Skid Forks, The Missing One

Came across a local deal for a used OEM Pro-4X fuel tank skid plate for $40, and since I already installed the OEM Pro-4X oil pan & transfer case skid plates since way back in 2015, I decided to complete the set. For what I do, these are fine (understand that sentence I just said LOL); If ever I go deeper into off-roading my daily driver, I can easily upgrade these skid plates to stronger aftermarket pieces. Anyhow, the fuel tank skid was in decent shape, but needed some refinishing:

Now I don’t know why, but the DIY in me decided to see if I could do something about those dents… which doesn’t make sense considering this would be under the truck, unseen by anyone, and only there to scrape and get dented anyways. So anyhow, I used a few hammers, a metal file, and some pliers to “undent” and straighten out anything that I could. I made sure though that I would only spend 1 hour doing this before stopping myself from getting carried away.

The next day I cleaned the surface, sprayed any rust spots with rust remover (not shown), then topped that with a single coat of self-etching metal primer:

…followed by 1 coat of semi-gloss black:

Not bad for a used fuel tank skid.

While the fuel tank skid paint was drying, I drove to my local Ace Hardware to get some grade 8 mounting bolts:

Ace is the place.

$3 later and back in my garage, I installed the fuel tank skid using 4 M8x1.25x25mm bolts. Installation took a few minutes, all of the mounting points already had threads so it was literally a bolt-on install. Thanks to my suspension lift I didn’t have to even jack the truck up – I just slid under, positioned the fuel tank skid, and bolted it on. Job done!