Okay, Tom. I may be able to make you a "deal" though.

The guys are somewhat interested in making them as long as it doesn't turn into a big FUBAR. I have lined up other support from some people here to get drawings, jigs made and so forth. Could be we can offer them in limited quantities in either the very hard 1/8" stainless, or the very heavy 1/4" carbon steel. Costs, pricing, etc. are not decided yet. If I make a batch, I will have to buy materials and the guys making them will want a couple of bucks as well.

So, help me out by giving me an estimate of what you think such a plate is worth to you -- in other words: if it looks good, what value do you think it has? It will give me a point of negotiation with our wonderfully talented pirates we have around here. They may want too much or remarkably little, don't know yet.

If you're willing to give me an idea what you think they're worth, that will help me. I don't do this sort of thing normally, and this is not a "business" I want to run. It's not my "talent". So, I want to keep it simple and make it about hooking up a suppler and the "consumers". I mean, I get mine free no matter what, lol.

I think the stainless ones could be worth maybe as much as $200 easy if they look good as well as have the necessary strength. The carbon steel ones considerably less. Both will cost a bit to ship, with the carbon steel being VERY heavy to ship. Don't know weights yet. Keep all this in mind when you give me your ideas about what these things might actually sell to people at.

Remember, if the fab guys don't make a buck, they won't make a quantity of them, so don't bother to tell me "I'd pay $50 bucks!" or whatever -- keep it real.

 

I wouldnt have a problem dropping 150$ for a good stainless one... not sure if 200$ is in the budget though...

You could always deliver them in april at centralia.. I wouldnt have a problem sending you $$$ in advance.

John did you ever get that fuel tank skidplate to work?

Rand

 

No, Rand, but I'm going to enlist the same guys to redo the mounts for me, lol! I just haven't gotten it to them yet.

Okay, thanks for your input on price! Anyone else have a real opinion as well?

 

john, youre skidplace looks like joes! he used to beat his out all the time, but after one of our off road trips, he ended up taking it off since it was becoming more damaging than helping.

my brothers rubicon had those full body skid plates on it, lot of good they did, when he ran into a stump, it shoved the plate right into the tranny pan, screwing it all up.

 

Swear.. your skid plate looks like one of them large coal/snow shovels thats made of steel.

 

John, I'd think that $200 would be a very resonable price. The way I figure it when you add up the Labor and Mateirals thats what it should be. Its going to mount the same as the stock one and have the same shape it will take what, about 3 hours to fabricate? At the going rate (around here for simple fab, not highend) of $65-70 per hour, right there is looking to be $195-210dollars in labor. Then material, whats there about 4-6square feet? I bought some scrap steel about 6 months ago and it was around $20bucks for ~3square feet. Sooo take it for what its worth, but my opinion is that a fair price would be $200-250. Now if they will build each for a flat fee of say $75-100 bucks + Materials then obviously it would be a better deal, but a fair asking price I'd say is what I said above.

DISCLAIMER- The views listed above are only my opinions and should be taken as that. All dollar values are based on CA prices and my not be current. SO DONT GET PISSED!

 

John, I'd have to agree that $200 is a fair price. It's out of my price range, but a good price nonetheless. I was looking at Jeep parts and engine skidplates go for around $250.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay, well we'll go for a MAX of $200 I think and a target of as much less as I can get them to agree to. I'll let you know how it goes. This probably won't get resolved for a couple of weeks at least.

 

$200 is a good ballpark. Mine cost me $200 because that is what he said it would be. In the end it would have cost more b/c there was more involved then he thought, but he stuck to his $200 quote,...so long as i didnt send any more his way

 

That's not encouraging, lol!

 

i would be interested as long as it will work on my xlt

 

It should work with any IFS Ranger from 1998 through 2002 at least. I presume 2003 and up have the same front structure to mount it. Such presumption on my part may be presumptuous. That's a wierd word: "presumptuous" -- I'm sure that's not spelled correctly. At least I presume it's not...

 

side note: jacob, that avatar is sick, hah

 

Thanks..

 

thanks here as well

 

leo, does it say Linilid?

hey john, the skid plate would fit without removing my front valence right?? im only askin cause i know you took yours off a while ago, and wasn't sure if it was gonna be neccessary or not.

 

I think it will the way they're making it. It will end about an inch or two below the two hooks, and be angled under the truck. It wasn't made with that in mind, but it may be no problem. I'll test fit it against a truck with a valance before any get sold to people with valances.

 

sounds good

 

I think this probably would fit with a valance no problem. Pics below. Sorry, it's dirty already -- we've had rain, sleet and snow lately here since I put it on Monday.

Pic 1: Front view

Pic 2: from the drivers side

Pic 3: from the passengers side

Pic 4: details of the bolts. These are 3/8-16 and I tapped the frame to accept them. This is a size up from the 5/16 self-tapping "sheet metal" style I was using. Nice clean stainless welding also.

Pic 5: They messed up somewhat. They didn't realize that things are a little off center in a Ranger front end. Mike (sawred's) guy complained about that also. To make it center properly they had to mount this sides support reversed. Means it's best to put these bolts in first.

They are mulling over whether they want to make these or not. I don't think they're interested actually. We'll see.

 

Just a shot from the hip type comment, I honestly don't know enough about metal working to be an expert, but that design looks like it's begging to wind up like your last one. The tip, which I suspect is going to be the first hit, does not look sufficiently supported. Compare w/ the Ford factory (at least on my truck) plate and you can tell there is a lot more support on the leading edge of the plate. The side supports are not welded on, they are in fact the same sheet of metal just bent over and then ribbed, presumably for her pleasure ..er, uh, I mean.. for additional strength.

Here's a shot of mine, more are here:

Notice that mine is actually modified. Normally the side supports extend all the way up to the leading edge forming a point. The plate has a trapezoidal shape when viewed from the top or bottom. I had to cut the 'tips' of the leading edge off to fit the plate w/ my Manik brush guard. I realize that I weakened the plate by doing this, but it was a tradoff I was willing to take.

Anyhow, just my $0.02..

 

Reasonable comments. We see it this way.

1. The stainless is MUCH harder than your carbon steel plate. Much stiffer.

2. The front will bend up until it touches the tow hooks, and they will provide the "support" when I hit something.

3. The "flex" zone between the current mounting and the tow hooks will provide a small measure of "cushioning" in normal service -- at least until if bends and stays up there, if it does.

4. The welds are probably stronger than a sharp bend there for this type of material. This stuff is not as ductile as carbon steel or lesser stainless grades. I need to find out exactly what this material is. They go on about it, but I never did find out the grade or anything. It's used for liner plates in our big mill stands with 40 ton rolls thrusting against it, so it's pretty hard.

Along the trailing edge, they had to "dimple" it for the one bolt hole because it's recessed. They had to heat the living daylights out of it to get it to deform. It's very tough.

 

john did you say taht you would possibly make these for other people? b/c if so i would be very interested b/c when i did my body lift i had to cut the radiator shroud off and i would love to protect it from rocks mud and what not... i never thought of that way to attach it to the truck like that... and if its not to hard to do maybe a neww ''how to" should be done! thanks and it looks awsome btw...

 

that looks really good

 

looks good John, certainly better than what you had
front supports would have been nice, but your comment about it flexing up to the tow hooks and stopping there makes sense
any chance that future designs could incorporate a support running to that tow hook mount?
you could just use longer bolts and mount the tow hook over it

anyway if it is even half as strong as you think it is it will be twice as good as what you had which really deformed too easily to provide support to ride over stuff
to me it seemed it did not give enough protection for your radiator, tranny coolers and associated lines

 

Again, my comments were not intended to be negative, just constructive criticism.

Maybe for the next revision they could use a longer, triangular shaped peice for the side supports and have a longer weld w/ the sides of the plate. Either that or do as Neil suggested and have the leading edge bolted to the front bumper or frame somewhere.