Factory skid plates

[Travis Brown]

Does anyone have the factory transfer case skid plate? I ordered one online and I'm trying to figure out what hardware Ford had in mind. There are small holes in the frame at the right spots. The clearance holes on the skid plate itself are different sizes. It looks like one pair is M8 and the other pair is M10. What do you guys think, self threading bolts?

 

[dvdswan]

Can you do a 180 with skid plant and use the bolt to the left of it in the picture in the larger hole that's on the right side of the plate in the picture?

 

[Bazz270]

You can use rivnuts on the chassis holes.
And you have to fabricate some kind offset mount using factory inserts near of the transmission crossbar area.i will try to show you with my aftermarket skidplate

 

[Travis Brown]

Can you do a 180 with skid plant and use the bolt to the left of it in the picture in the larger hole that's on the right side of the plate in the picture?

I'm trying to keep things simple and just put it in the oem location. Judging by the location of the frame holes, I'm pretty sure it's meant to go where I'm holding it.

I could do rivnuts, but it doesn't seem like the method Ford intended and it would add a 1/16" or so gap between the skid plate and the frame. I guess these skid plates were a pretty rare option. In all my searches, I've never found a real pic of one, let alone instructions on how to mount it.

 

[Bazz270]

The gap is not a problem at all.ive installed kinda threaded flat spacer ( no rivnuts available at this time)on aftermarket aluminum skid plates

 

[Travis Brown]

The gap is not a problem at all.ive installed kinda threaded flat spacer ( no rivnuts available at this time)on aftermarket aluminum skid plates

Wow, that looks pretty nice. Your transfer case plate looks like it has much longer coverage than the oem plate. It also looks like you've got a pretty solid plate for the gas tank. I may eventually try to copy that, but I've only got a few days before a big overlanding trip, so I'll settle with bolting on the factory skid for now. I did eventually find a diagram in the factory service manual:

The service manual indicates that the skid plate bolts are Ford part W707079-s which is an M8 x 16mm washer bolt:

So it looks like Ford intended a drill/tap procedure here

 

[Bazz270]

Actually it is a 4 part aluminum (1/4 inch thickness) skid plate kit.sold as an offroad option at local Ford dealer.never seen any kind of OEM skid plates before

Kit contains:Radiator ,gearbox,transfer case and a fuel tank skid plates. Never get damaged any of the bottom components when offroading (3inch lift installed) except of the exhaust muffler minor damage.

I can take a photo of the whole bottom chassis kit if you want to try to reverse engineering it

 

[Travis Brown]

Actually it is a 4 part aluminum (1/4 inch thickness) skid plate kit.sold as an offroad option at local Ford dealer.never seen any kind of OEM skid plates before

Kit contains:Radiator ,gearbox,transfer case and a fuel tank skid plates. Never get damaged any of the bottom components when offroading (3inch lift installed) except of the exhaust muffler minor damage.

I can take a photo of the whole bottom chassis kit if you want to try to reverse engineering it

Wow, that sounds pretty sweet. I've never seen any kind of aftermarket skid plate for these explorers. I wonder if it was a local design by that particular dealer. If you could post some more pics, that'd be great!

 

[Bazz270]

1. Radiator skid plate- bolted on the engine mount crossbar and front winch chassis

2.transmission skid plate - bolted on the transmission mount and front lower control arms crossbars

3. The fuel tank and the transfer case skid plates.bolted both on the transmission mount crossbar and the car body bottom random threads

You need to improvise a little when preparing the skid plates anchore points.welding fasteners to extensions etc.

 

[06bluez]

travis would you mind posting the ford part number for that oem skid plate? thanks

 

[Travis Brown]

Here's the factory transfer case skid plate installed on the car (along with the factory gas tank skid plate on the right)

If you're going to do this, remember to let the screws create the threads in the frame holes instead of tapping. If you tap the threads, the holes will be too weak and will strip out (I know from experience)

Transfer case skid plate install:
1x - 6L2Z-7E063-AA - Transfer case skid plate ~$100
4x - W707079-S439 - M8 Thread forming washer bolts ~$5

Gas tank skid plate (bonus):
1x - 6L2Z-9A147-AA - Gas tank skid plate (plastic) ~$300
1x - 1L2Z-9A235-AA - Skid plate support bracket (discontinued so you'll have to fab your own)
4x - W505444-S439 - M10 washer bolts (same used on the bumper)
4x - W710792-S439 - M10 Insert Nut (same used on the bumper)
1x - W712295-S439 - M10 Insert stud (same one used on the front fuel tank strap)
1x - M10 flange nut

FYI - Having done all the work of buying and installing these, I'm not sure I'd do it again. The gas tank skid plate is 1/4" thick, but it's still plastic, so I don't know how much I trust it. The transfer case skid plate doesn't seem like it's worth the metal it's made out of. I think it would need a center support (as Bazz270 mentioned) to be of any protective value.

 

[06bluez]

thanks i agree from the pics, they seem like road debris guards, not up for any rock dragging, but better than nothing to protect the transfer case and shift motor wiring