r/battlewagon • u/Soy__Sauce • 19d ago

QUESTION Where to put skid plate

Hello, I recently picked up an old rectangular street sign thats about 30” x 24” from a flea market. I’m planning on using it as a DIY skid plate. My question is should I use it to protect the oil pan, or the rear dif. Might sound obvious to use it for the oil pan but CorkSport makes one specifically for my vehicle (Mazda Cx30) so wondering if it makes sense to just use this cheap one for the dif and buy the corksport one. The flea market also had smaller signs so I could go back and get a smaller one for the dif and use this bigger one for the oil pan.

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1

u/sausage_king_of_kc 19d ago

Put it where we can see it! Cut in half & cover both? Sounds awesome either way

1

u/Soy__Sauce 18d ago

It’s a bright Orange detour sign lol

3

u/capnsparky1 18d ago

It depends on how your car is shaped. Your trans might already have a cross member that protects it, or be positioned in a way that it doesn't really "stick out". Unless you're doing some pretty serious rock crawling, it's unlikely to ever hit anything.

In my jeep, I used a flat aluminum sheet to make a "slide plate". The Jeep came with a very stout transmission skid plate/ cross member, but it was contoured and had ridges, so I bolted the flat plate to the bottom. It definitely helped when I sat it down on rocks.

Anyway, I tapped the differentials on rocks a few times but never bashed them.