Custom Transmission Pan Skid Plate - My DIY

[Basket2023]

Hi Bronco6G

I thought Id share a modification I did to my Bronco that might interest others.
As with my other posts- I try to do my work as inexpensively as I can given the resources I have. So while this may not be for everyone as there are other, more expensive, options out there, maybe this will helps someone in the future.

So my goal was to add protection to the plastic transmission pan with minimal effort and cost.
I saw the Amazon skid plate for $180 and just wasnt interested at that cost.

I did notice that one of the factory "bash" plates looked to have potential to be used as a transmission plate.
If you look at the rear most red slid plate below that is used as the electronic sway bar disconnect plate- I was wondering what it would look liked flipped 180-degrees.

Electric Sway Bar Disconnect Plate (MB3C5E154).

I found one on eBay for about $50 and decided to try to make it work.
Here is a mockup of the factory plate flipped 180-degrees.
The plate seems to fit fairly well using the original sway bar mounting locations (in the mockup I just slipped the mounting tabs of the plate over the sway bar studs).
The plate would not be ridged enough as is.

So I had some 1/4" steel plate laying around and cut it to roughly 13"x13".
I welded the steel plate to the factory skid plate- please dont judge the welds or that Im empty on gas!

I then painted the entire skid plate, I would usually use black but all I had was silver (ugh!).
I also drilled and installed rivnuts into the transmission cross member.
It seems to fit fine and is plenty sturdy!

One thing I had to do was remove the factory studs that hold the aft-most sway bar brackets in place.
This was a little trial and error as I thought I could remove the nut from the top of the bracket- it turns out the nut on top must be welded to the frame and will remain there.
The nut on the bottom can be removed and then the stud can be removed from the bottom side.
Stud installed...

Stud removed...

I replaced the stud with M12x1.75x50mm fully threaded bolts and lock nuts.
I installed the M12 bolt from the bottom, through the factory welded nut, placed the new skid plate mounting tabs over the M12 bolt thread, then installed the lock nut on the top side.
It all fit nicely with no additional modifications required.

Hope this helps someone- good luck!

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[Donkeygyrl]

Great job thanks for posting

 

[indio22]

Nice work - appreciate these type of homemade mods.

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

Hi Bronco6G

I thought Id share a modification I did to my Bronco that might interest others.
As with my other posts- I try to do my work as inexpensively as I can given the resources I have. So while this may not be for everyone as there are other, more expensive, options out there, maybe this will helps someone in the future.

So my goal was to add protection to the plastic transmission pan with minimal effort and cost.
I saw the Amazon skid plate for $180 and just wasnt interested at that cost.

I did notice that one of the factory "bash" plates looked to have potential to be used as a transmission plate.
If you look at the rear most red slid plate below that is used as the electronic sway bar disconnect plate- I was wondering what it would look liked flipped 180-degrees.

Electric Sway Bar Disconnect Plate (MB3C5E154).

I found one on eBay for about $50 and decided to try to make it work.
Here is a mockup of the factory plate flipped 180-degrees.
The plate seems to fit fairly well using the original sway bar mounting locations (in the mockup I just slipped the mounting tabs of the plate over the sway bar studs).
The plate would not be ridged enough as is.

So I had some 1/4" steel plate laying around and cut it to roughly 13"x13".
I welded the steel plate to the factory skid plate- please dont judge the welds or that Im empty on gas!

I then painted the entire skid plate, I would usually use black but all I had was silver (ugh!).
I also drilled and installed rivnuts into the transmission cross member.
It seems to fit fine and is plenty sturdy!

One thing I had to do was remove the factory studs that hold the aft-most sway bar brackets in place.
This was a little trial and error as I thought I could remove the nut from the top of the bracket- it turns out the nut on top must be welded to the frame and will remain there.
The nut on the bottom can be removed and then the stud can be removed from the bottom side.
Stud installed...

Stud removed...

I replaced the stud with M12x1.75x50mm fully threaded bolts and lock nuts.
I installed the M12 bolt from the bottom, through the factory welded nut, placed the new skid plate mounting tabs over the M12 bolt thread, then installed the lock nut on the top side.
It all fit nicely with no additional modifications required.

Hope this helps someone- good luck!

I did nearly the exact same thing.

 

[BAUS67]

I did nearly the exact same thing.

I was surprised you didn't when you chopped off those crossmembers.

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

while eyeballiing and taking suspension measurements on a new Braptor at the dealership today, I noticed the improved skid plate under both the engine and under the transmission. the transmission one fits nicely between the angled (V6 only) crossmember supports I already cut off. ....I'm gonna order the engine one and see how it fits...I like OEM improvement parts. @Ford Motor Company should offer these in FP catalog for ALL broncos.

 

[Sparkherd]

Upon initial scroll-thru, I saw this and thought; "OMFnG!!! A 1/4" aluminum skid plate!!!"
Good Job!!! And should be easy to easy to see your battle scars (bragging marks?) with that spiffy silver paint!!!

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