RCI Metalworks Skid Plates: Engine, Tranny (and cat shield), T-Case Overview, Install, and Review

[boogielander]

Note: This post is originally posted to Jolly Rogue Co. website on 9/24/2023

RCI Full Skid and cat guard installed​

RCI Metalworks Full Skid Plate Package​

Skid plates have been a vital part of chassis protection on offroad vehicles. These metal panels are designed to take a beating while wheeling, protect expensive mechanical parts, and help the vehicle avoid getting caught on obstacles. In today's world, skid plates are not only functional off pavement, but are also quite important to protect your drivetrain on pavement as well, especially when your commute involve going through roads littered with debris.

Who is RCI?​

RCI Metalworks is a fabrication shop/ company in Loveland, CO. They specialize in fabricating skid plates, bumpers, bed racks and roof racks, and other vehicular mounted accessories used on offroad and overlanding rigs. They are pretty well-known for their products on Toyota/ Lexus platform, but have expanded into other niche platforms from Ford, Jeep, GM, Ram, and Nissan in recent years. Unlike the screen you are viewing my thread, all of their products are made in the USA by craftsmen who are passionate in what they do and offroading/ overlanding.

Why RCI?​

If you look into Toyota/ Lexus platform, there are plenty of options available for full skid package from trusted brands such as RCI, CBI, C4 Fabrication, Rago Fabrication, etc. I've ran RCI skid plate on my personal 4Runner (my previous rig) for years and also installed their skid plates on countless customer vehicles, and we all have nothing but good experiences with them. As such, when RCI started to manufacture full skid plate kits for Ram 1500 DTs I jumped on it.

Skid plates were on the very top of my priority list when I was planning the build in June 2022 when I ordered the truck and started to order all the parts. Unfortunately, Ram 1500 DT is not a very popular platform for wheeling and overlanding (it is more of a work truck/ towing truck that don't see a lot of trails), so my option was very very limited when it comes to finding full skid package. There are a few vendors actively involved on the 5th gen Ram DT scene trying to make them, but due to various trim levels and aftermarket lifts people install, their development time took too long. Don't get me wrong, I am willing to give my money to vendors that are dedicated to our platform and even help with the R&D process; however, due to physical distance and different goals for vendors I couldn't make it work.

That, plus the fact that RCI products are sturdy, well-made, and affordable, made me decide to utilize RCI again for my skid plate needs.

All skid plates and cat guard unboxed with stock skid plate on the side​

Overview​

RCI offers a few products for Ram 1500 platform from bed racks and rack mounts to skid plates. Their bed racks are universal mount, just like many other manufacturers.

RCI offers 3 skid plates for Ram 1500 platform: engine, transmission, and transfer case. Two materials are available for each: 10ga powdercoated steel and 1/4" aluminum. Transmission skid can also be paired with their catalytic converter shield. They also offer a full skid option for those who want to do it all at once at a discount, but if you are only looking for one or two pieces at a time you can buy accordingly as well.

For 4"+ lift kit application, please contact RCI for fitment. This is a non-issue for me and I did not investigate because frankly, 4"+ lift are more form over function, and I am more focused on function over form.


You can find them here:

• Engine skid:
  • Link
  • Available in 10ga powdercoated steel and 1/4" aluminum
  • All hardware included
  • All 4x4 trim levels, excluding TRX
  • All engines, including Eco-Diesel
  • Not compatible with 4" + lift kits
  • $345-450
• Transmission skid:
  • Link
  • Available in 10ga powdercoated steel and 1/4" aluminum
  • All hardware included
  • All 4x4 trim levels, excluding TRX
  • All engines, including Eco-Diesel
  • Compatible with OEM engine skid plate.
  • $300-410
• Cat shield/ guard:
  • Link
  • 12ga powdercoated steel only
  • All hardware included
  • All 4x4 trim levels, excluding TRX
  • All GAS engines, Eco-Diesel please contact RCI for purchasing instruction
  • Require RCI transmission skid plate
  • $175
• Transfer Case :
  • Link
  • Available in 10ga powdercoated steel and 1/4" aluminum
  • All hardware included
  • All 4x4 trim levels, excluding TRX
  • All engines, including Eco-Diesel
  • Eco-Diesel require RCI transmission skid
  • $195-295
• Full Skid Package:
  • Link
  • Available in 10ga powdercoated steel and 1/4" aluminum
  • All hardware included
  • All 4x4 trim levels, excluding TRX
  • All engines, including Eco-Diesel
  • $798-1097.25 (save 5%)

For my application, I chose the Full Skid Package in 10ga powdercoated steel and the cat shield. What can I say, I learned to do things at once than do what I think I need and then realize I need more so I have to do it again. That is called being experienced and learning from your past mistakes.

Also, the tips and tricks offered below is applicable to trucks equipped with 5.7 Hemi with or without e-torque with stock exhaust. Though, I don't see how having aftermarket exhaust will implicate the installation process.

Disclosure: I also bought mine during their Labor Day Sale for 20% (I think, could be 25%) off. I am not sponsored by or affiliated with RCI at the time of writing.

Engine Skid and Filler Plate installed​

Engine Skid Install and Thoughts​

The engine skid consists of 3 parts: the skid plate, the filler plate, and the filler plate wings. All 3 came in one single box, the main skid (that covers the engine, front diff, and oil pan) and the filler plate are individually wrapped in heavy duty plastic shipping bags with the edges wrapped in shipping Styrofoam and plastic wrap. The filler plate wings are wrapped in shipping Styrofoam and plastic wrap and placed inside a smaller box with mounting hardware. This meticulous packaging shows the company's attention to detail and the great length they go to protect their products during shipping process.

*A thought regarding filler plate: Filler plate section is what vendors dedicated to Ram 1500 DT are struggling with due to active air dam and bumper design. RCI's solution to the problem is simple: removal of active air dam, and then use the holes on the frame horns as attachment points to secure the filler plate so it doesn't need to be bolted to the bumper. Problem solved.

Installation instruction is available on RCI website, or can be found here. Therefore, I will not be writing/ documenting a full install guide here. Instead, I will be sharing a few tips and tricks to help with installation.

• If you have gone offroad before, I strongly recommend wearing a face shield when working under the truck unless you like having sand and other fine particles falling in your eyes or nose.
• Stock bolt sizes and the 5 bolts you see in the above picture are 15mm, the nuts holding the wings are 1/2" nuts.
• Be sure to lay out all the hardware included in your shipment and identify each before you start. I also find grouping and preassembling all the nuts, washers, and bolts very helpful when putting things together so you will not have to spend time looking for each individual hardware when assembling.
• It's best to install this on a lift with a way of lifting up the skids, whether using a tranny jack (if you don't have friends who would come help you afterhours) or another pair of hands is up to you, but having the truck up in the air gives more space and lighting to work with. I found it a lot easier to just have the truck in the air and use tranny jack to raise and hold the skids since I can move things around easily.
• Keep everything finger tight ("loose" is the word instruction used) until everything is good.
• Instruction guide's wording can be confusing, or maybe because I can't read properly. But here's the basic idea: assemble the filler plate and filler plate wings, slide the filler plate into position while making sure the wings go where they should. Put the 3 bolts on the first cross member and the 4 bolts, nuts, and washer in for the filler wing, finger tight everything and adjust position if needed. slide the main skid plate in, leave finger tight and adjust if necessary. Move on to the tranny skid if you have it; if not, tight everything. Done.

Overall, installation process is simple and straight forward. The skid plates are very well wrapped and protected during shipping process, and there was no scratches or anything on the powdercoat when unboxed. The carriage bolts can be a bit tricky to align, but there is enough space for you to get your hands in to work it out.

Transmission Skid and Cat Guard assembled on the ground​

Transmission Skid + Cat Guard Install and Thoughts​

Transmission skid and Cat Guard are even more simple. Everything is bolted right into place; there's no guessing or figuring things out here. Similar to the Engine Skid, everything is well packaged and clean when unboxed. Since tranny skid and cat guard are two different items sold separately, they came in two boxed. Tranny skid can be installed by itself and works with OE engine skid, while Cat Guard needs to be installed on the tranny skid off the truck first.

Tranny skid installation instruction can be found on RCI website, or here. Cat guard installation instruction can be found on RCI website , or here. Therefore, I am only offering a few tips and tricks here:

• Install Cat Guard onto the tranny skid first on the ground, carriage bolt side faces out and the nuts go inside. They are 1/2" nuts.
• Install and tight the first and last nuts, washers, and carriage bolts on each side first. This helps with alignment.
• There are indents on the cat shield. They should align with the indents on the tranny skid. They are exhaust tube pass throughs.
• Another way to make sure your orientations are correct is to look at the wings of cat guard. Wings go to the opposite side of the 3 holes.
• If you have gone offroad before, I strongly recommend wearing a face shield when working under the truck unless you like having sand and other fine particles falling in your eyes or nose.
• Slide your skid into gap between your engine skid and your frame/ second crossmember.
• Using tranny jack or another pair of hands will help with install, though not required.

Thoughts on tranny skid and cat guard:

• Tranny skid is simple install. Not really anything to write home about.
• Cat shield is made with 12ga steel that is thick and sturdy.
• Unlike conventional cat shield that is a flat design, these also covers the side to make it even more difficult to access.
• This is a better alternative to conventional cat shield because this is integrated into tranny skid. Conventional one piece cat shield designs are not really meant to be used as skid plate.

Similar to the engine skid, installation is simple and straight forward, and packaging is very nicely done. Unlike the engine skid, there is no carriage bolts to mess around with. The fact that this works with OE skid is a plus for those on a budget as well.

More pictures of cat shield:

Vented and winged design for the cat to help with heat dissipation and prevent reaching from the side. The bolt in the middle is the mounting bolt for White Knuckle sliders.


T-case skid installed​

Transfer Case Install and Thoughts​

Transfer case install is a bit complicated. You will need to install the RCI additional crossmember first and then install the skid plate. For this part, I recommend fully reading the instruction front to back to get an idea of what goes where versus read as you go along the steps. Also helpful is to lay all the hardware out and group and preassemble them to help you get a more thorough view of the parts. One thing to keep in mind: there will be leftover hardware. RCI has included enough hardware to install this on both gas and diesel engine trucks, therefore it is very important to preassemble and find the hardware you need first.

Installation guide can be found on RCI website and here. Therefore, I am only offering some tips and tricks:

• A second pair of hands or tranny jack will be extremely helpful for this installation.
• Exercise extreme care to NOT pinch the hard lines running around the frame on the driver side.
• The carriage bolt nuts are again, 1/2" sized nuts. A socket with ratchet will be your best friend here.
• Carriage bolt that mates the add-on crossmember and t-case skid plate will go from bottom up, meaning the nuts will be on the inside of add-on crossmember. This is done so to avoid the nut getting caught on obstacle.
• Instruction wording is a bit complicated regarding the add-on crossmember. Basically lift up the cross member, feed the long carriage bolt through the holes on the frame, put on nut+ washer+ split washer with the nut side facing out, attach the carriage bolt plate, and leave everything loose until the skid plate is installed and the 3 smaller carriage bolts are tightened.
• Once happy with alignment, you can start tightening every nut and bolt now. Work your way forward.

Similar to the tranny skid and engine skid, everything is well packaged and nicely crafted. Unlike the other two, this is the one where you will need to finesse the part into position (the crossmember). Overall, installation shouldn't take long at all if done with the truck lifted.

Everything laid out, before installation.​

Conclusion​

If you are looking for a one-size-fit-all, direct bolt on, and best bang for the buck skid plate option, look no further than the offerings by RCI Metalworks.

Through my prior experiences, RCI skid plates have protected my rig from costly towing and repair bills numerous times. Installation of their products are always easy, despite the instructions' wordings can be technical and a bit complicated to understand. The integration of transmission skid and cat guard is a genius design, since it takes out the additional work on my end to find compatible cat shield that works with tranny skid. Furthermore, the company is smart to utilize frame horns as the mounting points for the filler piece.

I keep on saying this is the most affordable and best bang for the buck option while spending nearly $1000 out the door, because it is. Currently, it is the only company that I know of that offers all 3 skid plates. It is the only company that created a filler skid piece that goes between the first crossmember and the bumper. This is also the only company that utilize a stacked design for skid plates, a design that eliminates any gap that allow the truck to get caught on obstacles, that I know of.

If you like to go off pavement and looking for proven underside armor, RCI full skid package will be the best investment you will make.

​

 

[Bt10]

Thanks for the write up, looks great. I may have to look into this, especially for the ever elusive front filler piece.

Didn't check the website yet, but you picked steel, what difference do you see off road, or salted roads areas? Also, I'd probably swiss cheese the thing a little more to open it up for more cooling, but that's just me!

 

[boogielander]

Thanks for the write up, looks great. I may have to look into this, especially for the ever elusive front filler piece.

Didn't check the website yet, but you picked steel, what difference do you see off road, or salted roads areas? Also, I'd probably swiss cheese the thing a little more to open it up for more cooling, but that's just me!

I prefer steel just because it's easier for us to fix them if I f*ck it up enough for it to bend. (trust me, we've had one customer at the shop who loves to do Jeep things with his Lexus GX and we always have to fix his sh*t) For the aluminum option you do have the weight saving advantage but if anything happens you can't really fix it. And I personally trust steel over aluminum in terms of resistance to damage (i've also seen a few f*cked up aluminum skids before... from doing Jeep things)

powdercoating is top notch so unless you scratch them or drag them over rocks you should be ok even with salted roads. That said, if you do drag them and scratch the powdercoat then it's better to just spray paint them back ASAP to prevent surface rust. I've yet to see one that got a-salted to beyond use, but that's also probably because we don't have salted road in my area lol

Cooling wouldn't be an issue imo... our trucks' fans and cooling system runs extra hard even with no load by design. I would actually leave it as is to decrease the chance of openings getting caught on obstacles.

 

[boogielander]

I've got hit with "what about oil change?" question a lot on facebook groups, so here is how to do oil change with the skids installed:

• The drain plug area has a cut out. You can put the socket in there with an extension to unplug the drain plug. However, I strongly recommend using a valve like Fumoto Valve to make your life simpler and do a cleaner job.
• The skid plates are stacked on top of each other. T-case sklid is stacked on top of tranny skid. Tranny skid is stacked on top of engine skid. Engine skid is stacked on top of filler piece.
• To change filter, unbolt the 2 15mm bolts on second crossmember and loosen the 3 on the first crossmember. There is no need to completely remove those 3 bolts.
• Once the 3 bolts are loosen enough, slide out the engine skid plate, perform oil filter change, and reverse the process: slide the skid back in, put the two bolts in, tight everything.
• Follow the same procedure to do tranny and t-case fluid change. At that point it may be a lot easier just to remove everything other than the filler piece.

It shouldn't take much time to go through the whole process. additional minute, at most.

 

[ZombieSlayer]

Or just not change your oil

 

[boogielander]

Or just not change your oil

or that... just change your car!

 

[Rick3478]

Thanks for the write-up. I'm not too concerned about rocks and such, but do encounter the occasional dead racoon and random road trash. We also expect unknown quantities of snow a few months from now. I'm thinking maybe front filler only could happen.

 

[boogielander]

Thanks for the write-up. I'm not too concerned about rocks and such, but do encounter the occasional dead racoon and random road trash. We also expect unknown quantities of snow a few months from now. I'm thinking maybe front filler only could happen.

i don't like running "naked" and stock skids don't cover much imo.
also stock skids are quite thin so to me they're more decorative than functional.

I've had a friend hit some road trash (could be a chunk or tire or something) on the freeway and somehow cracked his oil pan in his BMW F80 M3. Somehow he thought he'd be ok to drive it till the next off ramp instead of pulling over to the shoulder immediately. Engine ended up seizing and totaled the car.

Quality skid plates are also protective on road too! Also the tranny skid and the cat guards are must if you ever go into the cities.

 

[Bobbybob]

Thanks for the write up! Def on the wishlist and they are just north of me. Like doing biz with local if I can.

Jealous of your WK sliders...unf they do not make them for the 33g tank trucks. Found a 4x4 fabricator in Denver that is going to make them and weld them to the frame for me. Had the Ram steps and just bent one this weekend on a boulder...took the wrong line and I know they are not sliders. Just don't want to have to worry about it anymore, hence the sliders going on soon.

 

[boogielander]

Thanks for the write up! Def on the wishlist and they are just north of me. Like doing biz with local if I can.

Jealous of your WK sliders...unf they do not make them for the 33g tank trucks. Found a 4x4 fabricator in Denver that is going to make them and weld them to the frame for me. Had the Ram steps and just bent one this weekend on a boulder...took the wrong line and I know they are not sliders. Just don't want to have to worry about it anymore, hence the sliders going on soon.

they do make it for 33g tank trucks. I have 33g tank lol

weld on is much easier lol there were a few bolts that were just pain in the rear when I installed my WK and my coworker offered to just weld the whole thing on for me LOL

 

[Bobbybob]

they do make it for 33g tank trucks. I have 33g tank lol

weld on is much easier lol there were a few bolts that were just pain in the rear when I installed my WK and my coworker offered to just weld the whole thing on for me LOL

LOL. That's awesome!

When I called WK, they stated they would still make the rails for me but not as a bolt-on application. The legs would not be attached and someone would have to weld them on and then weld to the frame. More cost-effective for me to just have a local guy just make them and install them (no shipping, labor cost, etc...). 303 Welding in Denver...was referred to them by a buddy of mine who is an adventure driver/instructor for Rover. I def trust his referral. LOL.

 

[Rick3478]

So it just occurred that the front filler plate might bolt to the same place as the PacBrake remote oil filter kit. Any thoughts on that? Might it be possible to stack the brackets and have both, or is it going to interfere? Maybe drill holes in the RCI plate and use it for the filter mount?

 

[boogielander]

So it just occurred that the front filler plate might bolt to the same place as the PacBrake remote oil filter kit. Any thoughts on that? Might it be possible to stack the brackets and have both, or is it going to interfere? Maybe drill holes in the RCI plate and use it for the filter mount?

longer bolts grade 8 bolts should do the trick, if the holes are same size. If not then either the filter kit or the skid plate hole will need to be enlarged.

 

[boogielander]

Went to play in the desert over the weekend and purposely got high centered (not really, i just threw it in 4H and push forward and got through it) and took this chance to take some action shots for RCI.

Also, if you take your truck off pavement, protect your truck with a set of legit frame mounted sliders. Your steps won't save you. Your running boards won't save you. Your AMP Research won't save you. Anything that's bolted to the rocker will not protect your cab when contacting rocks.

Sliders are from White Knuckle Offroad.