Protect Your Assets!
River Raider Off-Road Skid Plate Review
By Gil Fortin

The factory skidplate is something that was not exactly a priority with Jeep Engineers when they designed the underside of the Jeep JK. The new buyer sees the "Trail Rated" badge and is good to go, right? Come awn, who crawls under a vehicle on the showroom floor to see what kind of underbody protection it offers?

Someone like me.

You get some odd looks in a showroom when you slide under the underside of a vehicle, especially while your significant other just shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

"Sir, can I help you?"

They should have asked me that question before it hit the dealerships.

"Should we use this big thin flat sheet to cover the gas tank?"

No, make it thicker.

"Does this oil pan look like a rock target to you?"

Yes.

"Engineering the underside so it slides off things is kinda difficult, so this big plow shaped transmission skid should work just fine, right?"

Ummm..no

"Should we stick this plastic evap canister right in the middle and mount it lower than everything else?"

Never mind, I will fix it. More specifically, someone with better fabrication skills than me and a much better idea will fix-it. This is where River Raider Off-Road (www.riverraider.com) steps in. I wanted a FULL skid plate system, covering as much of the underside as necessary. It needed to be smooth so it would glide off of whatever it might come in contact with, and have secure mounting points to the underside. I passed over a bunch of the individual kits as most had no gas tank skid or some very sketchy mounting attachments. After looking over a lot of available skid plate systems and after seeing what RROR (River Raider Off-Road) had to offer I gave Kenny, the owner, a call.

Kenny was more than eager to answer any of my questions - no matter how mundane. He is one of those business owners that you wish there were more of; a great guy who now does what he enjoys for a living. We worked out a date for pickup, as I was going to be in the area of his shop, and he agreed to let me have full use of his tools for the installation.

I showed up on a sunny Saturday morning and Kenny was ready and waiting for me. I wanted to install as much as I could on my own (more on this later) and he checked on me often to make sure I was not killing myself. Any business owner who offers you a cold beer on a hot day while working on your Jeep gets an A+ in customer service. Kenny is a great guy who I seriously cannot say enough good about, and surely anyone who has met him will agree.

First impressions are the best, I was impressed.

I expected the plate steel and angular fit of the skid system, you know "industry standard". The fit, finish and overall thought gone into RROR’s skid plates are top notch. Little smart ideas like using a triangle shaped hole for the oil drain so a rock has very little lip to catch and flush mounted hardware when useable.

Clean laser cutting with no excessive kerf and a logo with a little more attitude then just some lettering.

Good full thickness welds, nothing questionable and nothing hack.

So I started the installation.

The oil pan skid bolts directly to the engine mount/block, there is nothing questionable about its strength. Although the included spacers were a little annoying to keep sandwiched in place, a little glob of grease keeps them from landing on your face. Just like everything else in this skid system you should keep all bolts loose till you get everything in place. Resist the urge to crank tight every bolt.

Like I said I wanted to do as much as I could of the installation myself. I, like most people reading this, don’t have a helper. You learn creative body positioning and alternative tool use when working alone.

It keeps things amusing.

I worked from front to back, so after the oil pan skid was in place I removed the old skid plates. I don’t know what these were supposed to do for protection, but I assure you that they would have done a fine job of snagging me in place with a rock/log caught right in the middle of them. Look at how little they cover and the lack of being "smooth".

There is almost 1.75" of ground clearance gained by ditching the stock skids! This is the same as going from a 35" to 38" tire. In addition to smoothing out the belly you can see why this is a smart investment.

Yes boys and girls you get to drill holes in your brand new Jeep, YAAAAAAAAAA. Its only a few, they only hurt a little. Please note the creative use of the factory jack, it comes in handy for holding a few of the plates. The backing nuts can be a little tricky to get in place, a pair of needle nose pliers or long fingers solves this issue.

And you get to cut some notches ! This gives you an excuse to get a nice 4.5" grinder and some cut-off wheels for it. While you are out shopping make sure to get some spray paint for the fresh cut/drilled metal. Rust will remind you in a few years if you did a good job.

These cuts are on the outside of the gas tank skid. Even though there is no chance of you cutting into the tank you should still pay attention to what you are doing. A 4.5" grinder with make short work of your paint job and even shorter work of your fingers.

The gas tank skid is one of the few parts that you may wish to get some help with, especially with the 4 door. You can manage with a couple of good floor jacks but an extra set of hands makes it go by a LOT smoother. Kenny was more than happy to lay on the concrete and give me a hand. Once everything is in place you can start from the front and work your way back tightening everything up. I used a floor jack to press each skid plate up tight before I secured it in place, by placing the weight of the Jeep on the plates it makes sure they will not relocate when you impact them off-roading.I use my vehicle for work as well as for play, the funny thing is sometimes work IS play. Because the 4 door has enough space for a backboard and medical supplies with better off-road abilities than most of the vehicles at work, it is often used for medical support when we are doing training. Well that and the fact I have a better stereo then the government vehicles, so when we are stuck out in the woods for hours it makes the time much better.

Days after installing the skid plates I got to take my Jeep out for some "government sponsored off-roading" for 2 weeks in an east cost training area. This is typical east coast wheeling with a combination of mud, clay, rocks, fallen trees and rutted trails. I was the chase vehicle for a land navigation course, so I got to get a wide testing of environment while trying to find my guys in the woods.

So while waiting for someone to get lost in the woods I took pictures !!!

As you can see there is very little left exposed with the RROR skid system. I did not go with the evap canister skid as mine is relocated above the rear axle. I may get it anyway as that would be a nice place to mount an airtank.

Nothing to get in the way of the front driveshaft in full droop and no unnecessary fluff. The mid plate is rubber isolated from the oil pan skid to provide a seamless transition between the 2 and to keep engine vibrations to a minimum. Note how its also cut back to allow long arm kits to be used without interference.

Smooth transitions, interlocking design and button head stainless bolts keep the snags to a minimum.

This is a nice detail, you see the way the transmission lines are all nice and where they belong? RROR includes a little tab/bolt to relocate the lines using the factory clamp. Its touches like this that get my attention.

Enough with the shiny happy pictures! I went and had fun!

There is nothing more enjoyable then getting PAID to be off-roading. OK, ya I had to be there in case anyone got injured. But most of my time was spent trying to "capture" my guys while they were out in the woods or re-route them if they got lost. The area was covered in trails used to train tank operators, so some of these trails are make just for that, tanks, not my JK! Heavily rutted, 3’ boulders, vertical muddy climbs kept me amused all week.

There was a lot of bashing down trails at night wearing only night vision goggles and I could feel the impacts of questionable objects underneath more than see them. I was not babying anything and my back felt it! After 2 weeks of this the only damage I could find was superficial at best. I pulled huge chunks of broken logs from the leading edge and had to spend a good hour pressure washing off the clay on the other hand.

But when cleaned this was all the "damage" I could find, some scratches.

But those "scratches" would have caved in my factory gas tank skid without a doubt as they went the entire length down till they hit my axle.And on a side note:

I got better gas mileage! No I am not kidding! On my drive from VA to MD and then MD to VA (a trip I do often with work) I am getting almost 2mpg BETTER gas mileage via the little dash computer. Yes I know its not "scientific" and it is FAR from precise with my tire size. But who cares, ITS BETTER GAS MILEAGE !! RROR skid plates are good for the environment !!

It seriously did, why I have no clue, but it’s icing on the cake.Protect your assets, this skid system pays for itself if you think about what dropping your running engine onto its oil or transmission pan into a rock will do.

A very well made skid system of quality components at a good price built by a reputable company owned by a great owner.
What else could you ask for?

Contact:
River Raider Off-Road
6389 Rockhill RD
Chambersburg, PA 17202
717-262-3079
www.riverraider.com