RCI cat protection is coming

Fedex has it now, mine are in transit!

 

Mine are supposed to be here tomorrow sometime. Leaving for the beach tomorrow evening so doubtful I'll have time to get them on..... Looks like they will have to wait unit I get back.....

 

See I don’t get why the tundra is not offered in aluminum but is offered for the Tacoma. What’s the logic behind that? I ordered my shit already so whatever..

 

Personally I’m ok with steel for the cats. If it was all aluminum it would cut easier with a saws-all. Mind you might take a blade or two for clogging… Ultimately I would rather pay for stainless but only from RCI. Doesn’t matter what we build it out of a crank head who wants them WILL take them. I’m thinking about welding on razor blades to the guards to really make them want it

 

Mine are here, but no install instructions included. Parts / hardware include some pieces that are not super obvious.
I’m very curious (and a little concerned ) about how these are supposed to go on. Installing the trans skid required access from the sides with little clearance. These plates remove the ability to access the sides. I really hope these things are actually installable.

 

@RCIoffroad Needs to have an INSTALL VIDEO!!

 

My advice, put the mounting bracket on first - then attach the whole thing in one piece. One of those four mounting bolts is a huge PITA if you try to do it under the truck.

 

I'm just glad I have ratcheting wrenches now. When I installed the skids originally I did not and it was tedious and time consuming. Hoping this time around the install is smoother even with the "wings".

Thanks so much for a copy of the instructions @Lodge14 !!!!

 

Take the whole mounting bracket down and your life will be easier!

 

Ha. Good call. I did it the way you are the first time so in theory I made the adjustment then. Now I remove the entire bracket when I have to take it on and off. 2 bolts instead of 4 and way easier access.

 

O well guess it will cost$$$ to get installed. Nothings easy working on this truck

 

Mine is out for delivery.

 

“build quality” - can you elaborate? I mean it’s a sheet of steel/aluminum bent with plasma cut outs. Do you mean like cheap/thin metal or? I don’t understand

 

Just got mine. For those of you who have installed them, how do you feel about it? Just holding them up it seems like there is still a lot of room to get a sawzall with an 8” blade in there. I don’t think these would stop anyone, especially for the back cats. I’m thinking about sending them back.

 

Sure but keep in mind that this was for a Tacoma and not a Tundra.

• Edges were sharp and had to wear gloves to prevent getting sliced to bits.
• Lots of barbs in the cutouts
• The bends had excessively long and wide cuts. There were more cuts And empty space in the corners than material. Very, very easy to get a saw blade in the cuts and would take seconds to cut the sides off.
  
• It consisted of 3 separate pieces even though the web site description literally stated a one piece cat plate and the pictures were intentionally staged to make it look like a one piece. When installing the three pieces, the holes did not align up and I had to machine the holes to complete the install. A normal 30 minute job turned into several hours.
• All in all, was not happy with it. I will give him credit though for when I emailed expressing my displeasure,,he did offer a full refund.

 

A quality control issue for sure!

 

I put mine up for a loose fit using a floor jack to hold the plate up, and tightened the back 2 on the crossmember mount (to the skid) when I got it where I wanted it. Dropped it back down and tightened all 4. Then it was just putting it back up and bolting ulp to the cross member. Still easier said than done, and in that moment I wished I had ratcheting wrenches.

Overall not a bad install. Drilling the holes for the cat guards was the worst part of it, mainly because my garage is not set up for fabrication. In addition to ratcheting wrenches, I should have invested in some quality drill bits too. But with the help of a bit sharpener, I got through it (eventually).

 

@Lodge14 you're my hero. I didn't have the instructions and was thrown off by a few pieces.

Overall, I think it's a nice plate. A little tricky to install. As others said, I would attach the mounting plate before installing if I did another. I ended up loosening one side of the mounting plate and detaching the opposite side so I could get a hand in to tighten the bolts. Mine was also one of the last that didn't have the holes drilled in the trans plate so I had to do that. When I went to attach the cat guards, the holes in the guard themselves were barely big enough for the provided bolts. I ended up using an allen key to 'thread' the bolts into the holes.

There is quite a bit of room at the rear cats but the plate will still do its job of deterring someone.

 

anyone know any current discount codes?

 

Will it? I’m not trying to knock RCI, but from the looks of it you can fit a sawzall with a long enough blade in between the plate and crossmember circled in the pic. They’d at least take your rear cats, which is pretty much just as bad as taking all 4.

I just wanted to see others opinions before I install these.

 

Pretty sure RCI sent me the incorrect mounting hardware. Can someone confirm. Looks like I have 4 1” carriage bolts and 8 1” allen bolts. Instructions say should have 12 carriage bolts. The allen bolts fit, but seems wrong. Unless I am supposed to use one carriage bolt per guard then the standard bolts for the remainder. Bag on the left seems correct, had the clips in it. Bag on the right seems wrong?

 

disregard i suppose. Finished opening up the guards themselves and looks like carriage bolts wouldn't even fit in the larger guards, only the allen bolts.

 

Good eye. Maybe the mouth breathers stealing cats wont figure it out.

 

That is what I was looking for, I would like to get a set in aluminum

 

Your pics came out better than mine did. I had sun coming in the garage behind my truck, so the pics were overexposed. I decided not to bother posting them. Glad for others you got some good shots.

 

Yeah, that stumped me for a bit too. The allen head bolts for the main guards, and the carriage bolts for the smaller back guards.

 

I kinda thought that too, but at least with only access to the rears they won't be destroying wiring like they would when stealing the fronts too. If you wanted to spend the time, you could probably adjust the rear crossmember and close up that gap to make it more difficult.

Then, if they do steal the rears, just weld some pipe in place and drive on. Sensors are further upstream, so should be no impact to driving/check engine lights. Might even pass inspection if they don't know there's supposed to be 4 cats in there.

 

Try "Oddly2Weeks". If not they will probably have a an upcoming sale in July.

 

Got mine on today. Install was pretty easy with ratcheting wrenches. Have my TRD PRO skid plate up front and the hardest part was removing the spacer sleeves the PRO skid has since they fell inside the crossmember and I had to fish them. Aside from that only took like 30 minutes, and the front hardware/bracket provided by RCI worked fine with the TRD PRO skid, with no mods necessary, for anyone wondering.

I assembled the trans skid with the crossmember off the truck as suggested. However, left the carriage bolts loose enough so that I could adjust the skid forward and back if needed. Once I got it into place, I lowered the rear of the skid by angling it down, leaving the front supported under the engine skid. Was plenty of room to snug up the 4 carriage bolts, before lifting it into place and installing the crossmember to frame bolts…which have plenty of room to work with.

Overall happy with the protection of the front cats, dont see anyone getting to those without removing the skids. As some have mentioned the rear doesnt seem to offer as much protection as I had hoped for. Obviously the pipes can always be further back, regardless of how far back the skids go, but I was just hoping it would be more difficult to cut in front of the rear cat. The passenger side is stupid easy, the driver side is a little tighter. I was able to get my sawzall up in there no problem. Is it a good deterrent, absolutely. If I was told to remove my rear cats without taking the skid plate of could I do it, totally.

 

Boo but good to know