Skid plate creak/squeak

I have been chasing down a creak or squeak (hard to explain) for months. It’s been narrowed down to my RCI skid which seems to be a common issue with any brand of skid plates on the Tundra.

I am going to retighten the bolts this afternoon but is there anything I can do to avoid the noise in the future? Like a rubber grommet for example…

 

Mine is doing the same thing.

 

Rubber washers or foam between the frame and skid. Also use the proper torque for the bolts. If bolts are too tight it causes squeaking.

 

I use/used the torque specs for the OEM TRD skid plate because RCI doesn’t provide any…

 

Noxudol 1600 on the frame and you don't hear anything. Also no rust

 

My '21 DC has the TRD Pro skid plate, and I had the same issue. I had read other posts on this issue around the time that I bought the truck and dealer installed some weatherstripping type material. I've had no issue since. Perhaps a search on TRD Pro skid plate noise or similar would provide the posts and various solutions.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/tundra-trd-pro-skid-plate-noise.53618/

 

The bolts were not torqued down as much as they should have been. The noise is slightly better but still annoying.

In a few weeks I am going to pull it off entirely to make sure I am not chasing my tail here…

 

Not sure if you read through the thread I provided the link to above, but a number of solutions are mentioned to eliminate the TRD Pro skid plate noise. Weather stripping, rubber washers on skid plate bolts, rubber mat cut out to align with skid plate perimeter. Just putting something in there to cushion metal on metal. I have to believe these solutions would also eliminate the RCI skidplate noise. Seems that torquing bolts can work if done perfectly, but a bit finicky at best and can lead one to chase their tail.

 

Yes I did and thank you very much. Lots of good solutions in that thread.

What I meant by chasing my tail, is that if I remove the skid (which I would have to do to try any of those solutions) and I still have the noise, I will know that it’s 100% NOT the skid. Make sense?… the logic works in my head….

 

Got it. Since the noise seemed to be impacted/improved when you torqued the skid plate bolts, I'm assuming the noise is coming from the skid plate. Agree it could be something else though. Will be curious to see what you figure out.