and what i did wasnt too complicated but is sort of unique i think. dont flame too hard
hope this helps
-Ryan
