FJ Cruisers of Northern California

Skid plates and...questions

Hi guys, doing some research here into skid plates for my 2012 TT.

I see Boztec have a nice diff skid for $420 inc tax p/u in Alameda. But no other plates.

Bud Built in North Carolina have 3/16 steel plates for everything, 5 piece set for $900 plus a diff skid for an additional $200, all this plus motor freight, probably $100+?

Ricochet in Salt Lake City have full skids in 1/4 aluminum for $900 plus an anodizing fee for color.Motor freight might be little less than for steel and closer to me too?

Ricochet also have a cool 3/16 aluminum air dam plate for $220 that fits a variety of lights.

So my question's are;, Who has experience with any of these products? do they fit well? do they hold up well? If you were to buy them again would you? If the aluminum skids are 6061 T6 they should be strong enough? right?

I dont want to "cheap-out" on my purchase, I believe 95% of the time you get what you pay for, but I would like input from anyone who has installed, or had these products installed on their FJ , to give an honest assessement.

Thanks guys, and see you on the trail.

Steve Hope.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maximus (Max) on October 22, 2012 at 7:40pm

Im slowly starting to get the ricochet, I already have the arb filler and ewhichever one comes after that and am looking to purchase all the rest for my rig. I love it I have hit them hard against rocks and they have held up, I'm not. Giant fan of the rocks but I love the protection and weight they offer. I also have the air damn without the light dugouts and I can definitely say that it has cut down on the wind noise tremendously and I have a light bar that will fold to be flush to it so I won't lose any clearance. All in all it depends on what you want to do with your rig, if you want to rock crawl get heavy steel, if you want general protection that in good all purpose then ricochet, but as uly pointed out there are other brands to choose from such as all-pro and man a fre. Also helps if you already have your front armor of choice so you don't have to replace later!

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Permalink Reply by SJFJ 4x4 on October 22, 2012 at 9:23pm

I second on the Ricochet. I have the full body HD set and have a few scrapes on them so far and they've held up. I'm with Max on this though since I don't do hardcore rock crawling. I would suggest steel like Bud Builts. Ricochet is easy to install and if something breaks, they're relatively cheap to replace.

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Permalink Reply by SJFJ 4x4 on October 22, 2012 at 9:26pm

By the way, you can check out pictures of my ricochet install. They tuck under very neatly.

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Permalink Reply by bkreece on October 22, 2012 at 10:08pm

I don't have any experience with skids other than the budbuilts. Mine were broken in by FJ scout on several hard core runs including a couple trips through the rubicon, before I bolted them to my FJ. Over the past thee summers, they have served me well. They easily take the full weight of the FJ slamming them against rocks. I inspect them every so often to see if I need to take them off and bang out dents, haven't had to so far. These things are tough!

The boztec diff skid is also the real deal. Fits very well around the diff, with easy access to the drain plug.