RCI Skid Plate Package with Cat Guard Install Best Practices

I'm sure it will depend on the products you're getting plus materials used...

I ordered sliders (powder coated), trans skid (alum) and cat guards on the 15th of March (about halfway through the tax sale). At the time, their lead times were 2-4 weeks on the skids and 4-6 on the sliders... I think we'll be coming up on 11 weeks now. The wait sucks, but I'm hoping their attention to detail on the products and coatings will be top notch. They are supposedly doing the powder coating in house now and are very proud of their process. So, I'm hoping that comes though in the final product. I also expect that their 'parts bag' will be shipped w/top notch hardware, etc... in lieu of just grabbing what's immediately available and getting the shipment out fast.

 

As bad as this sounds, I have not installed these yet. It didn't take long to get them, I think like 2 wks. They do look nice with noticeable weight. I do wished they didn't weigh so much.

 

1) I love the fit on the RCI stuff
2) They are full of it when it comes to lead times. I ordered mine in april, was told 2 weeks, and got it June 9th. Maybe it was not two consecutive weeks. dunno.

I went with the aluminium, and it is burly, I installed it this morning, and it was exciting. I used a set of HF ramps, and an HF creeper, and that worked well. I initially decided I was going to not use the new plate and the hex cap screws, and after about 25 minutes of cursing I changed my mind. I also was going to replace a bunch of the nuts/lock washers with nylocks, and then I remembered heat and nylon don't play well. Onto lessons and tips.

1) I mounted the rear support to the skid finger tight but able to still wiggle a bit
2) I used synthetic door shims from home creapo to wedge the engine panel down and make room to slide the panel. It took me 5 minutes to figure this out, but SOOOOO worth it.
3) After sliding the plate home, I did the passenger side carriage bolt first, and then driver side. I then easily was able to tighten the nuts on the passenger side. The driver side sucks.
4) For the driver side back bolt it is possible to use a flat ratcheting wrench and sneak it under the t-case to get it tight, you will get about 45 degrees of swing. The drivers side front fought the whole time. My solution was a long handle pivoting 3/8 90 tooth gear wrench with a short socket you can get about 15 degrees of swing, but you can get it all guhdntight without dropping the pan again.

I imagine HF has an option too.... https://www.gearwrench.com/products...-drive-90-tooth-flex-head-teardrop-ratchet-11

 

Well finally got around to installing the RCI front skid plate, transmission skid plate with cat guards. Not bad. Would have been much easier with an extra hand.

 

Got mine on the other day day as well. The longer cat wings rub a tiny bit on the cross member in the rear but they also are about1/4” from the cam bolts. So I said F it and left it. No squeak after a 4 hr trip, if I need to I’ll cut a tiny piece off the rear of the larger wing.
And yes the driver forward carriage washer lock nut is a dusy to get started.

 

I ordered my transmission skid on 4/15/23 with a 4-6 week lead time. Was told Friday “hopefully if management decides to turn on the powder coater, it might ship next week.” Lead times have not been updated since 5/22/23. @RCIoffroad offered the powder coated steel or raw aluminum plates, but frankly, with a $2,100 spend, I’ll be patient and wait for what I paid for. Just a PSA to everyone that, as their website says, lead times are subject to “slight deviations.” An update to more accurate lead times on the site though would be helpful, as the site also says lead times should be updated “every coupleof days.” I did receive everything else pretty quickly.

 

What helped me with the drivers side was to use my floor jack to lift the bolt all the way up so I could put the washers/nut on easier and not have to push the bolt up by hand and hold it.

 

Interesting. I ordered mine on 4/10/23 and had the front skid plate in like 2 wks and they actually delivered another front skid plate by mistake a wk after that, so I had 2 front skid plates. I contacted them, had to ship back a front skid plate and I think I had the transmission skid plate and cat guards like 2 wks after that. I had all skid plates and parts by the week of 5/15/23.

 

I definitely need to do a bit more data gathering, but the day after I installed the plate and the guards I drove it like I stole it for 250 miles, and saw the best mileage ever out of the truck. I was 17.6, with a thule bed rack tool box, and 400 lbs of boating gear in an open bed. The pan does cover a lot of stuff, and I am wondering if the change in airflow is that significant. I measure mileage by filling to the first click and dividing by odometer miles, stock tires and rims.

 

I installed the RCI transmission/transfer case skid with cat guards. Pretty easy. It slid into the existing TRD skid plate. Only thing is the security of the entire system. Its just some hex bolts and thieves trying to steal the cats could just unbolt the whole skid (4 bolts).

Anyone find any security bolts to use for these?

Also, I tossed the crappy zink bolts and spent $15 at home depot for galvanized.


Coming this week an install of the RCI sliders.

 

Interesting observation. I installed mine shortly after I installed my 12" BAM and also notice my ave mpg bump up about 2 mpg. It's held to that for about 1000 miles now, including a mix of city driving in traffic and 70mph+ interstate driving. I didn't know if it was solely the @dirtydeeds exhaust system, the underneath skids, or both. And thats including the extra joyriding listening to that sweet sweet sound of the BAM

 

Well... my RCI sliders are on ...


So, today I ended up pre-assembling the trans skid and cat guards. Hopefully, I'll get a few extra minutes this weekend to get the skid and guards thrown on. But, we've got family coming into town so the honey-do list is taking priority.

I did not see any photos of the trans skid and cat guards pre-assembled, so I thought I'd throw one up in case it would be of help to anyone else starting this project.

Much appreciation to the contributors here, as it's already been said, the RCI instructions are definitely lacking and in need of an update (especially if they are aware of the cheats and work-arounds that were talked about here); there's no reason for someone on their end to not spend an hour or two on each build cleaning up the instructions w/what has been learned by others during their installs.

With that being said, I am very happy w/the skids, guards and sliders in terms of finish and workmanship. Everything was well packaged and arrived as expected.

Anyhow, here are the photos of the pre-assembly, and hopefully I'll be able to offer something constructive to this install process after I've got mine bolted up.



I think a lot of us are extremely thankful that folks here take the time to post useful information about their various install experiences and document their builds w/photos and details, as most of us are not 'mechanics' and by doing a bit of research and reading a few threads on this forum before each project, I find that I save a considerable amount of time and headaches. So again, thank you all!!

 

and, it a very pleasant surprise you will notice an increase in mpg too.. I can say after 3000 miles, I am consistently +1-2 mpg as long as I dont drive like an idiot. A few towns over just got hit with cat thieves too, so I am sleeping a little easier post install. I wish hemorrhoids on all the cat thieves of the world all of them.
The sliders look sweet, how much of a PITA was the install?

 

All considering not bad... I ended up having a local welder build 2 'backer plates' for me to ease the pain on the 2 rear driver's side bolts that are impossible to get your hand into the frame w/the gas tank... I think others used magnets, tape and such, but I ended up stealing the WKOR idea... Just fished them down the rail, pulled em out, made some bends to the wire to get the nut over the hole, and slid 'em back in

Bolts then threaded in and tightened down pretty nicely. Taking my time w/them, I had maybe 1.5 - 2 hours per side...

 

Surprising how everyone is reporting better gas MPG's. Just got from the beach and with a family of 4, luggage, beach stuff, coolers, newly purchased TRD front and rear sway bars in the bed (now have to install), and I averaged 18 MPG's with 87 octane, in 70 MPH zones too. Got home and had to make sure I washed all that beach grime off, especially under it. and I too recently installed a full set of RCI skid and transmission plates, even them weighing an extra 82lbs they say. LoL

 

Yeas I had the same problem. They need to redesign that somehow.

 

Update:

So, this evening I finished the install of my armor for now which included the RCI trans skid and cat guards. A few lessons learned on this project that I'll share in hopes that it helps someone else down the road... For reference these were installed on my '21 Pro CM which still has the OE TRD front skid.

Assembling everything off the vehicle worked great. I know some guys were saying that they loosely installed the rear cross member attachment, pushed it up into place, made adjustments, lowered it, tightened everything up then re-positioned it for the final install... For me at least this was not necessary. I pre-installed front and rear cat guards and the cross member attachment and tightened everything into place; hoping that if I paid attention to the instruction sheet it would serve me well (at least for the lining up of these parts), which it did



So, regarding the pieces above, I did the front cat guards first and lined them up as depicted in the photos on page 4 showing to 'align the front faces' of the trans skid and front guard. I then positioned the rear cat guards as depicted on page 7 of RCIs instructions. ***note: these were the alignment photos given to show how to align the guards to an RCI skid that had NOT already been drilled for the cat guards. So, to be clear, my holes were already drilled at the factory since I bought the skid and guards together, I just used the photos from that step to align as I figured it would be the most precise.... Last step of that phase was the cross member attachment, and I had no real guide for that. It was pretty much locked in terms of positioning side to side. However, there was a fair amount of play front to back. So, I decided to position it w/equal reveals on all four bolt positions front to back. In other words, if I slid it forward at all, I could see part of the slot in the rear; and if I slid it back too far, I could see part of the slot in the front.

*** I ignored the difference in reveal amount between the cross member attachment and the front and rear cat guards... If you look at the above photo, you'll notice there's a larger reveal between the rear cat guards and attachment than there is between the front guards and the attachment. If I centered the attachment between the front and rear guards, then a slight amount of the bolt slot was showing at the front of the attachment, so I figured this was not how it was intended to be mounted; which is what led me to decide to center the attachment to the slots in the skid instead of centering it between the cat guards... For my application at least, this worked perfectly!!!! No adjustments were needed!!! I'd imagine that may not hold true for everyone, but I'm guessing guys are getting hung up on positioning due to trying to center the attachment between the front and rear cat guards...

Ok, next step was to prepare the TRD Pro skid so the RCI skid could be slipped between it and the front crossmember. I saw on some posts that guys were having trouble getting their RCI skid to work w/the TRD skid; a few even talked about shaving, cutting or enlarging the slots on the RCI skid to get it to slide in... ***This is not necessary***

All that needs to be done is the 2 bolt assemblies at the rear of the TRD skid need to be completely removed. Some folks were trying to just loosen the bolts and slid the trans skid in, and this will not work. So, I loosened the OE bolts until the nuts on tops were free. However, the bolt would not drop out. I thought it may have been threaded into something, but it wasn't, it just continued to spin and the spacer would not pop out either. Ended up being an internal tooth lock washer holding the bolt and spacer in position, and it was seated just below the top surface of the crossmember ... So, once I figured that out, I was able to put enough pressure on it w/my finger and then back the bolt out by unthreading it; and then everything came out.

Once those were out of the way, it was easy enough to place the retro fit mount plate w/the 2 speed clips installed on top of the crossmember and then thread the M8 x 100mm bolt into position using a flat washer and split lock washer behind the bolt head. Those were just threaded in by hand leaving enough space to insert the trans skid into place...

I then supported the entire assembly w/a floor jack; slid it under the car; lined it up w/the engine skid and then started to slide the front of the trans skid between the TRD skid and the crossmember. However, it was binding up from the angle I had the floor jack at; apparently I had positioned the floor jack too far forward on the assembly. Once I added some blocks to support the back of the trans skid, I removed the floor jack and just crawled under the skid. I was then able to lift the rear of the skid and push forward, and it slid right into place. I then pressed the rear of the skid completely against the crossmember and everything appeared to line up as intended. I slid some wood blocks back under the rear of the skid and worked on the 2 rear bolt assemblies that went into the crossmember. It was tight on top of the crossmember, but I was able without too much difficulty, to snake a hand in there and get the washers and nuts onto the bolts. Very, very little room to work a wrench in there. So, I tightened as much as I could with a gloved hand and then just some 'weird angle' wrench work after to tighten it up. I was only able to work about a 1/4 turn each movement, so ratcheting box end wrench would be ideal here. I then went back to the 2 rear bolts of the TRD engine skid and tightened them up, and I was done (except for clean up of course)...

Sorry for no finished photos, it was after 10pm when I finished and dark outside. So, I'll try to add another photo or 2 tomorrow

 

How long do you think you were under the truck for this part after the off truck preassembly?

 

I posted this elsewhere, but I used heat tape to affix the retro fit mount bar and speed clips to the cross member, so disassembly and reassembly when servicing transmission/transfer case is easier. I also found a company that sold M8x100 torx button security bolts; bought 4 and used them for the transmission/transfer case skid plate.

 

Longer than I needed to be w/my initial floor jack issue. I fought that for about 30 minutes going back and forth trying to make some micro adjustments in the front then shift it from the rear, etc... Probably about an hour and a half, but could have been done in an hour. Part of my issue is that my right should is blitzed, so everything I do that is weight baring (especially when there's a lot of static tension against the joint) I really end up spending a lot of time trying to use artificial support mechanisms instead of just lifting it up and grunting it into place like I would have in the past.

Bottom line it's not an easy '4-bolt' on and off situation unless you have a lift and a pair of spare hands, but it's not technically difficult either...

 

who sells these? M8x100 torx button security bolts;

 

https://belmetric.com/m8-button-torx-pin-screw-stainless-steel/?sku=SBT8X100SS

 

Finally got around to doing this, and the front skid is easy. Took about an hour as I took my time to deal with not realizing the previous owner did a diff drop and the front threads are stripped. Needed to go to the hardware store and get extended 10.9 grade bolts, nuts, and washers for that.

Followed the tips @Tripleconpanna noted, and the rear skid with cat guards went in perfectly. I have the supplied RCI speed clips and engine/transmission mount retro bracket in step 15 of RCI's instructions in place, but I'm using 100mm hex bolts installed instead of the RCI M8 bolts from the their kit.

The cardboard box let me slide the plates under the truck before feeding them into the front bolts. Lifted the rear, then bolted it up loosely. Centered it all, and buttoned down everything. Only question I have now is what are the torque settings for each of the bolts? I cranked them down real good, but would be nice to have torque specs.



Total time including assembly was about 2 hours for the entire setup.

 

Awesome!!

They gave me the following torque specs for my install (including slider bolts)

3/8 bolts trans skid 20-23lbs

M8 bolts 28lbs

7/16 bolts 35lbs

...these #s seem a little low to me; but you're also torquing into split washers, nylon lock nuts, etc, which I believe give inaccurate feedback when trying to torque down.

 

How do you keep a thief from removing the skid plates? I see the cat guards have carriage bolts but the whole skid plate could be easily removed?

 

Cat theft is about a 2 minute process per vehicle; including rolling under the truck, cutting the CATs, rolling back out from under the truck, loading your CATs in vehicle and driving off.... I've seen video of under 90 seconds for the complete process. The CAT guards are a deterrent in the sense that they would slow down the thief, and he/she would be required to carry more tools to deal with and navigate the nuances of the guards... If it takes an additional 3-5 minutes per vehicle w/the guards the chances of getting caught are significantly elevated.

Most thieves are going to see them and move on to an easier target.

Another thing to understand is that most of these thefts are done in assembly line style thefts. The targets are first identified and 'vetted' (usually on a different day then the theft actually occurs); this is the stage where most thieves will simply decide to pick another target (bang for the buck and less risk); once all the 'victims' have been identified for a given night of thievery, the team will map out it's night of theft attempting to maintain efficiency; the team will generally consist of at least a driver, a spotter, and the cutter, but likely will have additional members or multiple teams hitting simultaneous targets at once;

Again, they are basically a deterrent and are not meant to be absolute, but are generally very effective in getting thieves to just move on to an easier target. Similar to having an aggressive dog on your property. If someone really wants whatever is inside, they are going to get it, but the dog will usually cause 95% of the thieves to just pick a different house and not deal with the drama.

Hope that makes sense

 

My MPGs went from about 19 driving easy highway on eco mode to about 16MPG after I installed the RCIn catguards, sliders, and retrax tonnuea cover. Super bummer.

 

Finally got around to installing the RCI full skid package I ordered around Labor Day. Much thanks for all the tips to installing all of this. Overall it wasn’t too bad. Spent most of my time applying anti seize to everything.

Time to find out if my MPGs will improve as others have stated lol.

I wonder why the backer plate didn’t just have welded nuts on them?! Those speed clips work but man I see them breaking in time.

 

updated on mpg's, im averaging 17mpg now at 5k miles

 

I’ve gone almost 3000 miles with mine on, no mileage difference. I do like them though.