Rubber frame skid plate?

[Blaner]

What do you think about a full underside "skid" plate made of a +-6mm fairly hard, fibre reinforced rubber? similar to conveyor belt matting. i can get mats of the stuff for next to nothing and was thinking about cutting out a frame gaurd. i was going to make a nice alluminium one but the material is quite pricey, only thing is it wont really skid, it will want to bite when hitting rocks, (of which i hit many) but maybe thats better cause it would absorb shock instead of transfer it?

I would have to find out how well it stands up to sharp impacts. ie, if it would tear etc.

worth a try?

a company here in S.africa makes hard composite plastic gaurds which have proven to be extremely strong! but again, they are very very expensive! Hyde Developments - Contact Us

 

[slickerthanyou]

I'd think not, For the reason you stated, Your not going to slide over the rock your gonna slow and maybe even toss your qaud in a different position because the momentum would decrease big time, On the other hand if the material is cheap or free I'd give it a try and see worst case ya get thrown off and get some road rash.. But you wear a helmet so.....

I have a nice piece of HDPE sheet I've been thinking about using I know it would have some give to it but also act like a slide and really be durable. Just havent decided how to mount it yet!

 

[Blaner]

yeah, plastic would be a better alternative, i just dont know wher to get some, maybe il go chop up someones water tank

 

[slickerthanyou]

yeah, plastic would be a better alternative, i just dont know wher to get some, maybe il go chop up someones water tank

I just pictured that in my head, You on the blasty, with chainsaw, cuting 4ft piece outta a tank, the local antive throwing spears at ya!!! BWAAAAHAAAA!


USPLASTICS.COM

 

[Blaner]

hahaha no spears dude! probably just AK47's, but il just go with someone wanting to steal the water, so he will get shot 1st. then again, the tank would probably have been stolen from someone else in the 1st place and the water illegally sourced!

 

[PikledBeats]

Doesn't maier make hard plastic skid plate, I could be wrong on this but I think they do. I actually would prefer a hard plastic one and have thought of making one. In my mind the biggest advantage would be weight. way lighter than thick metal/aluminium sheet. The biggest disadvantage I have thought of is rock gouges. I have destroyed one A.M. skid plate landing on rocks bouncing around trails but I am now on my third A.M. swingarm skid. I'm wary of how much an impact could travel through possibly denting bottom frame rails. I have been looking however into buying some hard plastic for some other mods I have been planning and might attempt something as I'm already building custom skid plate mounts into frame so????? If I do I'll post results

 

[Blaner]

that would be good Pickles, the plastic actually holds out well under the gouges, it tends to absorb alot from what ive seen. My frame tubes are very dented, some quite badly! its about time i sorted this out!

 

[Blaner]

you are very right about weight saving too. im afraid old road signs just wont be strong enough for me. i have a 5mm stainless steel back skid plate and its bent finished!

 

[N8tsNastyBlasty]

id have to say aluminum or hard plastic. rubber will throw u over the bars if it grabs.conveyor belts in particular are made to grip.perhaps a rubber backing would soften the impact under aluminum.

 

[1995blaster]

i made a skid plate out of some material i got from a friends dad. It was prob 1mm aluminum covering lil over a quarter inch peice of hard rubber/plastic pics in a few

heres pics

worked great tell it caught when i pushed it off the trailor

 

[Blaner]

nice socks lol! ya i agree alloy is best but id like to try a HDPE plastic one if i can find any

 

[PikledBeats]

So, I did a little research and it turns out that some of the heavier quads do use hard plastic skid plates for weight savings............material used......UHMW polyethelyne. You can buy sheets up to an inch thick. I am going to order some and see what I can put together. There is a company called racesin that uses it for teryx and 700xx aftermarket skids and claims 70% weight savings over traditional aluminium skids but we will see. I have not decided whether to go with .190 or thicker yet.

 

[Blaner]

any links?.....

 

[slickerthanyou]

So, I did a little research and it turns out that some of the heavier quads do use hard plastic skid plates for weight savings............material used......UHMW polyethelyne. You can buy sheets up to an inch thick. I am going to order some and see what I can put together. There is a company called racesin that uses it for teryx and 700xx aftermarket skids and claims 70% weight savings over traditional aluminium skids but we will see. I have not decided whether to go with .190 or thicker yet.

UHMW -AKA (Butcher board) is much more abrasion resistant than HDPE, tensile strength of 6000psi- HDPE is 4200psi but cost alot more too!

Just for comparison-
HDPE is about $55 for 1/2"thick X 2' X 4' long
UHMW-is about $88 for 1/2" thick X 1' x 5' long

UHMW would be the best for what we want to do, but not cost effective for me anyhow!

 

[DirtDiggler]

I made a alluminum diamondplate skid for my blaster last year , total cost was under 30 bucks and it was super shiny =) I sold it cause a local guy here wanted one so I made a hundred bucks . I'm going to make another for my banshee to protect the paint on the frame . I got a outfit out here called metal supermarkets , super reasonable , and they do web sales . check them out , just google the name .

 

[PikledBeats]

UHMW -AKA (Butcher board) is much more abrasion resistant than HDPE, tensile strength of 6000psi- HDPE is 4200psi but cost alot more too!

Just for comparison-
HDPE is about $55 for 1/2"thick X 2' X 4' long
UHMW-is about $88 for 1/2" thick X 1' x 5' long

UHMW would be the best for what we want to do, but not cost effective for me anyhow!

I'll have to look into this, there is a place about an hr from me in spokane washington called "industrial plastic wholesale" that stocks that HDPE. I don't know if they have website. I got the HDPE as I had seen that company racesin using it....you can just google them they make the sickest full nerf/peg/heel combo I've seen for blasters. But I'll have to look into the UHMW thx.