Re: Belly Armor/Skid Plate pic\'s ??
Jerry
The pans, L&R/H and attach brackets are made of 1/4" plate and use existing holes in the frame and trans for attaching.
The right hand plate is the largest. It covers all hyd. tubes, eHydro linkage and electronics. The rear of the L&R/H plates attach to the large bolts on the fwd side of the rear axle. The outside/fwd corner of the R/H plate is angled, which should take care of any clearance problems with R1s, apparently an issue with an earlier design.
The L/H plate covers the Side-Suction Filter and tubes and has brackets from frame to step.
The 1 3/4" bar, that protects the suction screen housing and tube, is 1/2" thick and runs along the left edge of the suction screen housing. The draw bar, when stowed, runs along the right edge of the suction screen housing.
There are a lot of bends/angles in the components, which keep everything above the hight of the draw bar, so you lose no ground clearance, and each component is kept to a size that is easily manageable, should they need to be removed. The Side-Suction Filter, Trans Filter and Suction Screen Housing are still easily accessable without removing any of the Belly-Armor components.
I'm extremely happy with the kit. At ~ $300, its hard to justify the time and energy involved in making something similar at home.
One more piece I would like to have, and may fab, is something that would attach to the front axle/diff. and would protect the tie rod and adjacent hyd cylinder, with it's hyd lines and fittings. I have not had rock/stump damage to these, fwd parts, on prev. tractor but still worry about them.
Don't know what more I can say, other than repeating that I am EXTREMELY happy that its all down there when busting into the woods.
Les
