Control Arm Skid Plates

BillTheCat

BillTheCat

New member
My EVO Protek Pro Skid system will be here today! Happy B-Day to me.

Concerning control arm armor, is there any advantages/disadvantages to weld-on vs bolt? For both front and rear?
 
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Welded LCA Skids

There is no doubt that welded skids are by far stronger than bolt-on (not to mention much cheaper). For me, it was an opportunity to do a welding job on my rig with little consequence of less than perfect welds (I did this in conjunction with gussets on the C's - and installing Prosteer ball joints). I'd have to say it turned out OK from my perspective.
 
Good for you. One of the first things I did was have welded ones put on the front control arm brackets and the rear lower shock mounts.
 
BillTheCat said:
My EVO Protek Pro Skid system will be here today! Happy B-Day to me.

Concerning control arm armor, is there any advantages/disadvantages to weld-on vs bolt? For both front and rear?
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Nice you will love it!

Weld on is way stronger. For the front lowers I would add them. Now that being said, for the rear, the Evo rock star skids are bolt on and raise the shock mount up an 1.5" which helps a lot. They are plenty strong for the rear
 
Rear LCA Skids

When I looked at welding skids on the rear LCAs, I realized that adjusting the length of the control arms would be pretty difficult (even though the adjustable end is at the frame). The control arms would no longer just drop out of the lower mount but rather, you'd have to take both loose at the frame end and rotate the pinion down to get them out of the upper mount so that you could adjust them. Looking at the rock rash around the rear suspension on my rig, it would seem that the rear LCA mounts aren't very vulnerable to damage (the fronts are quite vulnerable). All of that said, I'd expect that you probably wouldn't be adjusting the length of the rear LCAs very often.
 
JoeB-JKURX said:
When I looked at welding skids on the rear LCAs, I realized that adjusting the length of the control arms would be pretty difficult (even though the adjustable end is at the frame). The control arms would no longer just drop out of the lower mount but rather, you'd have to take both loose at the frame end and rotate the pinion down to get them out of the upper mount so that you could adjust them. Looking at the rock rash around the rear suspension on my rig, it would seem that the rear LCA mounts aren't very vulnerable to damage (the fronts are quite vulnerable). All of that said, I'd expect that you probably wouldn't be adjusting the length of the rear LCAs very often.
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Adjusting them is more for caster changes and pinion angle changes, not so much for wear. If you're happy with your lift, axle location, caster, and pinion angle, you shouldn't have to adjust them.
 
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