Desert eagle off-road transmission skid plate install

Desert eagle off-road transmission skid plate install


***Very long read, review and install.***


Tundra transmission skid plates with catalytic converter protection


So I was looking for a transmission skid plate and was leaning RCI since I have their front skid plate. As I was googleing and doing research I came up with old threads about a company (OR Fab) that made a transmission skid plate that also offered catalytic converter coverage for anti theft. But the company went out of business.

I was cruising eBay and found this ad.

https://www.ebay.com/i/133393394724?chn=ps

$325, free shipping. Or best offer. I liked the looks of it, looked just like the old company that was out of business. I liked it was in Texas and seemed well built. So naturally I shot the guy a low ball offer just to see if he would bite.


That opened a line of communication with desert eagle off-road in Texas. The owner, KW, gave me his personal cell number and we had a great chat.


He knew I was from CA from my eBay profile and one of the first things he asked was if I was safe from the fires that we had out here a few weeks ago! Just goes to show you are dealing with a real person and not some guy that wants your cash.


So he tells me about his company and prior work experience and it turns out he used to work for OR fab that originally made the skid plate with converter coverage. Now he makes them in TX.


So he sends me an invoice and 3 days later a huge box shows up from KW.


Install***


I am running an RCI front skid and with mating parts from different manufacturers there will be some modifications made. KW gave me the heads up with a TRD skid there would be notches cut. He was unaware of how it would mate with the RCI.


Disclaimer. I did all the mods to the RCI plate while it was still installed. I chose not to remove it because it was a beast to install before being one guy on the ground. If I had help or better tools I would have done it a little differently and cleaner.



So after looking at both skids I knew I would need to notch both. Each skid uses different mounting holes at the transmission cross member.


The RCI uses the inner holes of the cross member, the desert eagle off-road uses the outer holes. The RCI blocks the outer holes. So I cut off a 1”x2” square off the corners to allow access to these holes. All nothing done, I used some chassis paint for touch up.








I initially thought I would install the KW plate, then the RCI on top of it, I saw that once the kw was installed I would not be able to access the upper bolts for the RCI. So RCI first, then the kw.


I notched the kw front holes, I did this for ease of install this is just my method. I did it so I can hang the hardware and slide in the skid plate.





The kw plate is held in place with four tabbed nuts that slide into the holes and have long flanges so the don’t rotate when the bolts are being tightened.



Once the front was hung, the back was a breeze. Snugged all four bolts down evenly.

 

KW over at Desert Eagle offroad is a great guy and delivers a great product. I will send him a link to this post and the forum and see if he will join. Also check out his facebook page for those that have social media. I am not sure if he has a website.

 

Nice! I did the same a few years back, but put the RCI on top of the KW. FWIW the engine skid got smashed, KW took everything no problem, other than ugly from scratches and scrapes.

 

Nice! How were you able to get to the RCI top nuts after the KW plate was installed? I couldn't reach

BTW your notches are neat! that is how would have done it I completely removed the RCI to work on the bench.

 

Wasn’t easy lol. I used a ratcheting wrench for it.

 

Nice work, really clean.

 

If anyone is interested maybe I can ask him if he will set up a group buy here.

I paid $295 shipped to my door

 

I am waiting for my RCI skid plate to show up and in the meantime I want to modify my Desert Eagle Catalytic Converter Skid Plate to work with the RCI skid.

Does anyone know the dimension between to two rear holes that mount the RCI skid to the sub frame?

I think it’s about 10-1/4” but want to make sure before I cut any steel on my DE skid.

 

I installed the front RCI skid over the desert eagle skid. Only notched the desert eagle skid to line up with the RCI skid rear fasteners so ended up only having to use the desert eagle fasteners for the rear. Had to use a ratchet to get to the nut on the top.

 

I measured out 10 1/4 as well.

 

I live just down the road from KW and just had one of these installed. For the extra $20, I just let him take care of it. Thank y'all for posting about it. I've been looking for something to slow some folks down after hearing all the stories.... Quick, easy and looks good.

 

Catalytic converter thefts are on the rise in the PNW—even old dogs like my 07 are getting hit. They seem to like the Toyotas. I just installed the desert eagle plate behind the RCI engine skidplate and relied on a lot of the information I found on this site. Thank you all. I think I would have been somewhat intimidated trying to figure it out without this internet resource. I even called RCI and its technical assistance guy referred me to the info here. So, I thought it would be good to provide a little feedback. I notched the desert eagle at 10 1/4” as has been posted here. I started by drilling a 3/8” hole and then used a cutting disc on a hand grinder to cut slightly angled lines to the hole. Worked great. Filed smooth and touched up with rustoleum. I loosened the two rear nuts on the RCI to expose a space and lifted and slid the desert eagle into place under the RCI. Fit like a glove. All went well to that point. Put in the rear bolts—couldn’t have been easier. But then things got complicated. I have a 9/16” ratchet wrench, but getting my hands between the desert eagle and the rest of the truck to a blind nut on top of a cross bar was very challenging for even a moderately competent person. I’m also pretty claustrophobic so wedging my hand in there trying to tighten the nut was also stressful. There were a couple times my hand kind of got stuck. I finally got both nuts tightened in what was by far the most time consuming and hardest part of the entire project. Which, during a post-install beer made me start to think ... “what happens if I need to take this into the shop and they need to get to anywhere under the front half of the truck?” The mechanic will be cursing me and charging $$ while he tries to undo this thing. So here’s the feedback. I’m going to take everything off and notch the RCI plate where the desert eagle front bolts attach. That way the RCI can be installed with full access to the rear nuts, the desert eagle can then be installed with the front overlapping the RCI (instead of sliding under), and then to disassemble, the hypothetical mechanic just needs to reverse that process—no wedging hands into small recesses trying to blindly loosen/tighten nuts.

KW at desert eagle was great to deal with BTW. Sounds like he’s doing a brisk business. The RCI + desert eagle make for a pretty nice undercarriage. Thank you again for the advice on posts.

 

Is this protection for both front and rear catalytic converters?

 

I also picked up the DE plate. on my 2007 trd CM the plate covers about 60% of the rear cats. It would be very very difficult to get them out of there with the plate on.

 

The desert eagle does NOT cover the rear cats. Another vender on this site (Valhalla’s Shield) makes plates for the front, middle, and rear. I have one of his rear plates on order to completely cover the situation (RCI-front, DE-middle, VS-rear). The feedback on this site is that Valhalla’s Shield are superb products.

 

mine covers half of the rear cats.

if someone really wanted to steal the rear cats they would have to cut in the middle

 

The rear cats on the 4wd are more protected with the rear plate than the 2wd.

 

Local church had their vehicles hit for cats this week.

 

well that explains the differences people are experiencing.

 

Yep....mine is 2wd.

 

N

Did you do aluminum or steel for the rear? And if aluminum, is it thicker than the DE in the mid? I'm thinking about a full skid plate for roading and seeing if these will hold up well on the side for off roading.

 

I went with steel on the Valhalla’s shield rear plate. Still waiting for it so don’t know exactly how it will mate up with the DE plate. I understand Tyler is burning the candle at both ends (it’s great to be busy!), so just waiting patiently.

I hope everyone can cut Tyler and Kent a little slack right now. There are steel shortages—don’t know if that’s affecting plates—but seems like everything is backed up, and these guys are trying to meet demand, which, by the looks of things, is huge.

 

I'd love to see photos of the plates installed and some photos of how they go on.

 

i can grab some tomorrow.

when I initially installed it with my front RCI skid I put the DE on top of the RCI. But now I want to swap them because I can’t remove the RCI unless I remove the DE.

plus I’m doing an oil change tomorrow

 

Wait, I did just the opposite (see post above—slipped front of DE under rear of RCI engine plate—turned out to be kind of an install nightmare). When I get the Valhalla’s shield rear plate I’m going to reverse it (put the DE over the RCI) so I don’t have to wedge my hand in and try to blindly use a ratchet wrench to loosen the hidden nuts at the rear of the RCI. I think it’s going to be a A LOT easier to just take off the DE plate (4 bolts) first and then have full access to the two rear nuts on the RCI on the rare occasions I have to remove the RCI. But hold on, I don’t take off the RCI to change the oil either. What am I missing?

 

I think all of this answered my question. Guess I'm going with Vahalla shields for the whole set up

 

I just saw it as the point that the front RCI would need to be removed more often then the rear DE.

Any engine work that would require the front RCI to be removed would Make it easier than removing both. Shouldn’t be too often but once would be enough for me.

that’s just my train of thought.

I did hear it was a nightmare to install it that way though so I might change my mind mid install lol

 

Know any place to get replacement hardware? Lost one tab and bolt. Need replacement.

 

I would call him up.

I think he makes those tabs, nuts with long tabs welded on. Nothing special, but unless you are a welder might not be something you can find at a hardware store

 

I just got my DE plate. took 4 days to arrive. Packaging looked good. Got the security torx screws but wonder if I need to add lock washers and paint the nut plates?