[madison38]

I was lucky enough to get one of the new skid plates from the fine folks at JSportUSA for my Touring model and I took some photos of the install process.

Cost: $395.00 USD including CA sales tax​

Install Time: 20 minutes.​

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Tools Needed:​

• ratchet with assortment of metric sockets
• allen wrench
• curb to drive up on
• sheet of cardboard because I like these pants

​

The skid plate is a single piece of what I think to be 1/8" thick aluminum plate that has been powder coated black. It's well protected and looks great out of the packaging.

All of the hardware you'll need is included along with the requisite sticker.

To get enough room to install the plate, I drove up on the curb at the edge of my driveway. Certainly a jack and jack stands would be the advisable way to go, but this got it done.

Installation requires that you remove four small bolts at the rear of the front bumper fascia...

... and two larger bolts just behind the front suspension.

Lift the plate in place (it's light enough to support with one hand) and replace the factory hardware with the bolts provided.

That's it. You're done.

The plate does have a cutout for the oil drain plug.

I'm very happy with the fit and finish of the part and it does give me added confidence that I'm not going to empty the contents of my oil pan on a rock when out on the trail. I appreciate that it is extremely light weight and that there is very little loss of clearance with it installed.

 

[madison38]

Well done! Thanks for the play by play. You need to put your curb on your Christmas card list. It has been a true friend to you.

It's tiny, but mighty!

 

[madison38]

Nothing to report. The second trailer I pulled had a load balancing hitch on it that creaked like it was an angry wookie, but nothing that I can attribute to the Passport. The first trailer was about 750# and the second was about double that. I really came to appreciate the paddle shifters on the long downhill into Anza Borrego.

Also, let me know if you install the mesh in the grille. It came to mind while I was driving an hour and a half on fire roads this past weekend.

 

[madison38]

What is the purpose of the large slotted hole on the front of the skid plate?

As far as I can surmise, it allows airflow over the exhaust.

 

[madison38]

Hey guy, just returned from up north and the PP towed 4100 lbs just fine and I had no problems or weird noises / I did spend some time looking to see if I can mesh up my ride for the fire road action and will have go the Jsports route as it’s pretty bad listening to all the loose stuff hitting my ride / probably just me being paranoid ?

I still haven't beat up my skid plate as I've been pretty conservative so far, but it's nice knowing it's there when I hear it doing it's job.

@elder prep What CRV did you have? My 2006 didn't have skid plates unless you count the plastic cladding. These are 1/8" powder coated aluminum and are well beyond anything I've ever seen OEM in anything except maybe a Hummer.

 

[madison38]

On my first oil change I discovered that it would be much easier and cleaner to remove the skid plate rather than try to work around it and potentially get a build up of spilled oil on the inside of the plate. I also discovered that my bolt pitch was wrong. I was able to replace the provided bolts with the correct pitch and thankfully the chasis threads weren't damaged. I did clean them up with a tap just to be safe, but the bolts from my local fastener shop did the trick. I also decided to back up the plate with some spacers so that I'm torquing against the fastener, not the plate as it bridges the gap in the cross beam. I know @Jondz chose to remove his beam and use the plate itself as the cross beam. It gives him a little extra clearance and so far hasn't had any trouble. I've let JSport know about the hardware issue, I'm hopeful that they will get it sorted before sending out more units.

 

[madison38]

I can see where this may be a concern in snowy areas with salt on the road. The leading edge seals fairly well to the front bumper so it might actually be a net benefit protecting the underlying structures from spray. There is an area for ventilating the exhaust which would allow some debris to get into the plate, but the back has enough clearance that I feel most would just pass through. This is another reason why I plan to remove it at evert oil change to make sure there's nothing stuck in there.

I'm actually more concerned with grass and foliage getting stuck under there with the potential for fire. I would only see this being possible if I needed to back up in an area with a lot of brush, not something I plan to do a lot of. The chances seem exceedingly slim, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

I had a chance to run some fairly extreme trails last weekend and the skid plate absolutely proved its worth as it took quite a few hard hits and scrapes. All in all, for my use case, the benefits of the skid plate far out way the potential risks. Obviously this is something that might change for someone in a colder climate or with a different use case.