Reinforce fuel tank cradle?

[MellonRover]

Anyone ever thought about reinforcing the fuel tank cradle?
It looks like the lucky 8 skid plate doesn't add anything other than another layer/thicker material to the mix?
Wondering if I can just sandwich an aluminum sheet to it as long as there's no sharp edges/ bolts that can poke the tank?
Trying to limit weight on new truck, it will be getting steel bumper, proud rhino sliders 33" tires, rear swing out mount and aluminum rack set up from my black 2010. Later a drawer set up for overland trips.

Already have a name for the 2012.

 

[mm3846]

Why? You want it to be stronger or hold up better to hits? Skin it with UHMW plastic. 1/8” is more than enough.

 

[MellonRover]

Thanks, just the kinda perspective I'm looking for.
Hold up better to hits, avoid concaving areas.
Maybe just add some sliding rails?

 

[mm3846]

Thanks, just the kinda perspective I'm looking for.
Hold up better to hits, avoid concaving areas.
Maybe just add some sliding rails?

Unless you are going rock crawling regularly an aftermarket one isn’t necessary IMO. I’ve dragged the whole truck on mine and sure it’s dented and scarred up but it’s fine. I don’t even run sliders on this thing. So far just a compressor guard.

 

[powershift]

Sliders may have protected my plastic side all along the drivers door when I was stuck in a couple washouts but they add a lot of bulk and weight. What I'd like to get is front tow hooks. I realized there isn't any factory support for that which is a bit odd for as many 4X4 features as it has.

 

[MellonRover]

I realized there isn't any factory support for that which is a bit odd for as many 4X4 features as it has.

Don't trust the front tow eye?

 

[ftillier]

Yeah there's a plastic cover that you can remove to expose the front row eye.

 

[powershift]

Being curious I just checked my tank skid plate. I take my rig off-road frequently and a few times attempted to drive up washout banks in the Mohave desert that were too hard to get up where the mid-section of the under body was in the dirt and the vehicle slid down the crest trying to get up and out of the washout.

There are scrapes on the plate but the design of the gas tank is such that most of it is slightly above the frame rail. When bottoming out where most of the tank is, the earth will hit the frame rail first and the tank skid plate is recessed upward.

But then there is a small part of the gas tank that sticks out past the frame in the rear making the gas tank skid plate the first point of contact. On that part there are scrapes in the metal skid plate but it doesn't look like it needs any fixes there for my use. What kind of terrain do you want to drive on?

You'd need to be doing stuff like jumping and landing with too big a rock right under the gas tank in the back. Even then I question if it were to leak if its a metal gas tank. It all would probably do is just bend and have a big azz dent. I wouldn't want that at all but I'm curious what the aluminum lucky plate does. Its pretty big and I think the tank is long so that 23 gallons fits mostly under the frame.

 

[powershift]

Yeah there's a plastic cover that you can remove to expose the front row eye.

When I look at the front all I see is the plastic bumper and not a plastic cover to remove. There is a black plastic piece in the center of the front bumper that would be near the winch position. Do you mean that piece comes off and there is a tow hook behind it?

 

[MellonRover]

I'm in a rocky part of the Appalachian mountains mostly. Have had the 2010 slide off large wet rocks. Just trying to over insure against " just in cases".
The front tow loop, yeah it's under that piece. Pops out just like rear cover, use a quarter to turn screws.