A lot of the Polaris machines have a pretty good metal skid welded to the frame right from the factory. My son's Scrambler has that setup. His previous (two quads back) Polaris ATP 500 had plastic ones that worked very well.

 

I wait for the the first manufacturer to offer good skid plates as standard equipment on their machines. Maybe Can Am would be first. Seems to me skid plates are a requirement for an ATV. They could even have removable hatches for oil changes, differential services and the like. And they could have solid jack points built right in.

David[/QUOTE]



Seriously if skid plate were made heavy duty enough to support the machine, can you imagine how much weight that would add? Manufacturing cost would skyrocket as would maintenance costs. I prefer to just pay closer attention to what I am running over. You might be looking for something like a car that can stand up to an accident..

 

Kymco 450i: You have a very good point. I read a lot about "skids" on these Forums. There is a lot of exposed mechanism underneath my Can-Am including suspension links, differentials and the like. My Can-Am came with a plastic center "guard" but it doesn't look too robust.

I will unlikely be aggressively riding off road trails. I believe I can stop and find a way around a rock or log. I can see "powering up" to climb the front wheels over a log and having the machine come down hard on its belly on the log, and then pulling with the front tires on the ground and "lifting" the rear over the log only to have it come down hard again. Skid plates may help prevent undercarriage damage.

I will ride a few Colorado trails and then determine if skid plates are worth the cost and effort.

I didn't know Polaris offers some type of undercarriage protection. It can be aluminum or strong plastic and not weigh too much. I think it is a very good idea consideration the use of our ATVs.

David

 

I know a lot of people complain about plastic skid plates, beside being less costly to make, the plastic does slide more easily over objects. The question becomes what if the plastic gives way...what damage am I going to do. I thought about this on my own machine, I liked the plastic skids as I am not an aggressive rider but still has me thinking the what if? I knew I needed to design my own snow plow mount as the general purpose mounts lack much to be desired. SO....in the process of creating my plow mount I also incorporated a plan to reinforce my undercarriage. I needed to run a couple lengths of angle iron to connect the cross members of my frame. I made them long enough to capture 3 cross members to distribute the load from the snowplow blade. These same angle pcs also support the skid plate as they align with the lower most portion of the frame. So I know have the main frame rails from front to rear as well as 2 additional rails (angles) running front to rear which all support the skid plate only you cant see them as they are inside the skid plate. This also give me more locations to attach the skid plate. These angles are strong enough to support the entire machine without the added weight of monster skid plates and the stock plastic is still slick enough to slide over objects. Threw my own design and the ability to kill two birds with one stone ( skid plate support and plow mount) I believe I have made a stronger bottom side to protect mu precious "bottom end". Sometimes it is better to create your own solutions rather than rely on another's half assed design that may not work but does become a good sales gimmick. If your going to do serious offroading on knarly trails perhaps you would be better off to find a solution to protect your own bottom end. When I started out with my mount, I never thought about it beefing up behind the plastic skid plate, however I am now more confident that if I did run over some nasty stuff I would suffer no major damage.

 

You'll want solid skids out here. Way too many large rocks to go over... this is the Rocky Mountains. Check out RicochetOffroad skids. I had Ricochet a-arm skids for the last couple years and also used the Yamaha UHMW Glide Plate but have ruined the glide plate even though that is very thick stuff when compared to the OEM cheap skids. Ricochet recently came out with a UHMW glide layer that goes over the aluminum center skid and gives the best of both worlds, strength and glide over rocks. Wife just bought me the set (without the a-arm skids since I already had those) for Christmas. Itching to try them out but as you know it's snow season.

 

I've gone over logs a number of times with my Sportsman ATVs and not had so much as a scratch. Polaris quads are pretty well protected by the skid plate incorporated into the frame. The front wheels go over and it slams down on the log and sometimes you're left teeter-tottering but usually the front wheels hit the ground and will pull you right over the log. No problem.

 

So....snow can be a fun time to ride. Of course in your part of the country you probably have snow a$$ deep so that may not be an option...LOL

 

That's one of the reasons Polaris' machines are heavy. One of the stronger frames in the industry and many have metal skidplates built in.

 

Plastic skids, if thick enough, work great. Not like the thin one Can-Am throws on the front to center of the frame. Useless. Plastic slides over obstacles better than aluminum and does not rust. Can get pretty scarred up but never seen it perforated. Some aftermarket makers make almost 1/4" thick skids out UHMW plastic (ultra high molecular weight).

Aluminum doesn't rust, dents more easily than steel, and can grab on rocks a bit being softer than the rock. It's also lighter than steel.

Steel slides over obstacles almost as well as plastic, and better than aluminum. Once scratched it can rust, but not hard to deal with.

 

Yes, snow can be fun. I didn't go this past New Year's Day, but the previous two NYD there is an annual ride not too far from the house. Ride starts at about 9000' and can get up to 10500' but many of the trails have drifts that are too big to get through. Mind you, that is not a single drift 10' wide, it could be a 100' long drift and becomes way too much a chore. There's usually about 10+ ATVs/SxSs so no one gets stuck for too long. But, we do have to turn around many times during the ride and go down a different trail. It can be exhausting.

Although I'm a glutton for punishment and might try to get in a ride soon... getting the cabin fever already.