TuffAnt Under Armor Install
TReK
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 2,561
Likes: 3,626
From: Kirkland WA
I think it would be difficult to fit the under armor without the tuffant rock sliders. The entire inside edges where the under armor bolts to the rock sliders re-uses all the existing bolts. Each of those bolt holes for the rock sliders has a plastic spacer that the bolts go through to the capture nuts on the bottom of the vehicle. I suppose, like Gavin suggests, you could drill some new holes, thought it would probably be easier drilling the under armor to match the holes on whatever rock sliders you have.
I was actually surprised at how beefy the OEM plats were. And around the transmission they were two layers thick. To me the bigger benefit of the tuffant under armor is the coverage of the gas tanks. Still new to the off roading things I make plenty of mistakes and this gives me some piece of mind.
Also for those that may have the expedition one front bumper. The under armor has no problem integrating with the front bash plate that comes with the bumper.
I was actually surprised at how beefy the OEM plats were. And around the transmission they were two layers thick. To me the bigger benefit of the tuffant under armor is the coverage of the gas tanks. Still new to the off roading things I make plenty of mistakes and this gives me some piece of mind.
Also for those that may have the expedition one front bumper. The under armor has no problem integrating with the front bash plate that comes with the bumper.
Yeah. Probably nonsense idea really. Just thinking out loud really. Tuffant have really thought things out very well with their modular approach. They have quality gear.
Rock Crawling
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 257
Likes: 193
Got my install done. As is usual for me, it took at least twice as long as the estimated time, and required an extra trip to the hardware store in the middle of the install.
Observations that haven't already been made:
- Aligning the holes in the plates to the holes in the Defender through the plastic spacers was harder than I anticipated - it took a lot of trying and dumb luck to get the bolt into the hole. But in the end it worked.
- One of the 4mm allen/hex bolt heads (already in the driver side rock slider) was nearly stripped before we started to remove it. I got it to work, but barely. Not sure how that happened, but it's a good thing I don't have any other reason to remove that bolt again.
- I have a coil-spung 110S, so I can't put it in off-road height. Two ramps for the front wheels was enough to get the work done; I didn't need to get a second pair of ramps to elevate the rear.
When I have time, I'll go to a CAT scale and weigh it again to see what the net weight increase was. You take off a lot of metal (three OEM plates and bolts) to put on the Tuff Ant plates and bolts. Tuff Ant weighs more, certainly, but probably not all that much. It weighed 5,440 lbs before the new plates; I'll report back what the new weight is.
Good luck to whoever is next!
- Mike
Observations that haven't already been made:
- Aligning the holes in the plates to the holes in the Defender through the plastic spacers was harder than I anticipated - it took a lot of trying and dumb luck to get the bolt into the hole. But in the end it worked.
- One of the 4mm allen/hex bolt heads (already in the driver side rock slider) was nearly stripped before we started to remove it. I got it to work, but barely. Not sure how that happened, but it's a good thing I don't have any other reason to remove that bolt again.
- I have a coil-spung 110S, so I can't put it in off-road height. Two ramps for the front wheels was enough to get the work done; I didn't need to get a second pair of ramps to elevate the rear.
When I have time, I'll go to a CAT scale and weigh it again to see what the net weight increase was. You take off a lot of metal (three OEM plates and bolts) to put on the Tuff Ant plates and bolts. Tuff Ant weighs more, certainly, but probably not all that much. It weighed 5,440 lbs before the new plates; I'll report back what the new weight is.
Good luck to whoever is next!
- Mike
Rock Crawling
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 257
Likes: 193
TReK
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,768
Likes: 1,980
From: Whidbey Island, PNW
@POPTOPP - btw - Looks like it's "5mm aircraft aluminum" per this page -- https://www.tuffant.com/product-page...w-defender-110
Rock Crawling
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 257
Likes: 193
I had time to get to the CAT scale today.
Adding the TuffAnt underbody protection to a Defender 110 that already has the TuffAnt rock sliders adds a net increase of exactly 100 lbs.
My P300 110S with coil springs weighed 5,440 lbs with just the rock sliders. Full tank of gas, bottle jack, and my usual stuff in the vehicle.
Installing the underbody plates requires removing three thinner OEM plates, so the net increase in weight is significantly less than the weight of the underbody plates and hardware.
Today, full tank of gas and same stuff in the vehicle, it weighed 5,540 lbs.
Adding the TuffAnt underbody protection to a Defender 110 that already has the TuffAnt rock sliders adds a net increase of exactly 100 lbs.
My P300 110S with coil springs weighed 5,440 lbs with just the rock sliders. Full tank of gas, bottle jack, and my usual stuff in the vehicle.
Installing the underbody plates requires removing three thinner OEM plates, so the net increase in weight is significantly less than the weight of the underbody plates and hardware.
Today, full tank of gas and same stuff in the vehicle, it weighed 5,540 lbs.
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