RCI Skid Plates

[KFordEx8]

thanks for your info.

did you also bought the skid plate for the fuel tank or ain't that necessary because the full package already covers it? (as it isn't included in the f150 package I noticed)

I did not get the fuel tank skid plate. Thinking about going with the Ford FX4 one eventually.

 

[KFordEx8]

Got the t-case skid plate on today. It’s on but sits crooked. Looks like a modification to the hole on the plate where it is attached to the frame will make it sit better.



The difference between the two versions

 

[Trainmaster]

Ford probably makes a set of skid plates that are standard on their Special Service Vehicle (police) Package. On the 3rd Generation trucks they are a little dinky and the fuel tank plate is plastic. Certainly no match for the RCI ones, but another option.

By this time there should be some wrecked cop cars in the junk yards for them. I put them on my '08 and the whole set cost maybe $300 new from Tasca Ford.

 

[5280tunage]

Got the t-case skid plate on today. It’s on but sits crooked. Looks like a modification to the hole on the plate where it is attached to the frame will make it sit better.

View attachment 73311View attachment 73312View attachment 73313

The difference between the two versions
View attachment 73314

And you can see why I actually drilled a single hole and added another speed nut for that plate, just to make sure there were two!

 

[5280tunage]

to follow up on my previous post, I'll try to pull up on some ramps, take some good pictures this weekend, and consolidate all of the parts I used to try and make this easy. here's the thing, I've done a ton of rock crawling with my jeeps over the years. These are some of the tougher skids I've used over the years and do they line up perfect with every Ford, no. if you saw the size of the RCI shop, you'd probably be a little more impressed. Given the crap cardboard on these $80K+ "SUVs", these gave me a little more piece of mind.

The entire install, even trying different things out, was probably 3 hours, by myself, on ramps. If you have access to a lift, should be half that (although you may need help holding the parts up), my chest and stomach became my helpers during install, lol.

I will say this, these things proved themselves useful about 6 months ago for me. Traveling 75+ on the highway, had a big rig re-tread blow up and I had no choice but to drive over it. I could hear it inside the car nail the plates and luckily no damage. I did find rubber under there, so I know they came in contact. The crappy cardboard would have been shredded. This is precisely why I bought these, I don't plan on rock crawling in this thing, but I want to protect the undercarriage.

 

[okidoki]

FYI: I ordered my full skidplate set with RCI on Thursday, was shipped on Friday. Ordered the newer F150 set.

 

[5280tunage]

Okay, finally ready to post this. Essentially, here's what I ended up with. At the end of everything, I have the entire F150 kit, but I have changed one of the plates out. Essentially, I initially ordered the 15+ F150 complete package, and for the most part everything fit very well. The only piece I had issues with was the first plate (from intercooler back to second plate). It seems as though it was about half an inch too short, it actually still worked but I didn't like how it fit. The brackets were also fine but as you'll see in the pictures, I modified them a bit. For me, I found that the first plate was perfect when I used the 09-14' model year front plate, with the other three pieces as part of the 15+ kit. RCI will build this out for you if you contact them, they very well might remember working with me.

I still had to drill a few holes and modify a few things just to get it how I want it, but no one really would HAVE to in order to make it work. here are some pictures to help, with some descriptions.

In Picture One: you can see in this picture, at the red arrow, where I cut about an inch to an inch and a half off the back of the bracket. I didn't like that it would sit on top of the intercooler bracket and I didn't want the intercooler bracket to sit lower. I also drilled a whole at the orange arrow and put in a second self tapping bolt, just for added strength and to prevent the bracket from rotating at all.


In this second picture, you can clearly see the required bend in the third plate (red arrow), that connects to the cross member, if that's not in there, you have the wrong third plate. The orange arrow is where I added a third hole and bolt, into a factory speed nut, as there was already a spot there in the cross member where the speed nut was easy to install.

This picture is the final plate, that covers the tcase. Again, the red arrow shows the critical bend in the plate that makes sure it sits properly between the crossmember and the frame on the right. the orange arrow shows where I drilled a second hole and added another speed nut. the normal hole (towards the rear of the vehicle) lined up fine for me, but I added another one to be extra secure.

This picture shows the second and third plates coming together on the crossmember between the suspension components. you can see the access panel for the oil drain plug. this is where I put a fumoto valve, to make it so the oil always drains straight down. these two bolts line up just fine.

This picture shows the first plate and the second plate coming together. In this picture, you can see where I added a third bolt in the center into the cross member with a speed nut. Since the two plates site about 1/3rd of an inch or so away from the cross member, I put an aluminum spacer in there, to make sure the plates to rattle against the chassis and to make it more rigid. Not required but it helped me feel better. The red arrow again shows a critical bend in the second plate, that must be there for the plate to clear the mechanical/tranny pieces.

Hope that helps a little, feel free to share links for this if you need to when it comes time to order if you do, but ultimately this is how things went together for me, and the folks at RCI were very helpful and accommodating while working through this.

 

[VaderGator]

These skid plates look nice! Has anyone tried them on a 3rd Gen? I have a 08...

Just installed them on my 2007 Navigator. The transfer case plate contacts the fuel tank and doesn't reach the frame rails. Everything else went right on.

 

[Expedition Dave]

Dang it. So no one has a fully "turn-key" one for the Expy? It seems all of these needs some extra drilling, tapping and bending...?

 

[5280tunage]

Hey All, I wanted to respond to this thread and bring it up to the forefront for a minute. I realize many of you don't like the fact that RCI doesn't have a "turn key" solution for the Expy, but in reality not only do I think they do, but they just kicked some real tail and added some great functionality to this package. These are currently listed only under the F150 on their website but I talked to Tim about this and we were 99% sure it would work fine. So I jumped off the cliff and decided to be the test patient here, to test the fit of the F150 Catalytic Converter Shields!

Happy to report, these shields fit. So here's the thing, for those of you that live in urban areas that are impacted by this nonsense idea of no accountability, where for example my area is commonly in the top 5 worst for car theft and catalytic converter theft, I'm constantky worried about this, especially knowing I have to frequent our capital. Enough so that I put the Ford shock sensors on my rig, but that wasn't enough. You have to make things hard for these fools.

So here we are, more than 50 F150's have been either stolen or robbed of their cats at my International airport this year alone. So I figured I would try these out.

I thought I'd post some pics for you all. As long as you have the transmission skid plate, this is super simple. This entire install would have probably taken an hour or less, but I ran into one small issue, 100% due to the fact that I have the aftermarket SPD downpipes installed. They are larger in diameter and are slightly lower than the factory ones. So I had to remove the tranny plate, remove the driver's side shield and move the holes about 3/4" towards the front of the car to clear the downpipes. The install directions say to measure 1.5" back from the front of the raised lip on the tranny plate. On the passenger side this was fine, on the driver's side then needed to be about 3/4" back. Otherwise, these fit perfect! Take a look at the pics, oh, and I still had the drop brackets in place from the factory cloth skid plates, those had to be removed, as you can see the scratches in the new shields.

Pretty simple, just take off the tranny plate (I had hoped I wouldn't need to do this) but because RCI was smart, they made these a little tamper resistant. They can really only be removed with the tranny plate off. Mark the holes, drill a pilot hole, I then used a step bit to drill the larger holes, clean the burrs, I spray painted the holes for corrosion resistance, put it together and reinstalled the plates. Man this tranny plate is heavy now, probably lost .5 mpg, j/k. I've got before photos, install, and after. Even the nice packing of the product from RCI.

I actually feel great about this, and all for under $200. Think about that, these cats could easily cost $1k for the deductible alone, or $2k probably for two new ones cash. Worth it in my opinion.

 

[5280tunage]

First, I want to say I don't work for these guys and I'm not compensated in any way to say this. I merely like to share good products that I actually have experience with. I just received this flyer this morning. Just in case anyone was thinking about it. I personally love the cat guards! Wish they had them when I originally bought the kit. But I will say, I did have to buy a 90-degree angle grease fitting for the zerks on my sway bar. A little more complicated but well worth not losing a Cat.

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[zeg5000]

Had these installed on my 2019 Limited at a 4x4 place in Lakewood CO (RSG Offroad)..they removed the front air dam (thank goodness that ugly piece of plastic crap is gone!) and it basically bolted on EXCEPT for the connection between the front skid plate and the transfer case plate. There are no corresponding holes in the frame as there are on the F150 but they were able to drill a couple new holes in one of the plates and bolt them together. Looks great and no rattles or other problems. No issues with oil changes either. I bought the complete set except for the fuel tank protection. And yes - you will be really happy with this.

I did the exact same thing as Peter L and based on his recommendation, had RSG Offroad in Lakewood, Colorado do the install... no issues whatsoever, and 100% recommend.

One additional point - I purchased the separate fuel tank skid plate plus the fuel tank hanger straps from RCI... it turns out the fuel tank hanger straps for the F150 are significantly shorter than the straps required for the Expedition so they won't work. The OEM straps for the Expy are part numbers jl1z9054f and jl1z9054h, so debating whether to buy these or return the F150 straps and fuel skid altogether.

 

[Mack207]

RCI is having their sale now. 15% off engine skid plate. Anyone installed these recently? Is it a bolt-on now, or is drilling still necessary?

 

[eugene11]

RCI is having their sale now. 15% off engine skid plate. Anyone installed these recently? Is it a bolt-on now, or is drilling still necessary?

Yeap, I've ordered a set and it's coming slowly box by box to Canada. First, I was sent a wrong tranny plate from powerboost f150, replaced, then my engine plates set came in and the 2nd piece had no bend for steering rack, asked them to ship a correct one.
Once I solve that freaking puzzle and crawl under the truck then for sure I will take some pictures.

 

[Flying N]

(for 2019 Expe Max) I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but in reading through all of these posts on the RCI skids (full skidplate) I am stil a little confused. I called RCI, and they were nice, but couldn't confirm which set of F150 skid plates will fit as they have not done one of these themselves. In the readings of most all these posts, some here say the '09-'14 fit, while others say the '15-'23 are better, but both took some (minor) mods). Yet there is another post that indicated the '15-'23 front (engine) skid fits best, while using the '09-'14 transmission, transfer case and cat skids, and that this combo bolts right up. I am sure RCI would package that combo up if it works best.

Obviously I would like to peice together a solid kit that bolts up directly as possible. I come from Jeep rock crawling world and beleive that amor is one of the best mods, and few mods that will/can pay for themselves by help keeping stuff form getting damaged. (then lockers, winches, lights, etc.) I am not doing the rock crawling/heavy offroading in the Expe, but will go offroad some, and there just isn't any real protection under these which makes me a little uncomfortable. Which have you all found fits best?

 

[5280tunage]

@Flying N - Here's the best I can say. I actually last year had a 2020 loaner and just for grins, I took a look underneath it. Frankly, I could tell just even from my pictures that I posted on here, some of the holes in the front crossmember aren't necessarily even in the right places. I'm not sure why, but it seems there's some variability even in these platforms. 2019 and 2020 were supposed to be essentially identical.

So i'm not defending RCI at all, I think that they specially designed these kits to work on the F150's, and for a while there was enough synergy between the F150's and the Expy's that it worked well.

For my use case, on a 2019 the 15+ F150 kit worked fine. I modified the front mounting brackets but you don't HAVE to. The biggest thing is to make sure you get the 2nd plate that has the extra bend in it for added clearance from the steering rack. My front plate is actually from their 09-14 kit. but others have used the full 15+ kit just fine.

For me, the Cat guards are huge, that was an add-on for me, they have had some sales recently where they are included, those are huge. Great thing to have!

 

[Flying N]

@Flying N - Here's the best I can say. I actually last year had a 2020 loaner and just for grins, I took a look underneath it. Frankly, I could tell just even from my pictures that I posted on here, some of the holes in the front crossmember aren't necessarily even in the right places. I'm not sure why, but it seems there's some variability even in these platforms. 2019 and 2020 were supposed to be essentially identical.

So i'm not defending RCI at all, I think that they specially designed these kits to work on the F150's, and for a while there was enough synergy between the F150's and the Expy's that it worked well.

For my use case, on a 2019 the 15+ F150 kit worked fine. I modified the front mounting brackets but you don't HAVE to. The biggest thing is to make sure you get the 2nd plate that has the extra bend in it for added clearance from the steering rack. My front plate is actually from their 09-14 kit. but others have used the full 15+ kit just fine.

For me, the Cat guards are huge, that was an add-on for me, they have had some sales recently where they are included, those are huge. Great thing to have!

Thank you.

 

[Flying N]

@Flying N - Here's the best I can say. I actually last year had a 2020 loaner and just for grins, I took a look underneath it. Frankly, I could tell just even from my pictures that I posted on here, some of the holes in the front crossmember aren't necessarily even in the right places. I'm not sure why, but it seems there's some variability even in these platforms. 2019 and 2020 were supposed to be essentially identical.

So i'm not defending RCI at all, I think that they specially designed these kits to work on the F150's, and for a while there was enough synergy between the F150's and the Expy's that it worked well.

For my use case, on a 2019 the 15+ F150 kit worked fine. I modified the front mounting brackets but you don't HAVE to. The biggest thing is to make sure you get the 2nd plate that has the extra bend in it for added clearance from the steering rack. My front plate is actually from their 09-14 kit. but others have used the full 15+ kit just fine.

For me, the Cat guards are huge, that was an add-on for me, they have had some sales recently where they are included, those are huge. Great thing to have!

Did you use the transfer case skid as well, or just the engine and transmission?

 

[5280tunage]

Did you use the transfer case skid as well, or just the engine and transmission?

I did the full package, and upgraded later with the cat guards. Those weren't hard to retrofit, just some pretty tough steel to drill through, had to run to harbor freight and get some throw away bits.

 

[Flying N]

I did the full package, and upgraded later with the cat guards. Those weren't hard to retrofit, just some pretty tough steel to drill through, had to run to harbor freight and get some throw away bits.

Thanks. They didn't think that the transfer case skid would fit with the independent rear suspension. I presume you didn't have any issues with the fit there either?