Mother Earth:1 , Skid Plate:0
Last month I told the story of my trail ride
out in the Red Rock Recreation Area. I also mentioned how my swing
arm skid plate was turned into a trencher. What I didn't know was
how tweaked it really was until I got home and cleaned my quad.
Tweaked hardly describes it's condition. The rocks, boulders and
gravel had their
 |
This is
the side that the rocks
get to see! |
way with it and left it used and abused. In fact it was so badly
tweaked that I had to remove it just to keep it from grinding on
the brake disk. Enter my biggest hammer. After attempting to beat
it back into serviceable shape with less than desirable results I
came to the conclusion that a replacement was in order. Besides, if
I missed the skid plate and hit my thumb one more time I was going
to go postal and that's never pretty!
A call for help!
 |
The chain
is protected
all the way up. |
Now that the reality of replacement parts being needed had set in
and the hammer was safely locked away in the tool box it was time
for a phone call. It didn't take long for me to hunt down the
number for DG Performance and give them a call. Jack Edwards at DG
felt my pain and was more than willing to help. "DG's Baja line of
skid plates would be more than capable of handling the job of
protecting your vitals", says he. A few days later the goodies
arrived along with a new 400EX pipe to boot! I will look at the
pipe next month and have a full report.
Go Ahead, make my day.
Upon opening the aforementioned box from DG I not only found the
swing arm skid plate but a frame skid
 |
Full on
protection is mine!
Now I can leave no stone
unturned. |
plate and a new front bumper as well! Score! Now the whole bottom
of the quad would be in the safe guard mode. These aluminum skid
plates are HEAVY FARGEN DUTY! An easy bolt-on product that will
protect your equipment from the harsh reality of riding. The main
chassis plate is stamped and formed out of 3/16 inch aluminum and
is held in place with machined clamps that pinch the frame between
the plate and the clamps. The swing arm plate uses the stock
mounting method and stock hardware. It took me less than a hour to
install both plates and I only had minor difficulty with the
chassis plate because it was so stiff making it hard to line up the
bolt holes. The front bumper install was a no-brainer with no
explanation required.
Image is everything.
I definitely liked the way the two skid plates gave my quad the
"Tuff Guy" look. Unfortunately, I did not
 |
|
The DG
front bumper is built to last. |
get the same feeling with the front bumper, at least when I first
installed it. It is much bigger than the stocker and it looked
bulky and out of place. Now that it has been on the 400 for a while
I must admit that it is growing on me. It has also proved it's
usefulness, more on that later. As far as the skid plates go, they
are just what the doctor ordered. Perfect!
Put Up or Shut Up!
Time to test the goods. As our annual Presidents Day trip to Dumont
Dunes was upon us I figured this would be a good place to test the
ruggedness of the new skid plates. "Dunes, nothing to worry about
there, just a bunch of sand", you say? Well that's true, but
between the dunes are the flats and anyone who has been to the
dunes knows that the flats are rocky. Very rocky! On the trip
before this one I did not have a swing arm skid plate on the 400 so
I had to be very careful not to hit anything with my unprotected
rear sprocket or brake
 |
The
sprocket and the rear disk
are fully protected now! |
disk. Ask anyone who knows me, I hate to be careful as well as
conservative when I ride. I am not saying that I have a disregard
for safety, in fact just the opposite, I just want to ride balls to
the wall if I so desire and I don't want to worry about tearing up
my ride in the process. Well true to myself I went ripping across
the dunes and the flats without a worry. I picked some of the
roughest terrain I could find on purpose just to see how the plates
would hold up. Held up is an understatement. I beat these plates to
death and they gave not so much as a whimper. Some things are
simple but effective. I have a whole new confidence in my 400 and
no longer worry about rough terrain.
Hey, what's the deal with that?
Remember the front bumper that I mentioned earlier and how I did
not care for it? Well it proved its weight
 |
This view
shows the machined clamp
assembly that holds the chassis
plate to the quad.
Yes that's sand in the background,
but hey why waste time cleaning
when you could ride! |
in gold. "How", you say? Well I will tell ya. Our trip to Dumont
was blessed with rainy conditions sporadically throughout the
weekend leaving the sand with an unusual consistency. It was some
of the most "liquid" sand I have ever seen. If you stopped moving
while on the top or the side of a dune you would sink to your rear
axle almost every time. So, what does this have to do with a
bumper? In this case, everything! Hey when you get mired up in high
desert quick sand and you have to reposition you quad manually
nothin' beats a nice big bumper to grab on to! The larger size of
the DG unit was a God send. Moving your quad while your not on it
sucks no doubt but the DG bumper makes it a little more bearable.
As far as I am concerned, the bumper stays!
Final Thoughts
Those of you who have read my stuff in the past know that I can go
on and on about the correct way to
 |
The bottom
view of the chassis plate
showing the oil drain hole. |
tighten a nut. The reality is there is only so much you can say
about skid plates! They either make the grade or they don't. I
guess I could have offered information on the alloy content of the
aluminum (6061, by the way) and tell you that it is some of the
strongest weldable plate currently available. Maybe I should have
mentioned that they are made on a high dollar, state of the art,
computer controlled, earth shattering
 |
HEY! I
said the bumper stays!
You got a problem with that? |
sheet metal punch press. Maybe little facts like they had enough
foresight to, at least in the case of the 400ex, put a hole in the
correct place so you can easily drain your oil would have been of
interest to you. I did not even see a reason to mention the high
quality hardware that was supplied with the skid plates. I guess I
was just being lazy. Nonetheless, the bottom line is these high
quality skid plates get the job done. The bumper ain't too bad
either!
End of story.
Reach out and touch someone.
If your lower end is running unprotected or if the protection you
do have is not getting the job done give the boys at DG a call and
they will hook you up! Their number is 800.854.9134 or in CA its
714.630.5471. You can also cruise over to their site @ www.dgperf.comand have
a look around. Next Month I will review the DG exhaust system for
the 400ex. Stay Tuned....
Your Privacy Choices