TRD Skid Plate - OEM vs Aftermarket vs CTH

tthey wont reach in that orientation. Why is so hard for the people at Carhometrim to just include instructions? Just include the goddamned instructions. These people, what is wrong with them? They provide bolts that are just barely long enough, they dont provide instructions instead referring you to a website that doesnt show any pictures of the install whatsoever.

I am so angry at myself for falling for this cheap Chinese garbage. What, they can underprice Toyota OEM by not providing goddamned instruction? Is that where the savings is?

 

Meaning no offense, But why would you need instructions for skid plate installation?

 

CHT sent two different bolt lengths and spacers. The website that their product page points to says the spacers go in the back while more than one commenter says they go in front and other TRD Pro plates also go in front. Also, it didnt occur to me that putting the front on first was gonna make it easier to install. It seems like it should be straightfoward, but alas, it was not for me and it sucked.

No offense taken. It could just be me, but I was out of mind frustrated after 90 minutes. Im not sure if the holes in the frame were bad or the bolts werent threaded well, but getting the bolts started was n absolute bear of a job.

 

I totally get it and understand how something so simple can get complicated with poor fitment. Sorry this happened.

 

@BeavertonCommuter, did you remove the two radiator support brackets that the oem skid mounts to? The CTH skid uses the same mounting holes as those two brackets, so they have to be removed.

Some photos from my installation here:
https://www.4runners.com/threads/ne...-simplify-oil-change.19731/page-2#post-247230

If you zoom in on the last photo, you should see the spacer on the front passenger side.

 

Coming back to this. I uninstalled the skid plate so I could fit the stock splash guard up there. Once again, this is such a pain in the ass to install. No matter how hard I push on the plate,I just cannot get the front bolts to reach the hole. The spacers fit inside the big hole on the frame but the bolts just don't reach.

I literally don't know how I got them to go in the first time except through losing my mind, sweating up a storm and it just randomly worked.

Can't and won't recommend this cth skid plate. No instructions, different sized bolts, bolts don't reach.

 

I'll stick with my stock skids.

This may not help, but my rear/aft engine skid plate has two spacers for the front bolt attachments due to the diff drop. The forward skid plate does not have any spacers.

 

The primary issue is getting the bolts to start in the thread, I think. Im able to get the rear-most bolts started and going. But just getting the top bolts closest to the letters is a straight motherf%^&er. Its as if the bolts just are not long enough or, and maybe this is the case, theyre long enough but they are not threading into the hole. This is so incredibly frustrating.

 

That is frustrating. One thing I do when I have uncooperative bolts is to test/try thread engagement before putting the skid on.

This won't tell you if the bolt is to short, but it will allow you to determine if you have stripped or damaged threads. It's easier if you're not trying to fight the weight of the skid plate at the same time.

Last week when I had the forward skid off, I noticed one of the original bolt and threads felt a little odd, meaning it's probably on it's way out. I think the design of the stock skid bolts and threads are very susceptible to stripping and galling.

 

Before installing the plate the first time I did install the bolts to make sure went in and while they didnt go in easy, they ultimately fit. Then when I installed the plate the first time, it took forever for the bolts to actually grab so I could tighten them. Tonight, here I am with the same problem of just getting the top bolts to start going in.

Im thinking I need to try the tap chaser thing to clean up the bolt holes. I dont know if that will solve the problem of getting the bolts started, but its something to do.

 

I had to chase my threads with a tap last year after my dealership experience. Also I highly recommend using a liberal amount of anti-seize compound on the bolt threads when you reassemble.

I'm not fan of using a power driver on bolts because it can be more difficult to "feel" thread engagement.

I believe using power tools is a contributing factor to damaged threads.

 

Okay, Ill try some wd40 and wire brush to clean out the threads and see if that changes anything. If not, then Ill try chasing the threads.

Just these dang bolts closest to the letters...Im getting the bolt lined up, it just isnt engaging.

 

there was a thread in regards to Tap and chase or clean where the bolts or screws go in to before installing but for the bolts not being long enough to reach that is just something else

 

Love my RCI aluminum black powder coated skid plate.

 

Yeah, just not sure if theyre not long enough or getting the bolt started is being stymied by dirty threads on the frame.

 

Which is a mystery...when I first installed the CTH skid on my 4R, the bolts started fine, but since they are longer than the oem bolts, they would hit a place when being tightened up where I could feel that they were hitting an area in the frame threads that needed chasing. They got harder to tighten down before being seated all the way, but I had no issues getting them started - that is weird.

 

do you really need to remove those two cross members from the car so you can get the CTH TRD skid installed

 

I did. At least on the KDSS-equipped models - the CTH skid uses the same threaded holes in the cross members that those two brackets mount to. I don't see how it would fit otherwise.

 

No, not on the non-kdss models. The cth plate shares the front holes in the cross members so you remove the stock bolts and then use the cht bolts to mount the rear of the plate to the front end of the cross members.

 

I haven't changed my oil yet, but am less than 200 miles away from needing one so I'll report back after. I do plan to replace my drain bolt with a fumoto quik valve which should eliminate any potential of oil running on top of the skid.

 

Also getting a fumoto later this month as I get to 5k miles and do y first oil change.

 

thanks

 

Ok, so I went to the local hardware store and bought 2x 50mm 10mmx1.25 bolts and a 10mm - 1.25 tap. Is the tap the right size? Are the bolts the right size?

 

So, I resolved my problem with this skid plate...the hardware that comes with this plate is garbage. Bought new hardware at local store and plate installed no problem. I also then uninstalled the plate, cleaned up the threads on all four holes and installed so easy. Can't believe I lost my mind over installing this plate.

Secondly, noticed that less than a month of us, the little bolts they use to hold the access cover to the skid plate are rusting. The only water these have been exposed to was washing the truck exactly once since installing. Looks like Ill be replacing those little things, too.

 

So it appears there is a definite reason this skid plate is priced so much less...

 

Appears so...The plate itself has held up to some hard hits without denting or otherwise showing damage. But the hardware that comes with the plate is garbage.

 

Newer ones are 6, the older ones are 4. I had a 4 bolt RCI on my 17 and was surprised to see the one I got for my 19 was 6 bolt.

 

Reviving this thread cause I'm a little torn on what to do. I am ready to pull the trigger on the RCI front skid plate but have 2 items I need to gain some clarity on. Any experience would be highly appreciated

1. The factory skid has a built up stack of steel at the front crossmember that is used as the front jacking point. Essentially, the load is transferred thru the skid to the frame crossmember. It doesn't look like the RCI aluminum has this. For those with this skid, how are you jacking up the whole front end?

2. Does the plain aluminum have and coating on it? Is the powder coated aluminum a better choice?

Thanks for your replies in advance

 

I only jack up 1 side @ a time to do tire swap/rotations on the bottom of the lower control arm.

My RCI came in raw aluminum & I had it powdercoated.

 

Another revival. I just installed the CTH TRD non-kdss skid to my 22 ORP and had no issues with using the supplied hardware. Took me less than 15mins. I didn't even use any of the spacers that came w/ the skids. I removed the four bolts holding the crossbar, kept the crossbar on the truck, used two of the CTH black bolt (longer), two washer on the front and re-used the two OEM skid plate bolts in the rear. The reason (I believe) you need the spacer is because they're trying to replicate the TRD Pro installation. I have never seen underneath a PRO but watching youtube videos I notice that on the Pro model there looks to be a 1" block to slightly lower the diff, sort of like a diff drop. My ORP did not have that block and was bolted directly onto the frame, thus I did not need to add spacer to my CTH skid plate.

The only downside to this plate I see is that the holes drilled in the engraved TRD logo isn't centered so when you put the RED logo on it, it's off centered. There is double sided tape to the logo but if it's off centered it won't sit flush w/ the surface. I just added zip ties on all the 4 logo so they don't come loose. Works good and at least I have the oil filter access door vs the toyota one. Their engineering dept. failed at this design. Tundra's and Tacoma's has it, why couldn't they just add it to the 4runners?