KDSS experiences

Retail lock down meaning the dealerships are currently closed?

 

Aluminum is always my first choice. The accumulated weight of heavy steel components, and then the cycle of heavy duty suspension to carry them really compromises the handling and performance of the vehicle when it does it’s on road duty. It’s harder to work with, and requires careful design to achieve strength, but it’s worth it. Granted aluminum won’t work for every situation, but for many it’s a real advantage. US customers of Greenlane receive a pretty great discount rate through the exchange differences of the currency.

 

So, $800CAD shipped.

 

Open for service, managers still working but sales staff on furlough. They are taking reservations on stock vehicles, but are not allowed to sell and release till the quarantine restrictions are lifted.
They got down to 3 ORP units in stock, one of which I like, so I reserved it. .9% financing and 90 days from delivery no payments and a couple of grand off the MSRP seemed a decent deal. No knowing when more stock will come in, and I'd rather not have one built under a health crisis.

 

Even just shipping across the border isn't cheap at all and with the current border closure it isn't happening for a while. Canada went full lock down. Aluminum requires a lot of bracing and added thickness to gain strength and resistance to getting all bent up like steel. Eventually the rate of return for weight savings becomes mute. Aluminum does better in smaller sections and well supported and has a bigger advantage over steel in that area since it doesn't require as much added bracing or thickness to be strong. With how the front skids for the toyotas have to be designed it's hard to get enough support and strength in them to make it worth the $$$$$ without them getting beat to snot and useless quickly. There is just too much unsupported area. Seen many a mangled aluminum skids and how bad they get beat up compared to steel.

Now for certain builds it is absolutely a great option where hitting the skid is probably never going to happen, but there just in case it does. Just if you ever start getting onto harder and harder trails that hitting the skids becomes a regular basis steel is the way to go on these trucks.

We ran aluminum skids skinned with UHMWPE under the buggy and they did great being ran with lots of support and the UHMWPE skin.

 

RSG front skid on KDSS Runner - UPDATE.

It fits. No issues at all. Arrived today and took me probably a good hour to remove the old skid and install this new one. Jason at RSG told me it was a brand new item. He wasn't kidding as they don't yet have install instructions printed out or the video completed. I was a bit confused looking at the hardware so I gave him a call and he talked me through it. I figured I have screamed enough profanity and thrown enough wrenches over the years that by now I "should" be able to bolt on a skid plate.

I was right.

Once I pulled the old one off and got a better look at the mounting points, the hardware provided became pretty obvious. I did need my daughter to help out for a minute to hold the new skid up while I started a couple of bolts. Once I had the skid on, I had to trim the back edge of the plastic bumper to skid transition piece. Quick work with a thin wheel in my angle grinder.

I tried to take photos but they just came out black with my cell phone. So here is the link to the RSG photos.

https://rsgmetalworks.com/collectio...oducts/2010-5th-gen-toyota-4runner-front-skid

I also installed their KDSS skid which replaces the small skid under the driver side door. That was super simple, three bolts and is much thicker and clearly will provide much better protection.

They have designed the front skid so that a secondary transfer case skid can also be added. That is not ready yet but once it is I am sure I will order it to complete my armor package.

 

Not sure I 100% agree with you, I have RCI full aluminum skid package with their aluminum gas tank skid, I also have Greenlane’s aluminum sliders, I do have the C4 diff skid in steel. I do a pretty significant amount of off roading including Hells Revenge and trails here in NM with some sizable rocks. From my experience the aluminum holds up pretty well, I will give you that steel is a bit more slippery, but a quality made aluminum skid is very much worth it for the amount of savings in overall weight and being a lot less susceptible to corrosion. MHO the RCI engine skid in aluminum is very strong.
All that being said, if all I did in my rig was off roading then yes I would go with steel, but I don’t have the luxury of two separate vehicles, one for recreational use, and the other for everything else. Fortunately there are options either steel or aluminum to allow people to make an educated decision about what will work best for them, but to completely discount some of the advantages of aluminum isn’t fair.

 

I don't think you read my comment or fully grasped the point I was making. But I did list the advantage of aluminum which is weight savings as well as the disadvantages and some insight from a manufacturer. I also stated that it is a great choice for some builds. No where did I completely discount the advantage of aluminum. I can make this very long winded with all kinds of examples of when and when not to use it as well as some technical info.

 

Have to say, that RSG KDSS compliant skid looks really nice, as does the cool stuff coming out of SOS Concepts. Thanks for the postings.

 

There is a lot of cool stuff coming from a bunch of different manufacturers. Everyone is taking different swipes at how to skin a cat and that's the cool thing about the industry.

 

Treaty Oak offroad has front Recovery points for KDSS vehicles.

 

I agree with you, Living the dream. One thing to be aware of with aluminum is to check the thickness and the technical standard the manufacturer is using. 1/4” seems to work but some manufacturers try to use thinner. 5052 aluminum is a good industrial quality for most components.

 

Saw those on their site, but nothing found as to whether they work with KDSS. Photos are on a non-KDSS vehicle...

 

Looking at my Runner they look like they would for sure fit 100%. In fact, it appears the KDSS sway bar would be further away from those recovery points than the non-KDSS sway bar. But I'm sure you could call Treaty Oak Offroad and ask. I met the owner at a Toyota event and he was very approachable and open. Good luck.

 

Stopped by to check our our new ‘runner at the dealership lot. We may be able to get it out of lockup this coming week. Helen is excited about the new wheels. This one will mostly be her daily ride.

 

She’s going to love it.

 

After a bad experience with another front skid that claimed to work with KDSS, but didnt....I've been looking at the new RSG Front Skid and wondering if it requires you to remove the two front tubular support braces that the original skid bolted onto. I assume it does based on the images as it looks flush to the cross member, but if you could let me know I'd really appreciate it.

 

Yes, you need to remove those two tubular braces. I believe that the skid itself acts as a structural support in their place. Keep in mind, the Pro models do not have those tubular braces, instead they have the aluminum Pro skid plate. IMO this is no different. Possibly even stronger since it is steal and not aluminum. Finally, the "skid plate" on the KDSS models is very thin sheet metal compared to the Pro so I can understand why they needed those braces.

 

Were you able to take some good photos after all? I'd really like to see this skid in the real world...also, you mentioned trimming the plastic transition piece from the bumper to the skid - so that can be retained, with a bit of trimming?

 

No. I went out and tried again both with flash and without. From a couple of angles. Either me or my camera sucks. Probably both.

On a side note, as I was getting down to take the photos I lost my balanced and fell into the washing machine putting a huge dent in the front. Fortunately, wife is not home and I was able to use the inner tub as a hammer and pop the dent out. Doah!!!!

 

That’s a better visual than any photo of the skid, haha.

 

Should have bought the Dent Guard at closing at the Toyota dealer.

 

I am NOT a graceful man. LOL

 

Wow...now I feel really bad about asking for a photo...

 

KDSS is a great performing system. Having spent some hours rolling around the unpaved rough roads as well as slick grassy slopes with lots of articulated terrain around where we live, in the new 4Runner with KDSS, I'm really glad it was included in the ORP package we got. I'm used to wheeling these same places many times a week in my Tacoma, and the 4Runner wheels feel tied tighter to the ground. Also more solid on the road at speed. It's a worthwhile and noticeable addition.

 

Bought the Treaty Oak Offroad KDSS compliant recovery points. Great folks to deal with, recovery plates and hardware are beautifully designed and plasma cut.
Primed & black matte painted them, the left one went on easily once we figured out how to use the clever captive nut with the temporary copper wire extension that allows you to get the nut inside the tube where it needs to go. The right one we couldn't get the captive nut into the hidden location inside the frame tube. Not the fault of the Treaty Oak plate or hardware, but there is some ugly welding slag inside the tube that blocks it. Manufacturing hidden defect from some Toyota robot. Not an issue, since one will serve my purpose.
The left one is somewhat close to the OEM skid plate, and a 3//4" shackle won't slide in enough to screw in the pin. Some convincing with a hammer got it up far enough to make the pin, but I don't see much harm in it rubbing although I wouldn't want to be having to get it in there out in the field. It will swing forward easily under use, and the shackle is located in an accessible place where it is easy to get a second shackle on it when needed. In any event, I'm happy to have a solid recovery point. It seems lame that Toyota sells an ORP vehicle without any recovery option. The Tacoma OR's at least have one strong but very weird looking pretzel-like tow hook on the right front.