LOD Offroad Transmission Skid

[Flourman]

FINALLY got my transmission skid plate from LOD Offroad. I ordered on 5/16 and it finally got here today 6/19 (shipped Thursday). I picked their skid plate because it covers the transfer case cross members that about all of us have munched a time or 10.

Complaints:
1. Communication with LOD. I emailed and called (spoke to a person once) with ZERO feedback. The only feedback was ”oh I think it’s going into powder coat sometime”. I understand and can empathize with long lead times but just communicate!

2. Packaging was less than desirable. Granted, the skid did not move but they encapsulated in raw spray foam. Not the expanding foam that stays in a plastic covering like I’ve gotten a lot of other large/heavy/fragile parts in. The skid was in a plastic bag but still a PITA.

3. One of the skid braces put pressure on the hydraulic line for the Sta-Bar. I had to pull off and grind a notch in it.

Now for the good. It’s a sturdy piece. I’d guessing it’s about 15lbs. Even though it goes under the cross members, it hugs them extremely close. Solid and covers the cross members and transmission pan. I really have no concerns bashing through rocks now.

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[Dmorty217]

Glad you finally got your order, feel like it’s mostly BS you had to grind out some metal for parts that were there when they did R&D

 

[Snacktime]

Looks just as much extra space as my Metalcloak skids. Is the lateral support provided by the V6 braces?

 

[Flourman]

Looks just as much extra space as my Metalcloak skids. Is the lateral support provided by the V6 braces?

Yeah. Uses the two bolts on the frame side of the cross member on each side then bolts up behind the engine/diff skid and uses the t-case skid bolt.

 

[Snacktime]

Just pulled the instruction, these are for V6 models only in my book. I was thinking the wings tied into the frame not the brackets.

 

[LOD Offroad]

FINALLY got my transmission skid plate from LOD Offroad. I ordered on 5/16 and it finally got here today 6/19 (shipped Thursday). I picked their skid plate because it covers the transfer case cross members that about all of us have munched a time or 10.

Complaints:
1. Communication with LOD. I emailed and called (spoke to a person once) with ZERO feedback. The only feedback was ”oh I think it’s going into powder coat sometime”. I understand and can empathize with long lead times but just communicate!

2. Packaging was less than desirable. Granted, the skid did not move but they encapsulated in raw spray foam. Not the expanding foam that stays in a plastic covering like I’ve gotten a lot of other large/heavy/fragile parts in. The skid was in a plastic bag but still a PITA.

3. One of the skid braces put pressure on the hydraulic line for the Sta-Bar. I had to pull off and grind a notch in it.

Now for the good. It’s a sturdy piece. I’d guessing it’s about 15lbs. Even though it goes under the cross members, it hugs them extremely close. Solid and covers the cross members and transmission pan. I really have no concerns bashing through rocks now.

Hi Flourman, thanks for the feedback! We are sorry you had trouble fitting the skid plate around your hydraulic lines. I've got our engineering team looking into this now. I dont believe that line showed up in our CAD data unfortunately. Folks sometimes complain about our packaging, but its better than the alternative! We dont use the bagged spray foam pouches because we actually need the foam to stick to the cardboard. That way the parts dont slide with the box...if there is any room for movement that part will try to find a way out of the box for sure! Especially the pointy ones.

 

[Flourman]

Hi Flourman, thanks for the feedback! We are sorry you had trouble fitting the skid plate around your hydraulic lines. I've got our engineering team looking into this now. I dont believe that line showed up in our CAD data unfortunately. Folks sometimes complain about our packaging, but its better than the alternative! We dont use the bagged spray foam pouches because we actually need the foam to stick to the cardboard. That way the parts dont slide with the box...if there is any room for movement that part will try to find a way out of the box for sure! Especially the pointy ones.

Thanks for addressing that. Any feedback on the lack of communication?

 

[LOD Offroad]

I cant say for sure what the issue was... We are generally very good at getting back to customers. I do know we had a lot of product get held up in production due to some other issues. Our customer service sometimes just cant get an answer right away which causes the issue to get pushed to the back of the line until they can get more info.

However we are addressing the issue with the skid plate! It will probably be another 2-3 weeks until the updated parts are available. If you would like a replacement skid plate, just reach out to us and we'll get you hooked up.

 

[Flourman]

I cant say for sure what the issue was... We are generally very good at getting back to customers. I do know we had a lot of product get held up in production due to some other issues. Our customer service sometimes just cant get an answer right away which causes the issue to get pushed to the back of the line until they can get more info.

However we are addressing the issue with the skid plate! It will probably be another 2-3 weeks until the updated parts are available. If you would like a replacement skid plate, just reach out to us and we'll get you hooked up.

Thanks for that. The angle grinder did fine on the skid plate I have now.

However if you wanted to raffle off a skid and donate the money to Stay the Trail or some Offroad organization, that would be cool.

 

[akturbo]

Just installed my skid last night, probably the easiest mod I've done to the Bronco. I can confirm they moved the bracing back so it doesn't hit the hydraulic line. My main concern was that my cross bars are beat up bad, the skid didn't need any mods and I didn't have to straighten out the bars. I always hate losing any clearance, but in this case it was minimal and worth the trade off to quit getting hung up on the cross bars. Besides the rear diff, fully skid'd out and ready to rally this thing.

 

[Flourman]

That’s awesome they moved the bracket. It is a really great skid and covers a LOT.

 

[beagletim]

I received my Black Ops trans skid and installed it. Easy installation and a solid piece of protection. No complaints from me. From order to shipping took about 8 days.

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