Questions about rear LCA skids

[Sw00per]

Hi All,

After some minor damage to the LCA area (see picture) on Poison Spider so I am considering skid protection. I am looking at
Rusty's Rear Lower Control Arm skids but wanted to see what other have/are using.

If any of you are using @Metalcloak undercloak system I wanted to know if you needed any modifications to make the LCA work.

Thanks in advance!

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[Metalcloak]

Hi All,

After some minor damage to the LCA area (see picture) on Poison Spider so I am considering skid protection. I am looking at
Rusty's Rear Lower Control Arm skids but wanted to see what other have/are using.

If any of you are using @Metalcloak undercloak system I wanted to know if you needed any modifications to make the LCA work.

Thanks in advance!

Our R&D department just test fit a set of our new Gladiator Control Arm skids on my rig. Should be in production soon.

- Matson

 

[Rusty PW]

I have Rusty's skids on mine. Have beat the snot out of them. They were the only ones around when I bought them.

 

[Sw00per]

Our R&D department just test fit a set of our new Gladiator Control Arm skids on my rig. Should be in production soon.

- Matson

Thanks Matson! I know I mentioned this to a few folks at MC... maybe Will and Mike. Sign me up I am ready to pull the trigger!

 

[bd100]

No matter what you get, prime and paint them before install. Aftermarket part powder coat often fails within a year. Meanwhile, primed and painted MetalCloak rear sway bar bracket re-enforcement brackets still look great after two winters.

Also, many of these skids work by wrapping around the existing bracket, with a longer bolt through the skid, bracket, bushing, the other side of the bracket, then the other side of the skid. It makes it harder to clamp well enough to grab the bushing and stop squeaks and knocks. The skid manufacturers really should float one side of the skid with a thin bushing or a stack of washers through a larger hole, to allow force to be applied past the skid and directly to the bracket, allowing the bolt and nut to apply all their force to the bracket alone, without the skid resisting the pressure.

Typical: Bolt head | skid | bracket | bushing | bracket | skid | nut

Better: Bold head | skid | bracket | bushing | bracket | sliding stack of washers | nut, where the stack of washers goes through a slightly larger hole on that side of the skid, allowing force to go past the skid on that side then directly to the bracket.

I expect to be modifying my own truck's skids to add the larger hole and stack of washers on one side. Right now, the shocks are knocking, and I never could get the front control arms to stop squeaking. And I have to repaint the factory powder coat.

@Metalcloak, please consider this design.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

The problem you may encounter by adding an HD skit to those brackets is that the frame bracket itself can and has been torn off the frame. Ive seen it and I know theres some others in here who have too. IMO your money and effort is better spent cutting those brackets off and going to a weld on high clearance long arm kit OR cutting them off and replacing them with the Artec brackets.

 

[Sw00per]

The problem you may encounter by adding an HD skit to those brackets is that the frame bracket itself can and has been torn off the frame. Ive seen it and I know theres some others in here who have too. IMO your money and effort is better spent cutting those brackets off and going to a weld on high clearance long arm kit OR cutting them off and replacing them with the Artec brackets.

Good point. I guess it would depend on the design of the skid to allow you to slide over vs. catch.

 

[John in the Woods]

I have Rusty's skids on mine. Have beat the snot out of them. They were the only ones around when I bought them.

Best bet. I’ve been dragging and banging mine for two seasons now, and they never let me down.

 

[GladLad]

Our R&D department just test fit a set of our new Gladiator Control Arm skids on my rig. Should be in production soon.

- Matson

These ones?

I'm a fan of the gold zinc as I hate rust. But there seems to be a review about it not fitting on the Mojave passenger side due to stock skid plate. The review mentions having to cut away some of the skid.

As a note, the install instructions neglect to mention torque figures for the lca. The non-suspension bolts are fine to just tighten, but the lca should be torqued to spec.

 

[GladLad]

@Metalcloak

Can you tell me, and/or take a pic, to let me know if the unbolted side of the rear frame LCA skid is supported by the factory mount? Or is it spaced and cantilevered?

See pic from your instructions for the space I'm referring to. In the pic there is a gap, but it also looks like it hasn't been tightened yet, which would bring it up some. Question is does it go up all the way until fully supported.

Thanks!

 

[Sw00per]

I ended up installing the Metalcloak LCA skids. The passenger side needed to be .added to fit because of how the factory bracket was installed.

 

[GladLad]

I ended up installing the Metalcloak LCA skids. The passenger side needed to be .added to fit because of how the factory bracket was installed.

Do you mean "modded" to fit? In what way, cutting some of the skid off?

Is it because the MC skid has its side wall go all the way up and interfere with the gas tank skid plate? It's what I've been guessing based on a review saying it needed to be cut and looking at the skid pics online and under my Jeep.

This part...

Also, could you comment on my question in post #10? I'm just wondering if many of these skids are cantilevered or supported.

 

[Sw00per]

I deleted the photos I had prior to install unfortunately. I tried to outline in red part of the modification i.e. angle grinder I had to cut to fit "MY" LCA bracket. As you can see by the blue arrow the bracket was attached a bit away from the frame. This was not the case on the drivers side.

Your mod will be specific to your situation.

 

[GladLad]

@Sw00per

Thanks for the extra details!

Wow, that's not where I was expecting grinding at all. But I guess I can see how the leading angled part of the oem bracket does have an early bend as it gets closer to the frame. If you had to grind there, and at least one reviewer had to cut on the other side because of the gas tank skid, then an angle grinder should be added to the instruction's tools list.

Was fitment also why you added a couple washers between the frame and MC bracket arm? I don't see those in the instructions, and would think the more flush the better.

Lastly, can you please see my post #10 question and comment on my cantilevered vs supported curiosity.

 

[Sw00per]

Ok, I was able to recover the deleted photos. The first two photos show the bracket challenge. The thrid should part of the modification. I had to do an additional mode on the other side as well, marked in red.

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