I ordered the ASFIR Fuel Tank Skid Plate. This is a 1/4 inch thick aluminum skid plate made up of two plates and 6 hangers. It arrived very quickly from Israel via DHL. Installing this was surprisingly easy. Only took 30 minutes according to the instructions, however, I seemed to have suffered a time warp and lost three hours according to my watch. To be fair, the video showed a guy standing under his Bronco to "easily" install the brackets and the plate, allegedly by himself. Well, I'm not short enough to stand under my Bronco without it being lifted on a rack.
I squeezed under the Bronco until I'd had enough and lifted it with a jack under the rear differential. I had no real trouble installing the 6 brackets. One bolt off and then reuse the bolt for four of the brackets. Two brackets where added to the passenger side frame with holes already tapped by Ford. This was very thoughtful.
Thinking I was about to achieve victory after manhandling the 33 pounds into place, I found that the very front of the skid was not really compatible with my non-ASFIR transmission skid. You may recall that this was an aluminum skid plate made by Mabett to protect the cheesy plastic Ford transmission pan. So I took my saw and lopped off thine offending piece only to discover that another cut needed to be made to clear a bolt holding the Mabett. So off it comes. Dragged it to the side and cut off a portion to clear the bolt.
Back under and I had it all installed except of course for one single solitary bolt that secures the front of the skid to the cross member. All the bolts were loose as recommended by ASFIR. I got out a rubber mallet and allowed some pent up frustration to adjust the plate ever so slowly and ever so minutely and well, it just finally lined up. Success.
The pictures don't really show the blood, sweat and toil of the installation that really was easy. So for no particular reason then I like the photo I also included a picture of the front of my Bronco.
I'm thinking I may go with a rear differential skid next. Being Florida with no abundance of rocks as far as I know, I think the more plates I have I eventually will have enough places to store my new impending sand collection.
Oh, today, I will get back under to torque all the bolts to specs.
I squeezed under the Bronco until I'd had enough and lifted it with a jack under the rear differential. I had no real trouble installing the 6 brackets. One bolt off and then reuse the bolt for four of the brackets. Two brackets where added to the passenger side frame with holes already tapped by Ford. This was very thoughtful.
Thinking I was about to achieve victory after manhandling the 33 pounds into place, I found that the very front of the skid was not really compatible with my non-ASFIR transmission skid. You may recall that this was an aluminum skid plate made by Mabett to protect the cheesy plastic Ford transmission pan. So I took my saw and lopped off thine offending piece only to discover that another cut needed to be made to clear a bolt holding the Mabett. So off it comes. Dragged it to the side and cut off a portion to clear the bolt.
Back under and I had it all installed except of course for one single solitary bolt that secures the front of the skid to the cross member. All the bolts were loose as recommended by ASFIR. I got out a rubber mallet and allowed some pent up frustration to adjust the plate ever so slowly and ever so minutely and well, it just finally lined up. Success.
The pictures don't really show the blood, sweat and toil of the installation that really was easy. So for no particular reason then I like the photo I also included a picture of the front of my Bronco.
I'm thinking I may go with a rear differential skid next. Being Florida with no abundance of rocks as far as I know, I think the more plates I have I eventually will have enough places to store my new impending sand collection.
Oh, today, I will get back under to torque all the bolts to specs.
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