I was the one who purchased SubieOutlaw’s primitive skidplate that he had modified to work with his XT’s undertray. I figured for the price I could not buy and make a skidplate any cheaper, even if it needed some modifications to fit my X. See some of his posts on what he did to modify it for the fitment.
I had to cut out a portion of the right side, at the rear, to clear my X’s exhaust system (now I know why the X has less ground clearance than the XT, our exhaust hangs down a bit more). I also added spaces to the front as suggested by the Outlaw.
What needed to be cut out:
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I used a welding shop to do the work as I do not have the tools to do the cutting or the welding of the spacers. And at their suggestion, they added in pads so the front bolts would have a level surface for tightening against. The one error I made was telling them to use the same size tubing as what Primitive had as a spacer for the rear bolt, not taking into account the recess they had to slip into on the existing X’s protective “wings”. And of course they ended up too large and would not seat properly. So I cut back the bigger spacers and then cut smaller diameter tubing to fit inside and all is good now. It bolts up nice and tight but still leaves a space between the plate and the bottom of the bumper.
Spacers:
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The black part at the top is the recess in the plastic that the spacers need to fit into:
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Finished, showing the pads allowing the front bolts to be level:
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Final across the front:
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The hardest part of this whole project was finding M8 coarse thread bolts long enough for the front. Ended up having to go to a machine shop to get them and even then I took their longest (M8x80) and they just fit.
Last week, I took the Forester, complete with skidplate, in to the dealer for its 48,000 km service. I asked them to look at the skidplate and see if there were any issues. I have it on the work order that there are no issues.
Thanks to Primitive and other companies for making accessories like this available. Coming from the Pathfinder it’s nice to see the variety of this type of products as it’s almost non-existent for the Pathies. And thanks to SubieOutlaw for the work he did in figuring out what changes had to be made so the skidplate would work with the factory shields. No potential warranty issues as all the original stuff is left on.
Hmm, need to take some better pictures at the next service I think. Sorry about those out of focus ones.
I had to cut out a portion of the right side, at the rear, to clear my X’s exhaust system (now I know why the X has less ground clearance than the XT, our exhaust hangs down a bit more). I also added spaces to the front as suggested by the Outlaw.
What needed to be cut out:
I used a welding shop to do the work as I do not have the tools to do the cutting or the welding of the spacers. And at their suggestion, they added in pads so the front bolts would have a level surface for tightening against. The one error I made was telling them to use the same size tubing as what Primitive had as a spacer for the rear bolt, not taking into account the recess they had to slip into on the existing X’s protective “wings”. And of course they ended up too large and would not seat properly. So I cut back the bigger spacers and then cut smaller diameter tubing to fit inside and all is good now. It bolts up nice and tight but still leaves a space between the plate and the bottom of the bumper.
Spacers:
The black part at the top is the recess in the plastic that the spacers need to fit into:
Finished, showing the pads allowing the front bolts to be level:
Final across the front:
The hardest part of this whole project was finding M8 coarse thread bolts long enough for the front. Ended up having to go to a machine shop to get them and even then I took their longest (M8x80) and they just fit.
Last week, I took the Forester, complete with skidplate, in to the dealer for its 48,000 km service. I asked them to look at the skidplate and see if there were any issues. I have it on the work order that there are no issues.
Thanks to Primitive and other companies for making accessories like this available. Coming from the Pathfinder it’s nice to see the variety of this type of products as it’s almost non-existent for the Pathies. And thanks to SubieOutlaw for the work he did in figuring out what changes had to be made so the skidplate would work with the factory shields. No potential warranty issues as all the original stuff is left on.
Hmm, need to take some better pictures at the next service I think. Sorry about those out of focus ones.
