EDIT 2:
All - I found the third plate on Ebay (much rougher appearance than the other two - lotsa surface rust I'll have to clean and re-paint - ah well). Now just need to re-fab the large front skid-plate and all will be golden...
EDIT:
So today I went to a local yard and found 2 of 3 skid plates; I pulled them from a Rodeo (year unknown). Take a look at this image:
The two I found were the "triangular" ones shown above - the ones to the top-left and center-right (with all the speed holes). I was not able to find the one to the immediate top-right on any Rodeo or Trooper I looked at today, but I'll continue looking. If anyone has any thoughts here, post 'em! So in short, I only need that one part now - so same idea applies (time and money). Oh - and don't worry much about cleaning the part; just wrap it well in plastic and stick it in a box. I'm not looking for perfect, just something workable with minor surface rust. I can clean it the rest of the way, and powder-coat it if needed. Thanks!
One interesting thing about that Rodeo was that it had an amazing set of rock sliders on it; they weren't simple nerf bars - these things were thick gauge steel and bolted extremely well to the frame. If I didn't already have the Rocky Road Supersliders on mine, I would've been tempted to get them (they'd likely require some mods to fit, tho).
So my thoughts now are to continue to look for that third piece; I might also consider fabricating something to go there. I've got a front skid plate for under the engine, but the thing is heavy as ****! It's made outta much thicker gauge steel; I'm thinking maybe using it as a template to fab something up out of the same gauge steel the other skid plates are made of.
Final thoughts on those skid plates: Nasty. They were covered top and bottom with a thick layer of oily dirt; I spent a few hours using a plastic putty knife, cleaner, the hose - you name it - scraping and cleaning that gunk off. Then I had to scrape the dirt in the yard up where I cleaned it to throw it away. Then clean myself. I still gotta clean my clothes! Somebody didn't love their Rodeo...
---
All - I'm in the process of doing various mods to my Ebony VX - not too long back I got new tires (pro-comp mt extremes 32s), had the OME lift kit from Rocky Road installed, plus their diff guard, plus their super-sliders. I'd like to get a set of the 3 Trooper skid plates. I'm willing to purchase for a fair price + shipping - price should consider your time/effort to remove 'em (if you had to). I'm going to be looking around local yards here in Phoenix myself when I have some time (been doing an online class that just eats my time like nobody's business!).
I've also had the crazy idea to build my own skid plates from aluminum street signs ('cause I know where to get some cheap) and some UHMW poly (1/2") over that to make light-weight (but hopefully somewhat tough?) skid plates...
Anyhow - if you can help me kit out my VX, I'd appreciate it - I'll leave this up until I get something done. Thanks!
