Reinforcing a stock gas skid

Well, I pulled the stock skid off when I started to build my custom rear bumper. While it was off, I decided to do a little reworking and reinforcing of it. Although it is kinda thin, 1/8" thickness, I felt the bigger problem with the skid is the large flat areas. A stock unit is pretty flexible and I could bend and move it all around just by hand. Instead of just plating the whole thing, I decided to just add more shape to it. Even with another layer of 1/8", it would still has flat areas that could easily bend upward, plus that would add more weight. Triangles are great at providing shape and strength, so I went and got some angle iron.




First on the list was the bottom corners. I used some 1.5" 1/8" thick angle iron and notched and bent it to follow the contour of the skid. I also added in some holes for plug welds. Then I used 0.5" 1/8" thick angle iron to go across the skid. On the front edge, it lined up pretty well with the small radiused edge the stock unit has. The middle one lines up roughly where the skid has the bend to kick up in the rear.






Next, I made a couple of stringers to try everything together from front to back. These needed a cutoff wheels thickness of a notch to it to be bent just slightly enough to sit nicely on the skid.






Then, everything got welded up. I took my time, did beads here and there, stopped to take pictures, layed a few more beads, drink adult beverage, ect....







Final touches included some gussets on the sides of the skid and some new black spray paint. Just holding the skid afterwards and its easy to notice how much stiffer it is. Before, I could disform it enough to make none of the mounting holes line up. Now, its as solid as a rock.

And finally, the installed picture. It follows the shape of the leaf spring perfectly. I will purposely be aiming for some rocks this weekend to see how it does.

I need a welder.

I want some tacos...

That looks really good. I put 3/16th plate inside mine to beef it up

foxwar71 said:

A stock unit is pretty flexible and I could bend and move it all around just by hand..

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well that's no surprise coming from you. :laugh:

foxwar71 said:

Before, I could disform it enough to make none of the mounting holes line up. Now, its as solid as a rock.

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now, for any of you folks out there who arent familiar with ross's superhuman strength....WHOA!! that is some serious reinforcement.







in all seriousness, though...Nice job sir!! Came out great :thumbup:

and...




saved to bookmarks for future idea's.

Clever way to reinforce. Now you should fill the spaces between the ribs with HDPE

winkosmosis said:

fill the spaces between the ribs with HDPE

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Now thats a good idea! I may have to do that.

Ha Ha, the bag on your worktable looks like it says "3" d!cks" at first glance.


O.K. I'll grow up now.

all that exposed angle iron looks like good rock anchors

jeeperjohn said:

Ha Ha, the bag on your worktable looks like it says "3" d!cks" at first glance.


O.K. I'll grow up now.

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Haha, Colin (MoparManiac) and I both said that when we each showed up to Ross's that day.

stewie said:

all that exposed angle iron looks like good rock anchors

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You mean that one single piece of angle going across could act as a rock anchor?
Because really that one piece in the middle of the skid going from side to side is the only piece of angle that could act as an anchor. The rocks will just slid on the pieces running front to back.


Nice job Ross.

I'm with stewie, when I saw the finished product, I thought 'that is going to get hung up on everything'. Great idea, and nice welding though. I guess I would have just gone with something a bit smoother.

looks good.. i dont see it being much of an anchor so to say.. nothing a little throttle wont take care of anyway.. its not like he has a 4" piece of angle sticking down.

its really deceiving in the pictures. the peice only sticks out roughly 3/8"-1/2". i also made sure that it mounted just after the skid starts to kick up towards the back. from the flat of the bottom, the peice of angle is above it. the peice is roughly where the plug weld is on the left of the picture. my theroy is a rock will hit the flat area and slid off that and should just clear the angle, if not is only a small lip that wont really get hung up on. time will tell how well it works

I wouldn't worry about it, the angle is small enough and sloped enough that it wont hang up. Everything is welded too so there isn't even anything to grab and tear.

My only consideration, which is minor, is that the relatively weak skid is still exposed for most of the area. A pointy rock will still make trouble.

ehall said:

I wouldn't worry about it, the angle is small enough and sloped enough that it wont hang up. Everything is welded too so there isn't even anything to grab and tear.

My only consideration, which is minor, is that the relatively weak skid is still exposed for most of the area. A pointy rock will still make trouble.

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Plastic in the gaps = problem solved

That's a ton of work, but it looks very strong. I personally haven't bent my factory skid at all, don't think I've even scraped it on anything. If it became a problem, I'd consider something like you've done. Nice job.

foxwar71 said:

its really deceiving in the pictures. the peice only sticks out roughly 3/8"-1/2".

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ok, and how large is the rock anchor lip on the bottom of the 8.25 diff? i used to get hung up on that all the time. but like you mentioned time will tell...

fubar XJ said:

That's a ton of work, but it looks very strong. I personally haven't bent my factory skid at all, don't think I've even scraped it on anything. If it became a problem, I'd consider something like you've done. Nice job.

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I bent mine considerably, but I came down hard on a rock.

I might do this at some point, but I need a welder first.