Floor Jack Skid Plates for Offroad

[Tbars4]

..Work in Progress..

...Here is an option for taking your favorite floor jacks with you offroad..Aluminum floor jack skid plates..:biggthump

..These are not all that new but these are used and proven in several different class's of offroad race trucks, truggy's, and Baja vehicles..

...Several different race fabricators make these but most are limited to one or two sizes of jacks and they are brand specific...

..The most common jacks these are built for are the Harbor Freight aluminum racing jacks as these are lite weight, inexpensive, and easy to replace as they are in stock all over the place and you can easily warranty the jacks on the spot at any of the HF stores..

..Some of these fabricators also build these skids for jacks such as Craftsman and other Major brands but these are more rare and almost custom.

..I chose to get one size of each HF aluminum floor jacks..

The Large 2 ton for the Explorer = model #68051

The Smaller 1-1/2 ton for the Ranger = model #68053

..The Following post are of each skids progress from pick up, assembly, and installation in each truck...Since my trucks aren't race trucks, finding the locations to mount these out of the way will be a project in itself..:scratch:

 

[Tbars4]

The Skid Plate for the Large 2 ton for the Explorer = model #68051

 

[Tbars4]

The Skid Plate for the Smaller 1-1/2 ton for the Ranger = model #68053

 

[97exploderXLT]

Definately intereested in seeing where this thread goes and where you will mount the jack

 

[Brian1]

Looks good! How thick of aluminum are the skids?

 

[Bruces expo]

Sweet ! , I Like It ! .

 

[Tbars4]

Looks good! How thick of aluminum are the skids?

..I think they are 1/4, 5/16th at the most...

..The large one reminds me of a snowboard and I want to throw some bindings on it...

 

[Tbars4]

..And there was some more welding going on before 7 this morning...

..I picked up the front hold downs for both of the jack skids today....One for each size and these mount to a deck...The jack skids just slide snuggly into these for quick loading and unloading..

 

[sirhk100]

I made one probably 8 years ago for the hf jack I carry in my prerunner. Just used some light gauge steel, hammered it around the jack and bolted it thru the sides. I've got years and years and years of use out of it with no issues. I don't have any pictures but it's not that hard to make.

I also made a pretty simple quick release setup for the one on our race truck that uses a cheap spring loaded pin to secure it that I picked up from mcmaster carr. Granted, this obviously isn't on an explorer but it could probably be crossed over if someone was creative enough.

 

[Tbars4]

...Have any close up pics of the hold downs and releases of both the jack and the handle?...

 

[sirhk100]

I'll try to remember to take some pictures of both the jack on my prerunner truck with that skid and the one on the race truck. I'll also try and grab pictures of how I have it secured on the race truck. It's very very simple...

The release on the handle is a product that's not released yet. Those are prototypes for the company I work for and we're not really pushing them towards the "race market" but figure it's a perfect way to test!!!

Jump to basically the 7:00 mark here, we've got probably 250 miles of abuse on them so far with zero issues. You can see the jack handle to the left of the tires and if you look closely there's a shovel in the same area but on the right side of the tires that is held down by the same mounts. The jack is held in place with a spring loaded pin that I'll take pics of tonight but just as a secondary I put a pump or two on it as well to wedge it in under the loop I fabbed over the top of it. I didn't want to rely on just that though alone in fear of it loosing pressure and coming loose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgebrxhBru8