Yeah i think the stainless steel would be tough stuff for skids, when you get done with your's post some pic.s and size measurement's for info to other's on the formums ; you would be doing everyone a favor in doing so ! I haven't really looked at the newer model Honda's my brother has a 2002 rancher 350 full time 4x4 with the manual shift and i haven't really looked at his up close ! My Arctic Cat has a plastic skid plate that run's from the front to the rear , i didn't even know it was made of plastic untill i started hearing about them on these formums ; and i don't know how tough they really are. I've been told by other's on the ac formum that they are very tough and that they slide over rock's better than the metal one's ; and i hope they are tough enough ! The terrain i ride over is mostly rock's and boulder's on the trail's i ride , and i haven't hit any rock's or stump's because of the ground clearance being better than my previous atv's i've owned ! I've owned a 86' Honda TRX 350 foreman full time 4x4 and a 93' suzuki KQ LT 4wd the Honda had the heavy straight axel front end with very good heavy metal skid's from the front to the rear swing arm rear axel ; and the KQ had about the same quality skid's on it also ! I would feel safer if the AC had the same quality metal skid plates on it , i just haven't encountered rock's or anything big enough to hit the plastic skid's hard so i don't know how strong they really are. Hopefully i won't find out the hard way , i don't ride as fast and as hard as i did on the Honda ; and i really didn't ride the suzuki much because i let my brother's ride it when went on riding trip's ! I sold the honda to my youngest brother in sept. 2005 and after i bought the AC in feb. 2006 i sold him the suzuki for his wife to ride ! I didn't mean to leave such a long post.........thank's in advance for any photo's on your stainless steel skid's when you get them finished ; oh i forgot there's a member on the AC formum who made skid's for his ac from diamond plate aluminum he has photo's of them on his personal page they looked good ! I need to check them out again and find out how much he has in them, thanks again.............williebee

 

I lost my paper with all my measurements on it, i'll try and get a chance to measure it all up again.

There are two plates, I polished one a little and painted the other black. I got two u-bolts to fasten it to the cross frame behing the crank case and for the rest of it I just replaced the original bolts with longer ones. I made spacers by cutting 3/4" lengths of galvanized pipe to keep the front plate away from the stock plastic guard.

here are a couple pics

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5616/skid1bt0.jpg

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2056/skid2yu4.jpg