I've been looking into getting a bunch of skid plates and armor for my 02 4wd. I'm planning a huge trip in my truck for the summer that includes a lot of wheeling (Going to Moab!!!) and I want to get all the protection I can before I set out. I'm lloking at front skid plates, gas tank skid plates, rock sliders.

So far I've found one bolt0on Rock Slider through rocky road outfitters for $419 + shipping
Ford Ranger Rock Sliders: Protect Your Ford Ranger with Rock Sliders

Has anyone ran these? How strong are they and do you have any pics? I havn't been able to find any close up pics of the sliders.

For the front skid I'm looking at RCI metal works and possibly picking up their transfercase skid while i'm at it.
Ford Ranger Accessories
Does anyone else make Front skid plates? I know there are pre-runner bumpers out there but I can't really drop the cash on one of them plus I'm going to design my own eventually.

As for the gas tank skid plate I cant find anything. The only thing I've been able to come up with so far is either getting one from the dealership or a junk yard.

 

I went with 78" trail gear sliders on my truck.
Toyota, Suzuki Samurai, and Jeep Off Road Parts

RCI skid plates are pretty good. gknight has one on his truck and so do a lot of members. I went up with gknight when he went to pick his up. Josh (the guy who makes them) is a pretty cool guy and does fantastic work.

As far as gas tank skid plates, the factory ones are the only ones I know of. Josh made one for his truck, but never mass produced them.

Here's a few pics of the trail gear sliders on my truck.







Gknights truck with the front skid plate

 

My plan is to get trail gear sliders because I dont have a tube bender. But everything else its so much easier to just build them yourself. By the time you fully skid everything you need to on your truck its paid for the welder and the scrap metal to practice on. I did that years ago with my second jeep(first i bought skids, big mistake) and I couldn't believe the money I saved. I had 2 jeeps after that that literally cost me 100$ to skid the whole damn underside with a flat belly pan.

Its going to be the same thing in the truck I'm budgeting about 140$ to skid the whole bottom side of my truck. then I'll be doing the same thing as you with the trail gear sliders. Its a good price for what you get.

 

I'm running a set of the rocky road super sliders and I love them! They give the protection I need with out being boat anchors.

There are pics in my build thread if you want to take a look.

 

The RCI skids are hella strong. My trans one had the whole weight of the truck come down on it. It concaved it a little but it held up. They are like twice as thick as stock. I highly recommend them.