Installed JCR Offroad Evap Skid on Badlands.

[Trist0n]

How on earth did you get through the pinch weld? Using a Milwaukee cordless at medium low speed, fresh cobalt bits, and cutting fluid and I’ve barely made a dent in the first hole after a ton of drilling. Seriously I’m going to wear out before these drill bits do

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[Escape2Bronco]

How on earth did you get through the pinch weld? Using a Milwaukee cordless at medium low speed, fresh cobalt bits, and cutting fluid and I’ve barely made a dent in the first hole after a ton of drilling. Seriously I’m going to wear out before these drill bits do

Did you start with a smaller drill bit first? If you are using a small drill bit, faster is better. It’s all about surface feet per minute. Plenty of charts online to tell you speed depending on drill diameter and material.

 

[Trist0n]

Did you start with a smaller drill bit first?

Yep, starting with 1/8 and smaller to try to get a pilot hole, but no dice. Going to try some carbide bits I guess

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Yep, starting with 1/8 and smaller to try to get a pilot hole, but no dice. Going to try some carbide bits I guess

You may want to increase your speed. Atleast the carbides will take the heat but much more brittle so a little less helpful in a hand drill. They can break pretty easy if not careful. Ask me how I know!

 

[Trist0n]

Carbide was the answer y’all, cut through it in under a minute

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Carbide was the answer y’all, cut through it in under a minute

Good job! The other thing for folks not used to using carbides, keeping them turning helps from breaking them as well.

 

[Trist0n]

@NMhunter random, did you have to trim both the drivers and passengers side gas tank skids?

 

[NMhunter]

I haven't done the passenger side. After my last hunting trip, I'm thinking I need to. I high centered going into a wash, and scraped in the back as well. Trimming the gas tank skid was the easy part. Removing the skid plate was the hard part. They are locktited on, and to remove them, I finally had to use a mini torch to heat them. I did have a fan going to blow away any possible gas fumes.

 

[Mwittke5857]

First, I have to say, I love the driver’s side skid plate now that it is installed. The one on the driver’s side is definitely needed. I ripped the carpet that came stock and severely scratched the gas tank skid plate prior to ordering these. The skid plates come as a pair, but I don’t really see the need for the passenger side one. There’s nothing to protect on that side except floor metal.

The video showing installation was great, but it wasn't for a Badlands. Turns out removing the gas tank skid plate is required on the Badlands. It has to be “trimmed” to reinstall. I haven’t done that yet. The gas tank skid is attached with button head Torx bolts that are cemented in with permanent Loctite. I used every tool in my tool box including acetone and an air hammer to try to remove them. I broke a 3/8 to 1/4 socket adapter trying to remove them. The air hammer just stripped the head, and I had to cut that button head off. The only thing that worked was a mini propane torch to burn off the Loctite. Mind you, this is inches from the gas tank. After that, it came off easily.

The video mentions how hard the pinch weld metal is. They weren't kidding. You must have a center punch to start the drill hole. Start small and go bigger. With he DeWalt drill bits I found at Home Depot it took 30 minutes to drill the first hole. I ordered some GMTOOLS Cobalt Drill bits with 5% Cobalt from Amazon. They worked great, but were worn out by the time I got the other 5 holes drilled. The drill bits weren’t long enough for my DeWalt cordless drill to clear the car body without an extension, so I used a Hex Shank Keyless Drill Adapter to drill the hole without the drill motor touching the body. A drill motor with a keyed chuck may have fit without hitting the body.

Once the holes were drilled, and the gas tank skid plate removed, it was fairly easy to install. A rubber mallet was useful for forcing it under the subframe tie in. I put medium Loctite on those bolts when I reinstalled them. A small magnetic pickup tool was useful for getting the nut tabs back to where they go. One disappeared while sliding the skid in, and the magnet was needed to get it back into place. The only wrench that would reach the front 1/4”-20 button head nut was an offset 7/16” wrench. A standard box end didn’t work, and neither did a socket.

LIST OF TOOLS EXTRA TOOLS NEEDED FOR BADLANDS
Keyless Drill Adapter T-40 Torx Bit
Offset 7/16 Box End Wrench Mini Propane Torch
Telescoping Magnetic Pickup Tool Fire Extinguisher
Center Punch 1/4” socket for Torx Bit
Cobalt Drill Bits
T Handle Allen Wrenches 5/32 & 5/16
13mm and 15 mm socket wrenches
Rubber Mallet
Loctite

I felt the pain in the @$$ those pinch welds were to go through. I used carbide bits (quite a few of them) But after seeing what mild off-roading does to the felt-ish covers, a solid investment for those that aren't parking lot queens

 

[Trist0n]

Much suffering later….they're on! Will have to get some glamor shots later. Stoked to have them, but very happy that’s over with. Since I’ve seen some conflicting posts about it, you do NOT lose any ground clearance. It kinda looks like it since the rails are below the doors, but the skids/rails are now inline with the gas tank and engine skid plates.

 

[Mwittke5857]

Much suffering later….they're on! Will have to get some glamor shots later. Stoked to have them, but very happy that’s over with. Since I’ve seen some conflicting posts about it, you do NOT lose any ground clearance. It kinda looks like it since the rails are below the doors, but the skids/rails are now inline with the gas tank and engine skid plates.

I cheaped-out and skipped on the sliders

 

[Trist0n]

I cheaped-out and skipped on the sliders

For how damn hard the pinch weld was they might as well BE rock sliders smh

 

[NMhunter]

Congratulations!

 

[ryan_socal]

I just finished installing skids and sliders on my ‘25 Badlands last night. It took about 8 hrs of labor - 3 hrs drilling and 5 hrs iteratively fit checking, trimming, re-drilling, and beating the plates into submission. That was with on/off help from a friend who has much more experience than I have with this kind of work.

We ended up leaving the driver’s side fuel tank guard (the one that @NMhunter cut) alone and instead trimmed the skid plate to fit around it. I’m certain that’s way easier than taking the fuel tank guard off and trimming that.

After that trim, the driver’s side plate was easy to bolt on, and it looks clean - no exposed lip to bite into rocks.

However, we tried to do the same on the passenger side but that tank guard extends a little further forward and covers one of the key mounting holes for the passenger side skid, so we trimmed both the passenger side skid plate and the tank guard, and finally got it all to fit on the third try.

We definitely could have made a cleaner cut if we had taken the tank guard off first, and in retrospect we should have done that since we ended up needing to unbolt the darn thing anyway to maneuver the skid into position and access the rearmost inboard mounting hole for that plate. The tank guard bolts were difficult but thankfully didn’t put up as much of a fight as @NMhunter had to deal with.

Not as clean as the driver’s side, but it’ll do.

All in all, I’m happy to have the plates and sliders on. Peace of mind on the trail will make the cost and effort worth it.

Thanks @NMhunter for sharing your experience here. Despite the troubles you encountered, you gave me hope and your pics helped a lot. I hope my additions here will also help someone out someday. ??

 

[Trist0n]

I just finished installing skids and sliders on my ‘25 Badlands last night. It took about 8 hrs of labor - 3 hrs drilling and 5 hrs iteratively fit checking, trimming, re-drilling, and beating the plates into submission. That was with on/off help from a friend who has much more experience than I have with this kind of work.

We ended up leaving the driver’s side fuel tank guard (the one that @NMhunter cut) alone and instead trimmed the skid plate to fit around it. I’m certain that’s way easier than taking the fuel tank guard off and trimming that.

After that trim, the driver’s side plate was easy to bolt on, and it looks clean - no exposed lip to bite into rocks.

However, we tried to do the same on the passenger side but that tank guard extends a little further forward and covers one of the key mounting holes for the passenger side skid, so we trimmed both the passenger side skid plate and the tank guard, and finally got it all to fit on the third try.

We definitely could have made a cleaner cut if we had taken the tank guard off first, and in retrospect we should have done that since we ended up needing to unbolt the darn thing anyway to maneuver the skid into position and access the rearmost inboard mounting hole for that plate. The tank guard bolts were difficult but thankfully didn’t put up as much of a fight as @NMhunter had to deal with.

Not as clean as the driver’s side, but it’ll do.

All in all, I’m happy to have the plates and sliders on. Peace of mind on the trail will make the cost and effort worth it.

Thanks @NMhunter for sharing your experience here. Despite the troubles you encountered, you gave me hope and your pics helped a lot. I hope my additions here will also help someone out someday. ??

Certainly a pain in the ass to install but very well worth it, I’ve come down pretty hard on my rails on some Virginia mountain ledges and they’ve done their job. Nice work!