CAT CONVERTER SHIELD FOR 1GT

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum--although I have read many posts in this one, as well as that for Tacomas. I happened to stumble on your great chat place (excellent resource!) by accident while looking for catalytic converter shields for a 1GT.
A little bit of background: I happened to buy this '05 Tundra just recently from it's owner when he had both cats stolen from the truck while parked at work. It was going to be too much of an expense for him to have them replaced + the O2 sensors, that he decided to get rid of it.
My question is, where do I find these shields? It seems like they are plentiful for the Tacomas, Sequoias, and even 2nd gen & up Tundras, but I just have not come across any for my newly acquired '05 Tundra AC 2WD. I've already checked most of the outfits that deal in these protectors, but none for the 1GTs (?). Could someone point me in the right direction?
I would appreciate any help.

 

Probably going to have to go the custom route.
Find a good fabricator who welds and does good sheet metal work.
While there's some aftermarket support for Gen 1's . . . I personally haven't heard of anyone making cat shields for them.
I could be 100% wrong, and hope that I am . . . best of luck, and let us know what You find, and or what route You take.

 

HBTundra, thanks for the response (I also have been thinking about having these shields made from scratch--not thrilled). I will wait to see if any other member knows anything where to buy pre-fab shields.

 

I know this isn't legal . . . or advised, but I thought it was humorous and worth sharing.
There's a guy who lives in the Inland Empire of So Cal who had the cats stolen off his new F350 at least twice, maybe 3 times.
He had enough, and ended up wiring up some contraption that makes the truck 'Hot' or 'Live' with electricity.
Not enough to kill you, but enough to knock you silly if you touch it.
He said on the 3rd night he zapped some would-be thieves and they took off and left their sawzall behind !!!

 

Yikes! Hahaha, I guessed they deserved that. I believe that I read something to that effect in a forum somewhere. However, that is a bit too much for me--the labor and ingenuity part. The deterrence that it offers, I do not mind--damn thieves!

 

Yes, they make them that should fit your truck, there are a few threads with vendors on this exact website you can find within the 1st gen sub-forum via the search function if you look on here yourself. Skid Row is one of the brands.

 

https://skidrowoffroad.com/collections/toyota-toyota-tundra-1999-2006

https://www.1stgenoffroad.com/store/p930/CatPlate.html#/

 

des2mtn, thanks for the reply. I have already looked; but I will try again. Neither 'SkidRow', nor 'SkeerdyCat' or any other company seems to be making these shields for Tundras that were made prior to 2007.

 

Thanks jerryallday, I will try these...

 

I have a Skid Row Catalytic Converter Shield + Transmission skid plate on my '04 Tundra -- Skid Row makes a few under carriage skid plates for our truck. I ordered them all off their website, https://skidrowoffroad.com/.

 

Hmmm, 'skidrowoffroad' has one (I had seen it before), but to be quite honest, 'jerryall'day', their system--yes, it's a system--is kinda of prohibitive. It is almost the same as the cats themselves. I'll continue looking. thanks jerryallday

 

'jerryallday' the second option is less costly...thank you!

 

...uh-oh, it is sold out--just MY LUCK!!

 

Another option is a company called Desert Eagle. You can find him on Facebook.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/tundras-are-the-1-catalytic-converter-target.114743/#post-3011286

 

Just listing this off here, since we get at least one of these threads eveyr 6-8 weeks. Since people won't use Search before posting, I'm bringing search to them...

https://www.tundras.com/threads/cats-stolen-now-i’ve-got-decisions-to-make.110476/#post-2850599

Be careful what brand of cat you replace with also. A lot of aftermarket cats don't play nice and tend to throw codes constantly. Either go OEM, Magnaflow, Walker, or Summit Racing's store brand. Those seem to be 4 brands members haven't had issues with.

 

Just installed the Skid Row Offroad cat cover yesterday.

https://skidrowoffroad.com/collecti...smission-skid-plate-required-for-installation

Other than being kinda heavy, and you have to drill two holes, it's a pretty easy install.
Not cheap, but much cheaper than dealing with a cat theft. I had one stolen a few months ago, it sucks.

 

I've been eyeballing Skidrows product but the pictures on their website look like the would-be thieves can still get to the cat. Can you take some pictures for us of your install?

 

I was thinking the same thing.

Are the side wings stout? Looks like your average tweaker could bend those straight down.

 

Someone can totally bend those wings downward to gain access.

 

I think it's a catch-22 on that one.

If you make wings that are un-attached, they can be bent down.
If you make wings that are attached (3-4 points), it's now rigid enough to sawzall through pretty quickly, then bend down.

If they want your cats and they have the time, like the original owner who left their truck in a work parking lot, thieves are gonna take 'em. It's not a matter of "if" but "when". If unattached and there's enough leverage to bend, you're removing 1 preventative hurdle and saving them time.

 

Yeah, bending the wings down would be silent and not take a lot of time.

 

I had the exact same thought. I'm a fan of Skid Row. I have two of their skids but this one seems like a poor design.

 

I'll take some photos in the next couple days and post them.

My impression is that the guard is not flimsy nor would it be easy to bend the wings.

It physically covers about half of the actual catalytic converter but the front half (and the O2 sensor) is pretty inaccessible.

Meaning, someone could cut the pipe on the tailgate side of the cat, but would have a very difficult time getting to the engine side.

Could someone do it? Yes of course. Could someone cut through the plate? With enough time and a nice blade, yes of course. If they're familiar with this exact cover, they could grab a 12mm socket and adjustable wrench and simply remove the whole plate.

Naturally, the goal is to deter someone by forcing them to do extra work. The cats on my '05 are worth about $75-100 in scrap, so hopefully a potential thief would just go for the easier option. If my car was newer and the cats worth significantly more, the deterrent might not be enough.

 

I have the desert eagle one. I think you'd have a hard time bending that shit down without making a ruckus or taking too much time. It's pretty sturdy. Think I paid 365.
I thought about that whole "hot" truck thing a while back. Just remember to turn that shit off before you get ready to drive your own truck. I think that'd be a lot of work though.

 

I know this is a topic we've touched on quite a bit over my years here, and in the time before that lurking, with many linkbacks to all the threads we've talked about it OVER HERE.Still, this specific thread has the clearest title, so I'm bumping it versus those others.

I had one of our quieter members shoot me a message offline recently asking, "Hey ... have there been any updates on the cat shield front, is anyone mass-producing a cat shield for us yet?

I remember there was the Talon's Garage version which @Talon2006 announced a group buy mid-2023. Just curious if anyone has seen additional options out there popping up iduring the last 6 months or so. Something stamped which looks a little more "OEM+", if you will.

I realizing tooling the stuff to stamp out a plate is $$$ and that's why we're seeing mostly custom fabbed raw metal with very few breaks/bends, but ... hey, just throwing it out there.

 

I bought a Desert Eagle one. It was heavy duty. Had it on for a bit but for my truck I had to modify.it due to the lift changing things and while chasing a noise I took it off and never put it back on. Iirc the noise stopped after removing it so I came to the conclusion that it was shifting enough to cause said noise. Could've been coincidental it's been a long time...

 

Frames naturally need to flex and twist. They're not perfectly rigid. Boxing in the framerails with a huge box is going to stiffen all that and leave you with noise.

Honestly, the best solution may be what's on our 2020 Highlander, which appears to have a fully formed heavy-duty woven plastic shield under it.

 

What is like a metal bubble popping noise or the metal plate flexing noise?

 

We had a 1G version for a bit and we eventually pulled it off the market because it was more trouble than it was worth.

That was also back when speaking our name in this forum was almost forbidden, and the tides have changed so I’m willing to revisit it.

I think in the last thread the biggest issue we ran into was finding a clean, unmodified 1g Tundra 4x4, and the fact that I would need a pre 2005/4 and a 2006, and maybe even a few more to make sure it fits all of them.

 

From what I remember it was just a metal hittin metal noise, seemed to be when stopping or changing directions. Very well could've been fjust normal shifting of plate in the area that I had to cut an weld a box on due to lift causing it not to fit right.
Just drove me nuts, left the plate off and noise was gone. It was a pita to take off when need for driveshaft zerks etc anyways. I'd probably go for an aluminum one if I could find one but I'd probably need to fab one up because of the lift.