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Skid Plates for Escape

24K views 39 replies 8 participants last post by  Landroamer 
#1 ·
Last year I installed skid plates on my Escape. I know there are some folks that have an interest in this. I posted this info in another thread on Escapes driving in sand, but have moved most of it to this new thread to continue the conversation.

***************************************************

I have the FTS skids.

http://www.fts4x4.com/en/products/?method=detail&aid=37

Pros:
-The 2 steel mounting bars make for a robust assembly. (They look a bit like leaf springs for the skids).
-The two piece skids make for a more manageable assembly.
-Easy to remove just the front skid for an oil change.
-Provides nice protection for oil sump and transmission/transfer case
-The only off-the-shelf skid plates I could find ANYWHERE on earth.

Cons:
-The steel mounting bars came up just a tad short to their mounting bolts under the bumper. The bars have a slot, not a hole and I was worried they might pop loose under stress. I remedied this by placing 2 large diameter washers on the head of each mounting bolt. This seems to relieve any concerns of it coming off.

-For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to install the small rear steel mount that supports the back side of the transmission skid. I looked at the pics and crawled around underneath for hours and never figured it out. :?

Instead I had a shop weld two nuts over pre-existing holes on the rear of the sub-frame. I drilled two new holes in the rear of the skid plate to match the nuts. Then I screwed it in with two new bolts/washers. Simple and solid!

I like and recommend the FTS skid with the caveat that you will either have to figure out how the rear is supposed to attach, or do an end run and weld some nuts and drill a couple of holes in the rear skid. Hopefully they still have a set or two in stock.

I'll dig around and see if I can find some pics of my installation. Cheers, TR
 
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#2 ·
Escape94 said:
Please, please, PLEASE post some pics of the skid plate and it's mounting points. I have been telling people that I'm 95% sure it'd fit the US escapes despite being made in Taiwan. I would love to see some pics. Great that you actually got it installed! :yahoo:
I found the factory pics from FTS.

go to:

http://www.fts4x4.com/en/products/?method=detail&aid=37
 
#3 ·
Very good to know it fits (mostly)! The main reason I want the skid plate, is to aid in keeping water out of my alternator. Or at least keep the majority of it off. I be very greatful if you could let me know how well it keeps water out! All my buddies go up to big falls a lot and there are 7 creek crossings to go through if i remember correctly. I definitely need a solution for the poorly thought out alternator mounting point.
There are vent slots in the skids, so some water will get through. If you drive at the proper speed to create a bow wave in front of the escape, the skid may help the effect and reduce water in the lower engine bay.

Years ago I read about a bunch of Escape's having alternator failures after playing off road. The guys with the failures were driving in muddy/soupy water. The guys that stayed out of the nasty stuff were OK. I personally haven't heard of failures due to driving through clear water, but it is a possible problem.

Last winter I drove around Lockwood Valley (Los Padres NF) after a big storm. There were many roads where the runoff water is channeled right over the road. I drove through a half dozen of these water crossings 6-8" deep with no ill effects. The water was fairly clear. Without the skids there would have been a fair amount of water splashed into the lower engine bay. The skids probably reduced this (no way to know without a video cam under the hood). Hope that helps.

TR
 
#4 ·
Explanation of the problem I had with installing the rear of the second skid.

Pic of the kit:

The steel plate (#3) has two holes. Rear of skid (#5) has two holes. The plate bolts to the skid.

This leaves nothing to bolt the plate and skid to the chassis. The steel plate should provide some additional stiffness to the rear of the skid, but I just didn't see anyway to attach it to the chassis. The pic shows the plate bolted to the skid, but does not show any attachment to the chassis. The back of the skid just hangs in the air.

I gave up and welded two nuts on the chassis. Drill two new holes in the skid and it bolts right up.

I'll probably put the plate back on the rear of the skid just to help reinforce it.

Cheers, TR
 
#5 ·
AusEscape said:
Thanks for the pics. I am hoping to build some and this helps.
I like the idea of the support bars that works well with the ideas I have.
Hope to do it soon and try to document.
AE, You're welcome.

The support bars add additional strength and resilience to the light weight aluminum skids. I consider it a brilliant solution and seems to be unique. All the skids I have seen for other solutions on small rigs (Subaru etc) seem to be just an aluminum skid bolted up to the chassis.

Best of luck with your homebrew skid project. I look forward to your progress.

Cheers, TR
 
#6 ·
The FTS pics were the best regarding the installation. (They had the advantage of putting the Escape on a lift).

Here are a few that will show my mod to the install and the finished product.

This is the driver side, viewed looking towards the rear of the vehicle.
The observant among you will notice 2 nuts welded to the chassis. When I was crawling around under my Escape I picked what seemed the best location for the nut. Rather than marking it ahead of time, I trusted my feeble memory. Upon arriving at the welding shop, they pop the Escape up on a lift and asked me to point to the location. Well, there are three holes there and standing under the lift (as opposed to laying the opposite way under my Escape), I confidently pointed to the wrong hole. Arriving home, I smugly bolted up the two skids only to discover the freshly welded nuts lay beyond the end of the skid plate.

:wall: :rant: :bang: :cuss: :censor: (a simple Doh! just didn't seem enough).

I went back down to the welding shop with a fresh box of donuts, and an apology. They welded up two more nuts (no charge).

This is the same setup on the passenger side (looking to the rear). The bolt is in the nut, in the correct location. (closest to the front)

I arrived back home and everything bolted up nicely. I am pleased.

2 pics of the completed skid plate install.

The small front air dam almost perfectly covers the front of the skid for a stealth look. Nobody knows you are a lean, mean, off-road machine!
If you want to show off your skid, just remove the air dam.

This is a look from down under (not to be confused with Australia).

Here is the "fugitive" in action with freshly mounted skids, exploring the great outdoors.

Hope this is helpful to those looking to skidify their Escapes.

Cheers, TR
 
#8 ·
fugitive said:
Last year I installed skid plates on my 2005 Ford Escape 4WD. I know there are some folks that have an interest in this. I posted this info in another thread on Escapes driving in sand, but have moved most of it to this new thread to continue the conversation.

***************************************************

I have the FTS skids on my '05.

http://www.fts4x4.com/en/products/?method=detail&aid=37

Pros:
-The 2 steel mounting bars make for a robust assembly. (They look a bit like leaf springs for the skids).
-The two piece skids make for a more manageable assembly.
-Easy to remove just the front skid for an oil change.
-Provides nice protection for oil sump and transmission/transfer case
-The only off-the-shelf skid plates I could find ANYWHERE on earth.

Cons:
-The steel mounting bars came up just a tad short to their mounting bolts under the bumper. The bars have a slot, not a hole and I was worried they might pop loose under stress. I remedied this by placing 2 large diameter washers on the head of each mounting bolt. This seems to relieve any concerns of it coming off.

-For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to install the small rear steel mount that supports the back side of the transmission skid. I looked at the pics and crawled around underneath for hours and never figured it out. :?

Instead I had a shop weld two nuts over pre-existing holes on the rear of the sub-frame. I drilled two new holes in the rear of the skid plate to match the nuts. Then I screwed it in with two new bolts/washers. Simple and solid!

I like and recommend the FTS skid with the caveat that you will either have to figure out how the rear is supposed to attach, or do an end run and weld some nuts and drill a couple of holes in the rear skid. Hopefully they still have a set or two in stock.

I'll dig around and see if I can find some pics of my installation. Cheers, TR
That link is worth checking out.
They also sell snorkels, lift kits, and these cool rear control arms with a bend to give more clearance.
Along with the skids.
I sent a msg about the skids so will see if they are still in business.

 
#9 ·
http://www.fts4x4.com/en/products/?method=detail&aid=37

That link is worth checking out.
They also sell snorkels, lift kits, and these cool rear control arms with a bend to give more clearance.
Along with the skids.
I sent a msg about the skids so will see if they are still in business.
Those rear arms are very tempting. They look strong and the upward curve would enlarge the ground clearance "sweet spot".

When I initially asked FTS about skid plates I used the "contact us" link. I don't know where those messages go, but a month later... nothing. I think I later tried the "inquiry" link and finally received a reply.

They replied to me using fts.fts@msa.hinet.net this address is also now located at the bottom of their web page. My advice is to skip the "contact us" or "inquiry" options and just use their email address.

If you they contact you back, see how much those sweet rear control arms sell for. I can already picture them on the back of my escape. :)P
 
#11 ·
fugitive said:
http://www.fts4x4.com/en/products/?method=detail&aid=37

That link is worth checking out.
They also sell snorkels, lift kits, and these cool rear control arms with a bend to give more clearance.
Along with the skids.
I sent a msg about the skids so will see if they are still in business.
Those rear arms are very tempting. They look strong and the upward curve would enlarge the ground clearance "sweet spot".

When I initially asked FTS about skid plates I used the "contact us" link. I don't know where those messages go, but a month later... nothing. I think I later tried the "inquiry" link and finally received a reply.

They replied to me using fts.fts@msa.hinet.net this address is also now located at the bottom of their web page. My advice is to skip the "contact us" or "inquiry" options and just use their email address.

If you they contact you back, see how much those sweet rear control arms sell for. I can already picture them on the back of my escape. :)P
I was looking under my car the other day wondering why the rear control arms don't have a bend in them and boom here they are.
 
#12 ·
AusEscape said:
fugitive said:
http://www.fts4x4.com/en/products/?method=detail&aid=37

That link is worth checking out.
They also sell snorkels, lift kits, and these cool rear control arms with a bend to give more clearance.
Along with the skids.
I sent a msg about the skids so will see if they are still in business.
Those rear arms are very tempting. They look strong and the upward curve would enlarge the ground clearance "sweet spot".

When I initially asked FTS about skid plates I used the "contact us" link. I don't know where those messages go, but a month later... nothing. I think I later tried the "inquiry" link and finally received a reply.

They replied to me using fts.fts@msa.hinet.net this address is also now located at the bottom of their web page. My advice is to skip the "contact us" or "inquiry" options and just use their email address.

If you they contact you back, see how much those sweet rear control arms sell for. I can already picture them on the back of my escape. :)P
I was looking under my car the other day wondering why the rear control arms don't have a bend in them and boom here they are.
I sent them an inquiry in September. The replied the same day. The first price is for the skid and the second (FEP901) is for the control arms.

"Hi, Sir,

Thanks for your email.
The quotation as below for your reference.
FEP81 USD226
FEP901 USD236
Shipping : via TNT to US USD187
Total amount: USD649
Transit days: 11
Carton size: 92*56*14cm / G.W.:16.5kgs
64*19*6cm / G.W.:6kgs
Pls confirm.

Best Regards
Windsor Huang / Cindy Lee
Futaishin Enterprise Co., Ltd. "
 
#13 ·
I sent them an inquiry in September. The replied the same day. The first price is for the skid and the second (FEP901) is for the control arms.

"Hi, Sir,

Thanks for your email.
The quotation as below for your reference.
FEP81 USD226
FEP901 USD236
Shipping : via TNT to US USD187
Total amount: USD649
Transit days: 11
Carton size: 92*56*14cm / G.W.:16.5kgs
64*19*6cm / G.W.:6kgs
Pls confirm.
AP76, Thanks for posting that info.

When I ordered the skids, the shipping was steep, but I was surprised how fast the package arrived. I have no regrets on the purchase. It provides some nice protection to the oil sump and transmission as well as generally keeping flotsam and jetsam out of my engine bay.

The control arms are a bit more expansive than I was hoping, but there are no other options. All the rear control arms I have found on the web are straight. You want more ground clearance down the middle, it's FTS or nothing.

Cheers, TR
 
#14 ·
I was digging around EC and found a post about control arms that also talks about the FTS skid plate and has some excellent pics of the install.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=28535&start=10

There are a couple of good pics showing the fork/slot on the front of the mounting bars. It just comes up a bit short of being properly secured by the mounting bolts. The poster used some standard sized washers that help secure the bars, but I wanted more. I used larger diameter washers and doubled them up to be absolutely sure the mounting bars don't pop out if I strike something with the front of the skid plate.

The poster "Bender" also talks about the mounting of the skid plate.

Most of the weigh is held up but the back but little bolts at the front basically prop it up so to speak. (emphasis mine)
I take this to mean the bolts at the front of the (rear) plate, carry the entire load. My guess is the steel plate (#3) is solely there to reinforce the back of the skid. There are several good pics of the rear of the skid that seem to confirm the rear of the skid is not secured to the chassis, by design.

I like this skid plate, but the back just hangin' loose doesn't cut it for me. If I were to backup over an obstruction, the rear of the skid could flop down and get folded or even ripped off. :fan:

It appears you can install the skid, as is, and call it done. If you want to properly secure the back of the skid, weld two nuts, drill two holes in the skid, and secure the rear with two bolts. Glad I bolted mine down.

Well, I no longer feel so confused about how to bolt up the rear of the skid. But, glad I did a simple mod to secure the entirety of the skid. :rockon:

Cheers, TR
 
#15 ·
fugitive said:
I was digging around EC and found a post about control arms that also talks about the FTS skid plate and has some excellent pics of the install.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=28535&start=10

There are a couple of good pics showing the fork/slot on the front of the mounting bars. It just comes up a bit short of being properly secured by the mounting bolts. The poster used some standard sized washers that help secure the bars, but I wanted more. I used larger diameter washers and doubled them up to be absolutely sure the mounting bars don't pop out if I strike something with the front of the skid plate.

The poster "Bender" also talks about the mounting of the skid plate.

Most of the weigh is held up but the back but little bolts at the front basically prop it up so to speak. (emphasis mine)
I take this to mean the bolts at the front of the (rear) plate, carry the entire load. My guess is the steel plate (#3) is solely there to reinforce the back of the skid. There are several good pics of the rear of the skid that seem to confirm the rear of the skid is not secured to the chassis, by design.

I like this skid plate, but the back just hangin' loose doesn't cut it for me. If I were to backup over an obstruction, the rear of the skid could flop down and get folded or even ripped off. :fan:

It appears you can install the skid, as is, and call it done. If you want to properly secure the back of the skid, weld two nuts, drill two holes in the skid, and secure the rear with two bolts. Glad I bolted mine down.

Well, I no longer feel so confused about how to bolt up the rear of the skid. But, glad I did a simple mod to secure the entirety of the skid. :rockon:

Cheers, TR
Good digging.
 
#16 ·
Glad you guys dug up that old thread. Between that and this thread that answers the questions I've had about FTS. It's a shame it's really the only commercial skid plate available. But! At least it'll work on our escapes if you can swallow that price. Same logic for the control arms.
 
#18 ·
AusEscape said:
Everytime I drive behind an Escape the idea of the red curved control arms looks better. I have to enquire it might be cheaper to ship to Aus.
AusE,

Resistance is futile! You know you want them. :thumb:

Buy 'em, mount them up, post a thread, and lots of pics! :rockon:

I'm pretty much in full drool mode over these control arms. :drool:

I've got too much going on right now to do this, but would love to live vicariously through you.

I pulled the trigger on the skids, your turn to test out the arms. ;)

TR
 
#20 ·
fugitive said:
http://www.fts4x4.com/en/products/?method=detail&aid=37

That link is worth checking out.
They also sell snorkels, lift kits, and these cool rear control arms with a bend to give more clearance.
Along with the skids.
I sent a msg about the skids so will see if they are still in business.
Those rear arms are very tempting. They look strong and the upward curve would enlarge the ground clearance "sweet spot".

When I initially asked FTS about skid plates I used the "contact us" link. I don't know where those messages go, but a month later... nothing. I think I later tried the "inquiry" link and finally received a reply.

They replied to me using fts.fts@msa.hinet.net this address is also now located at the bottom of their web page. My advice is to skip the "contact us" or "inquiry" options and just use their email address.

If you they contact you back, see how much those sweet rear control arms sell for. I can already picture them on the back of my escape. :)P
Hey.
I sent a msg about control arms to the fts.fts@msa.hinet.net and got a weird msg back saying "Could not send" with a whole lot of jargon.
Will wait till Monday to see if it got somewhere.
 
#21 ·
I sent a msg about control arms to the fts.fts@msa.hinet.net and got a weird msg back saying "Could not send" with a whole lot of jargon.
Will wait till Monday to see if it got somewhere.
AE, That is strange. "Could not send" means the FTS address was not recognized by your email ISP. The tail end of the week there have been massive internet attacks shutting down web sites, DNS servers and ISPs. It is possible you or FTS got caught in some of that digital silliness that is going on. Hopefully that will get sorted out soon.

Give it a try again on Monday and keep us posted.

Today I was out driving around with my wife. We pulled up behind another Escape so I could show her how completely unacceptable the stock rear arms are (trying to justify the expense with the CFO). :shades:

Cheers, TR
 
#22 ·
fugitive said:
I sent a msg about control arms to the fts.fts@msa.hinet.net and got a weird msg back saying "Could not send" with a whole lot of jargon.
Will wait till Monday to see if it got somewhere.
AE, That is strange. "Could not send" means the FTS address was not recognized by your email ISP. The tail end of the week there have been massive internet attacks shutting down web sites, DNS servers and ISPs. It is possible you or FTS got caught in some of that digital silliness that is going on. Hopefully that will get sorted out soon.

Give it a try again on Monday and keep us posted.

Today I was out driving around with my wife. We pulled up behind another Escape so I could show her how completely unacceptable the stock rear arms are (trying to justify the expense with the CFO). :shades:

Cheers, TR
Good campaigning. Hope your bid works. Lol
I may have left out my email was redirected as well and tried to send for 4hrs so it said.
It appears to "windsor4x4@yahoo.com.tw"
Beyond me.
Also said things like "deferred" and "temporarily deferred due to user complaints"
I went to a link and it says that "emails from my mail server are generating complaints"
Looks like I've been a bad boy.
I don't know how. It talks of questionable content???
 
#23 ·
Good campaigning. Hope your bid works. Lol
I may have left out my email was redirected as well and tried to send for 4hrs so it said.
It appears to "windsor4x4@yahoo.com.tw"
Beyond me.
Also said things like "deferred" and "temporarily deferred due to user complaints"
I went to a link and it says that "emails from my mail server are generating complaints"
Looks like I've been a bad boy.
I don't know how. It talks of questionable content???
Nothing to do with you personally mate. Somebody's server upstream from your email is probably on a blacklist.

<snip a bunch of techno-babble>

I say try again. If it still gets bounced, use a yahoo, or gmail, or some other email provider to talk with FTS.

Cheers, TR
 
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