Rear Bumper Skid Plate Design,
Fabrication and Installation
After dropping off of several river
cut banks, sliding over rocks as rear wheels dropped into holes and
slogging through deep mud, it became very apparent that the rear bumper on
my Hippo was becoming quite scathed. The front lower edge is covered with
little dings, a couple minor cracks are starting to form and the lower
surface is quite abraded. Time to do something about it.
The lower edge of the OEM
drawbar is almost exactly at the same plane as the bottom of the bumper.
The hitch receiver is welded to the bottom of the drawbar, peeking out
about ¼ inch below the bumper. Also, the bracket for the trailer wiring
harness plug is also welded horizontally below the drawbar. I decided that
an aluminum diamond plate skid could be made to curve down the back of the
bumper and with the proper notches could fit above the receiver and attach
to the bottom of the drawbar.
I bought a sheet of .063 inch thick
aluminum diamond plate. I measured and fabricated a cardboard template
(mockup) of the finished skid. Tucked it into position and it fit
perfectly. I decided on using 2 ½ inch long ¼-20 bolts, nuts and lock
washers for fasteners. These along with some pieces of punched steel
plates I could fasten the skid to the drawbar.
| Photo BUMPERSKID1 is of “Me
Beauty”. The lighting was such that the skid is just barely
visible. In good lighting though, It looks a bit like the fake
plastic skid on the ’04 Hippo. |
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| Photo BUMPERSKID2 is a close up of
the skid installed. You will notice that the hitch receiver
appears to just float below the skid plate. The square black
object to the right is the wiring harness bracket peeking through
its hole – I haven’t bought or installed a harness yet, but
access will be no problem. |
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| Finally, BUMPERSKID3 is
a sketch of the dimensions of the skid made for fitting to the OEM
drawbar. I’m quite sure that the outside dimensions would fit
almost any drawbar that bolts into the provided frame mounting
brackets on the Hippo. Class-III hitches would obviously have to
have the center notch opened up and the harness would most likely
be different.
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| I bored 8 - 5/16-inch
diameter holes as clearance for the ¼-20 x 2 1/2 bolts. I used
some 1-inch wide by 1/16 inch steel strapping that was already
bored with 3/8 holes. I cut 4 pieces of that to use as the
brackets on top of the drawbar. Locations of these mounting holes
may vary. In fact the OEM drawbar has a couple welded braces that
kept me from making the holes symmetrical all the way across the
skid plate. |
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Bending
the profile to almost match the curve of the bumper was done by
clamping it between two 2 x 4s in a vise. It’s not perfect but
close. Next off-road trip I’m sure will adjust the profile for
me.
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