i need some info on skid plates. i planning to make my own and need some pics of them installed. i did a search and found nothing useful. how does the skid plate mount to the frame. some look like you have to tap the frame and drive in a screw. or i was thinking of using a U with threaded ends.
if anyone can shed some light. i'm trying to make this look as good as some of the ones out on the market. i have all the metal and tools at work so bending and cutting is no problem.
thanks.

 

What model quad?

 

my thing back in the days with no money was roadsign. i cant even remember how many skid plates i made out of road sign with a jigsaw and zip ties. when i got better at it, i could make brackets with roadsign, too. my grandfather used to work for the county so i had an endless supply. what also worked good and looked awesome is diamond plate aluminum. when i was in high school in welding and fabrication class, there was all kinds of spare aluminum laying around, so i made one for my banshee out of diamond plate aluminum and made my own brackets out of sheet metal. it looked awesome. you just have to be creative. it depends if you want great looks, or if you're just more concerned with functionability. roadsign looked like crap, but it saved a case or two of mine when i was out ridin. all you need is a jigsaw, a drill, and a vise. it's a cheap solution, unless you're wanting a swingarm skidplate, then you need to get into the tig welding and fabrication a lot more. then you may be better off buying one.

 

i have a blaster. tools and metal are no problem to get a hold of. i just need to know how the skid plate is fastened onto the frame.

 

Does it have a stock plastic on it. U could use it for a template. U could use U bolts to hold in on around the frame

 

I used the two bolts that were already at the front of my wolverine holding the front section skid plate on and there were two bolt holes at the rear of the frame that I used as well. Check out my pics. Don't know if this will help but someone out there must have done this to a blaster.

Good luck.

 

If there are no threaded bosses, use U-bolts. If you drill holes in the frame, you weaken its strength and risk starting a stress crack.

 

thanks for the help guys. i just wanted to see if someone has thougth of something that i haven't.
the whole drilling the frame thing i wasn't sure if that's how some of the plates were installed. but i could see it weaking the frame and not being a good idea.
i'm gonna make up a template and cut some metal up.

 

to fasten it, you could cut a strip of metal about 3 inches long by 1 inch wide, bend 2/3 of it into a half circle to go around your frame, and on the flat part drill a hole to run through the skidplate. it'll look kind of like the fasteners that carpenters use to fasten electrical conduit to walls. and if you're worried about scratching the paint up, take a bicycle tire tube and cut out some of it to put between the frame and skidplate and bracket. hope that's of some help to you.

 

Before you attach the skid plate you may want to put a thin layer of rubber or foam at various points between the skid plate and the frame. If you don't you may get vibration noise.

I used the insulating foam material that is used between a truck cap top and the rails of the truck as I had some available to me. A cut up rubber tire tube would work as well.

Good luck.