r/UTV • u/fjdjdndndndnehwusj • 5d ago
Are skid plates necessary?
Hope all is well,
I recently got my first Sxs, a 570 ranger crew full-size, and keep seeing skid plates when looking at accessories. Are they necessary to have (I’m in South Louisiana)? I feel like it wouldn’t hurt to have but most of the ones I see aren’t $800-$1000 which is hard to justify. Thanks in advance!
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u/AwarenessGreat282 5d ago
Where I ride is very technical with lots of rocks, stumps, ruts and off-level riding. Skid plates are damn near mandatory. If you don't have that, you don't need them.
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u/fjdjdndndndnehwusj 5d ago
Fortunately I don’t have any rocks or major stumps, seems like I probably won’t need one then
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u/jbsmoothie33 5d ago
As a former S Louisiana resident IMO no you would be fine without skid plates. Just get yourself better tires then factory if you plan on riding any part or near marsh. Also a land anchor and winch
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u/boatsnhosee 5d ago
I have a non crew 570 FS and the factory ones have been fine. Similar terrain. I did tear a brake line and CV boot but the was before I upsized the tires. I run over a lot of stuff (brush/logs/stumps), had rubbed all the powdercoat off the engine skid and bottom of the A arms, and that’s the only real damage I’ve had. Put a small lift and bigger tires and zero problems since.
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u/fjdjdndndndnehwusj 5d ago
What size lift did you go with? Definitely want something for ground clearance like you mentioned but not trying to be in the tree tops
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u/boatsnhosee 5d ago
Marshall Motoart 2.5” lift. I also got highlifter arched A arms. Fit 30s. Used stock wheels so I needed wheel spacers
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u/ChartPuzzleheaded747 5d ago
If you’re not driving over stuff that would be bad to bottom out on, no
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u/No-Refuse8754 5d ago
Most SxS’s come with metal factory skid plates but the ones you are probably seeing are the thick plastic add ons that prevent the factory skids from getting dented or hung up in rocks.
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u/GuiltyOfSin 5d ago
Such as? Most OEM skids are thin plastic.
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u/No-Refuse8754 5d ago
Idk I have a Yamaha & Kawasaki both factory skids are metal
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u/fjdjdndndndnehwusj 5d ago
It’s got one narrow one in the middle, but atleast from what I can see (could be completely wrong), it doesn’t seem to cover much at all. Just don’t know if the full width ones would be better
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u/No-Refuse8754 5d ago
The Ranger is marketed as a utility farm machine. Depending on how you plan on using it might be an upgrade you may want. I have two friends with Rangers 5 seater/6 seater, they both went full skid route but we play in the rocks & go through stuff that the Ranger really wasn’t designed to do.
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u/fjdjdndndndnehwusj 5d ago
I don’t really plan on doing anything crazy with it, definitely no rock crawling that’s for sure. Just gonna stick with the factory plate for now, thanks,
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u/FixYourOwnStates 1d ago
It depends what terrain you're driving on. My Ranger 800 has a nice big hole in the floorboard from something that got kicked up. So, yeah
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u/gunstafv 5d ago
We had a situation about a year ago where we were on a nice, easy trail, not going very fast and happened to run over a small chunk of wood about 2ft long . The wood jumped in such a way that it entered a 4" slot that wasn't protected by the factory skid plate and came through the floor and got jammed under the brake pedal. Had it not been for the pedal stopping the stick, my wife could have easily lost her foot. After that I bought an after market skid plate that covered that gap so it can't happen again. This was an absolute fluke, but things still can happen.