So we are down in Tennessee riding the TWRA Sundquist trail system, and have already had some carnage in our first 24 hours here. After having to winch out and up a few times we were on our way back to camp coming down trail 19 through a mud hole and as we came up out of the mud hole and landed down in a set of ruts, I felt something hit the floor and my seating position drastically change and tilt backwards. I assume something was stuck underneath the floor but couldn't see or do much about it and there was nowhere to pull over immediately. So we continue down the trail for about a hundred yards until there was somewhere to pull over safely.
Once I got out I realized what had caused the strange seating position change, there is a large branch sticking through the floor and into the bottom of my Simpson racing seat. Luckily I had the Simpson seat in there, because the factory seat does not go as far forward and this branch would have been in my thigh. I could not get the branch loose with my hands so I broke out the toolbox and my very large hammer that I keep in it lol. I managed to bang it through and get us back on our way. Once I got back to camp I started disassembling things and could see exactly why the stick went through the floor to begin with. The stick hit the floor and rode along it until it hit the frame rail and then head nowhere else to go but up, and so it did.
Because of all this I am now determined to either purchase or make some type of skid plate to cover this section of flooring. I already have the metal shields on the firewall for exactly this reason, but unfortunately they did me no good today. With that being said I'm looking for recommendations on a good skid plate set to purchase, as my Google search has revealed very few brands to choose from.
I managed to make a temporary fix back at camp with a heat gun and the back side of a hammer to push a plastic back down. You can see there is an aluminum plate that I made previously from when I rock hit this area and cracked the plastic. I should have gotten skid plates after that occurred but you know, shit happens.
Once I got out I realized what had caused the strange seating position change, there is a large branch sticking through the floor and into the bottom of my Simpson racing seat. Luckily I had the Simpson seat in there, because the factory seat does not go as far forward and this branch would have been in my thigh. I could not get the branch loose with my hands so I broke out the toolbox and my very large hammer that I keep in it lol. I managed to bang it through and get us back on our way. Once I got back to camp I started disassembling things and could see exactly why the stick went through the floor to begin with. The stick hit the floor and rode along it until it hit the frame rail and then head nowhere else to go but up, and so it did.
Because of all this I am now determined to either purchase or make some type of skid plate to cover this section of flooring. I already have the metal shields on the firewall for exactly this reason, but unfortunately they did me no good today. With that being said I'm looking for recommendations on a good skid plate set to purchase, as my Google search has revealed very few brands to choose from.
I managed to make a temporary fix back at camp with a heat gun and the back side of a hammer to push a plastic back down. You can see there is an aluminum plate that I made previously from when I rock hit this area and cracked the plastic. I should have gotten skid plates after that occurred but you know, shit happens.