Has anyone replaced the entire skid plate bracket? Was it difficult or just a PIA? A curb jumped out in front of me and I bent one of the skid plates. No real damage anywhere except for the bracket. I will just order a new one if it can be done with jack stands and a couple friends or do I need to take it to a stealership? Any comments appreciated. Thanks

 

I would be curious also. Thought about replacing mine. It has been used by previous owners. Gene Culley has them for $209, I think. Just not sure how hard it would be to replace.

 

Hi there,

I believe there are some how to's on how to replace this on the forum here. Maybe someone will jump in for the link.

Thanks, Gene.

 

It is not too hard of a job. My replacemment crash bar did not come with any of the related bolts or nutserts. Before starting the job consult a shop manual and make sure you have all the related parts. You don't want to get half way though and get stuck with extra down time because you had to order a nutsert. In my case the bar had been hit, by a previous owner, hard enough to damage the nutsert in the frame, This required a small amount of welding to repair. This would be a good time to think about adding, what I call the training wheels to the crash bar before you install it as you may want to do a little welding for that job as well. The wheels would reduce the odds of any damage to the new crash bar. Hope this infomation helps.

 

Anybody else with any experience in doing this? I really would like to know what I am getting into with a C5. Thanks

 

My skid plate got real bent up; it was distorting my nose.
About a month ago, I finally made time to repair it. I thought I could just cut out the bad sections of steel tubing and replace it with some new straight pieces.
When I got the old one out I realized how poorly it is built. There's just not enough strength. It is made out of very thinwall 1 inch square tubing. I'll bet it couldn't support 200 pounds let alone a car running into a curb.

I ended up building a complete new set for myself out of thinwall 2 inch tubing. I included a heavy duty rubber roller wheel from Harbor Frieght in the front tips of my new design, they barely show and hang down below the skid plate surface about 1/2 inch.
I've seen the wheels that bolt onto the sides of the original skid plates, but that can only induce a torque into an already weak design. The other add on wheels I've seen that bolt on directly to the bottom of the skid, hang down too low and will always be dragging on high spots in the road.

Remember this skid plate is also the mounting point for the radiator, the smog air pump and the horn assemblies. You don't want to drive around with the radiator pushed back and ready to fall out.

If you would like more info, I took some pictures, during construction and installation, please ask and I will send them.

I would not spend $200 for a new set of the original skid plates, you can build a replacement much better for less. You don't even have to remove the radiator to replace the skid plate, just support it from below. I used a piece of 3/4 plywood bolted up through the front cross member while replacing mine.
It took me a weekend to remove, design, cut and weld, paint and re-install my new design. You should have no trouble replacing a new one in a Saturday.

Mike

 

I think England Green has the info

 

As one poster already alluded to,it is not a very difficult job.
And yes,you can do it on jackstands

Also pointed out,the skidbar DOES NOT come with the thred inserts installed.It takes two sizes( 6mm +8mm I believe).Most of them are the 6mm(about 8,if I remember right),but there are a couple 8mm too.

The main thing is,you need to have a tool to install them with.A thread insert tool,and they can be as much as a couple hundred bucks

If you have access to one of those,you are good to go,but it must have the metric thread tool

Their are cheaper ones too,but I don't like buying cheap tools

HTH

 

I need to change mine as well! I was thinking of getting Plate Stiffeners or Front Bumper Savers for added protection. Which one is better? Is having both possible or over kill?? I just hate scraping the front end every time I enter the driveway.

 

I would like your information I live in Seattle and it's hell on the front end. I need to bulid the same thing you did. how can I get your info? Mike