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Unistrut Skid Plates?

92yamaha

92yamaha

1/2 ton status
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The night before tackling Red Cone with a STOCK 84 K10, I decided I needed skid plates to protect the aluminum transfer case. They WORKED! I've already drug them over a number of rocks. I put a jack under them for test and lifted the entire passenger side.

I changed out the crossmember bolts with longer ones to connect the long lengths of unistrut to follow the frame (about 3 feet). One side is braced further back with a 90-degree bracket that just touches the frame. The other side has my parking break cable, so there's no additional bracing. I used 1/4 plate steel with carriage bolts for the skid plates attached to other pieces of unistrut.

Just a quick remedy for anyone who doesn't have skid plates.
20140928_215357.jpg
 
1 post in 10 years and thiis is it??? WTF?
 
I see this picture showing up in Pirate's ghetto fab mega-thread.
 
Right on! I'm usually doing last minute stuff like this to make something work for what I'm doing. Are you in Aurora, Colorado? If so, I'm sure there's going to be some more runs in the mountains west of you this summer.
 
Haha, the negative comments are hilarious. It's like John Force telling me that my GTO is slow. Whole different world brother. When my budget barely cover's fuel, the fact this old beater can do Wheeler Lake without lockers and an SM465 ain't bad.

I'll also go off on a limb and say that the available trails in Michigan and New Jersey aren't quite like what we have in Colorado.
 
Keep in mind, this is the truck in question.
20140705_192250.jpg
 
92yamaha said:
Haha, the negative comments are hilarious. It's like John Force telling me that my GTO is slow. Whole different world brother. When my budget barely cover's fuel, the fact this old beater can do Wheeler Lake without lockers and an SM465 ain't bad.

I'll also go off on a limb and say that the available trails in Michigan and New Jersey aren't quite like what we have in Colorado.
Click to expand...

Ugh some of us are forced to travel to wheel good terrain so I think where we are from is kind of irrelevant.


Sorry to say but those skids are hack. You clearly have some capacity to weld, and some foresight to figure out how to make something but your material choice is the pits. Theres no reason to be using unistrut when standard steel materials like angle, flatstock, and plate are actually probably cheaper.

I find it funny when people have such blinders on that they choose to respond to criticism by making excuses. You could easily retain that steel plate as the skid and build some mitered box tube sides that bolt to the frame rail. That would probably be about $10 worth of box tube, so sorry but the budget excuse really need not apply.
 
92yamaha said:
I'll also go off on a limb and say that the available trails in Michigan and New Jersey aren't quite like what we have in Colorado.
Click to expand...

Comments like that wont fly here, many people here go on big trips to come to Colorado (and other places), and since they don't want to break down while 1,000+ mile trip, they tend to make sure things are built correctly.

92yamaha said:
Keep in mind, this is the truck in question.
20140705_192250.jpg
Click to expand...

Right on, awesome pic, where was this taken??

Stomis said:
Sorry to say but those skids are hack. You clearly have some capacity to weld, and some foresight to figure out how to make something but your material choice is the pits. Theres no reason to be using unistrut when standard steel materials like angle, flatstock, and plate are actually probably cheaper.
Click to expand...

Who said be bought them? (unistrut) Maybe he had them laying around...
 
I like the truck. The unistrut is a little sketchy. If it works in a pinch and you like the design, that's all that matters, but I would use it as a template to build a more permanent/structural one.

There's nothing wrong with using what you have, but the ingenuity of the design is probably being superceded by it's homebrew appearance. But if you like it, I love it.
 
Stomis said:
Ugh some of us are forced to travel to wheel good terrain so I think where we are from is kind of irrelevant.


Sorry to say but those skids are hack. You clearly have some capacity to weld, and some foresight to figure out how to make something but your material choice is the pits. Theres no reason to be using unistrut when standard steel materials like angle, flatstock, and plate are actually probably cheaper.

I find it funny when people have such blinders on that they choose to respond to criticism by making excuses. You could easily retain that steel plate as the skid and build some mitered box tube sides that bolt to the frame rail. That would probably be about $10 worth of box tube, so sorry but the budget excuse really need not apply.
Click to expand...


Haha, I know it's hack, never said it was a permanent fix and I posted this thread knowing I would be receiving criticism. This was built out of a bunch of free scrap I already had in the garage (I have pallets of this stuff) 6 hours before heading to Red Cone. It was more of a test than anything else; ever wonder if something is even possible? This was built out of scientific curiosity...not laziness.

I apologize to everyone about the location comment, that wasn't meant to create any large sparks or offend anyone outside of Colorado. That was a low blow.
 
I think using what you have is perfectly fine--so what if its "crude" or hack looking?--long as it WORKS is all that matters in the end,really..at least lasts long enough to get you by if nothing else!..

If I was worried about how my trucks look,I'd be an unhappy guy--and my friends often poke fun at some of my un-orthadox methods of doing and fixing and making things,but they have to admit they usually WORK,and thats what counts..

I've used Uni-Strut for things like making new truck bed crossmembers and ladder racks,and dozens of other things...
I wouldn't mind having a truckload of that stuff,its like an adult's erector set,you can build anything from a garage to a go cart out of the stuff!..
 
beags86 said:
Comments like that wont fly here, many people here go on big trips to come to Colorado (and other places), and since they don't want to break down while 1,000+ mile trip, they tend to make sure things are built correctly.



Right on, awesome pic, where was this taken??
Click to expand...

You're right and I apologize for that comment. It was a low blow to anyone outside of CO and I really didn't mean for it to come across that way.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm terrified of taking this thing out of state; it's a miracle it gets me home every time. Every bushing in the suspension is gone, the tires were purchased in 2004, and the engine makes a terrible vibration above 65mph. The whole truck needs rebuilt, but it's on a trail every weekend regardless and just keeps going...like a rock, right?

I think that trail was near Webster Pass just outside of Montezuma. There are a ton of abandoned mines in that area.
 
ryoken said:
wtf is that stuff actually used for? :dunno:
Click to expand...

It's commonly used in commercial buildings for various things like mounting conduit/pipes and subpanels. I've also seen it used to create shelves for cable-runs or even used to suspend things from ceilings using allthread. There are tons of different attachments for unistrut. It's just like a previous post stated, it's an adult erector set. It's insanely strong too.

I've used it to mount cabinets and workbenches in my garage; that way everything is attached to a rail-system and can be moved/adjusted without drilling another hole in the wall.


Oh and sweet K5 by the way. That's the kind of build I'm aiming for in the future.
 
ryoken said:
wtf is that stuff actually used for? :dunno:
Click to expand...

What isn't it used for? Seems like every industrial type building I'm in has the stuff all over. I bet it's even on the ceiling of your local Home Depot and such.
 
I do appreciate the inginuity, I cant say I've always done better, and building on a budget means being resourceful. I appologize for my opening remarks, I thought this might have been a scammer thread, seeing as how so much time had elapsed and never a post having been made.

I do like the fact that your flash is powerful enough to light up the stop sign quite well!
Carry on and good luck with your build.
 
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