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Making My Own Plastic UHMW skid plate


muggzy

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The 1/4" overhang I left ought to do the job of protecting the sides of the frame. One thing that I hated about the curled edges of the aluminum skid plate that was on my first bike was that you couldn't get the crud out of the edges. This design has a nice 1/8" gap all the way around that will allow me to pressure wash the mud out.

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I've got enough extra material left to make some A-arm skids too. Those I'll curl around the front edges like I did for this one. But now that she's got all the most important armor, I can finally take her out. The rubber tubing I put over the A-arms will have to do. I'm seriously jonesing for a ride ;)

 

If there's enough interest, I'll post up wear reports to let you know how they behave as glides and how they hold up. I had a DG belly skid and an Armadillo swingarm skid on my my last bike and beat the crap out of them. 
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So I started the A-arms today:

I have plenty of UHMW and conduit straps left, so all I needed was a set of the rotor mounting screws. Found several people selling them on ebay for $10 a set + $6 for the ride.

 

For the template, this time I taped a piece of cardboard in place and carefully traced it from the top since I had the access. From there, I found the centerlines in order to locate the conduit strap mounting holes. I'm also gonna put a leading edge protector on it as well:

 

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Only needed the one and I just flipped it to get both sides. Got both of them cut out today and now I gotta wait for the screws. I'd like to heat the plastic, mount it in place and use the a-arms themselves to form it around. I may change my mind about that before the screws get here though

 

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OK, Here's the first ride report:

I intentionally ran a couple of good sized rocks under the center rather than running the wheels over the rocks. Definitely "glided" over them - no lurch like you get with the alum. The hits were taken on the swing arm skids;

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First time out and the A-arms are def gonna need some love too...

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Yup I'm jelly , how much to make one for me ? I can provide my own bolts

I'd have to find someone to cut the plastic in some small quantities to even consider it. The time to make these one-off' I'd have to charge you too much.

Thanks for the compliment though.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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What exactly was so bad about the tm design ? Was considering one of these as well

Don't get me wrong here.  I've got a TMD case saver, chain guide and swing arm protector,and have been very satisfied with them all.  

 

When I tried to mount up the skid plate,

1) It was more than an inch too narrow, exposing all of the sides of my frame.  This is especially bad where the frame angles out for the back half of the frame.  My old alum one has some of it's worst scars at these edges.

2) The mounting clips (similar to the extruded finger style you've seen on alum. skids) were made out of the same slippery material and barely reached the frame.  This allowed the skid plate to shift around without much effort.

3) There was a single "finger" to hold the front that didn't quite reach the lateral frame bar.  So there was nothing to keep the skid plate from sliding back the first time I hit a rock.

If it wasn't for the too narrow fit (1), I could have used the vinyl coated conduit straps used in this fab to fix problems 2 and 3, but after all I paid, why should I have to?

 

I will say in TMDs defense that they were really great about taking it back.  The other TMD products that I own(ed), are well made, fit and work flawlessly and have held up really well.  I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again in the future.

 

I also considered the one Maier has on clearance for $50 but they do not accept returns on clearance items and they didn't have black.

 

I'm sooo much happier with the way this turned out (assuming it holds up) 

It's a full 1/4" thick, not just 3/16"

Enough material to do the swing arm and A-arms also and I haven't ever seen a plastic one to do all of that.

Front and side edges seem well protected

 

Again, we'll see how it holds up.  I intentionally smacked a couple of rocks and it took it on the chin pretty well.  

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Let us know how the 1/4" holds up. And don't forget pictures of the finished a-arms skids.

The belly looks great.

On the swingarm skid, have you thought about adding some UHMW to the center part? Not sure if it is needed, was just wondering.

Thanks. Will do. Yeah, I thought about the center of the swinger skid. I may still do it when I finish the a-arms.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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