Hanging felt piece near transfer case

[Ryanl2425]

I have what looks like a underbody shield that is made of a felt like material hanging down near my transfer case. Anyone know what this is for? If I should remove it? And if they make something metal to replace it with?

 

[2019REBEL]

Do you have a crew cab, I know there is felt material around the Rambins could have come lose.

 

[Ryanl2425]

Do you have a crew cab, I know there is felt material around the Rambins could have come lose.

Yeah I have a crew cab. It’s not the rambins. I checked those and those are both fine. There’s some felt material near the transfer case

 

[NorthStar]

I have what looks like a underbody shield that is made of a felt like material hanging down near my transfer case. Anyone know what this is for? If I should remove it? And if they make something metal to replace it with? View attachment 113730

You don't have it in your signature but I'm betting your truck is an Ecodiesel..

That is the piece of crap poorly engineered felt SKID PLATE on the bottom of the DEF tank. The fool of a RAM engineer who designed it should be shot. It is attached with two nuts to a bracket on the bottom of your DEF tank and also covers part of a wiring loom/connection. The edge of it gets caught by the wind and slowly drops over time. I ended up using black Gorilla duct tape for now and taped it up to the tank. It's holding without a problem but is a temporary fix until I can discuss it with the dealer service department.

You can see it here: https://www.mymoparparts.com/oem-pa...5PTIwMjEmdD1iaWctaG9ybiZlPTMtMGwtdjYtZGllc2Vs

The issue is if the felt gets wet, it starts to droop. As you're going down the highway, the leading edge of the felt gets caught by the wind generated by driving down the road and starts to bend it down and under the truck towards the back. Again, would love to shoot the fool who engineered this as there is nothing on the front side of the DEF tank to secure it to and to keep it from dropping. I'm surprised more guys haven't complained about it.

I was going to purchase a 12" x 16" piece of 1/4" plexiglass and drill a couple of holes in the plexiglass to match up with where the nuts attach the felt to the DEF tank. I was then going to cut the plexiglass to the shape of the bottom of the tank/felt, remove the two bolts holding the felt on to the tank, and use the nuts to secure the plexiglass to support the felt. However, due to the way the tank is formed it won't work as it would have to be molded to the bottom of the tank.

The good news is it is a very cheap felt skid plate, but the bad news is once it gets wet and starts to droop, the wind catches the leading edge and bends it down permanently. Thank God FCA isn't designing aircraft or the leading edge of the wings and vertical/horizontal stabilizers would be made of felt!

P.S. Here is the link to the skid plate on the previous generation Ecodiesel. Notice the considerable difference in material composition? https://www.mymoparparts.com/oem-parts/mopar-urea-tank-skid-plate-68161469ac