Bash plates

[HayDougie]

Hi everyone, looking at bash plates and seen the Brown Davis and Bushskinz. BD is a 4 parts and Bushskinz is 3 parts.
Opinions?

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[JohnFromPerth]

Have a look at Boo's Bashplates https://www.boosbashplates.com.au/

[ron2503]

Custom offroad

Highly recommend Custom Offroad. 3 piece stainless steel for around $450.

[2slow]

Boos Bash Plates x 2
Good customer service, fast postage, good price, great fit.

[AstinGC90]

Custom offroad x2. Excellent quality and durability. I think another member of the forum or maybe the facebook group put up a comparison between Custom Offroad stainless plates and other normal steel plates and the CO plates came out are far better off.

[old Jack]

Just like to correct the "myth" that high tensile bolts are the cause of the baseplate mounts cracking. The strength of the bolts have zero influence on the factory mounts cracking, the real reasons are;

1. Aftermarket bash plates are much more rigid than the factory plates so they do not flex with the chassis.
2. Chassis flexing moves the plates even if you have oversize holes drilled and the bolts loosen, spring or star washers do not prevent the bolts from coming loose. Best I have found is Nordlock washers but I have even had these come loose after a few thousand kms of corrugated roads.
3. I use high tensile flange head bolts with Nordlock washers.

Only possible solution is to make plates from 2.5mm high tensile stainless but the cost will be significantly more. Factory mounts are P!$$ W€£k and either need to be repaired on a regular basis or upgraded. Caution, continued repair or replacement of the mounts that hold the rear of the front plate and the forward edge of the sump plate will result if the chassis metal fatiguing and a more substantial repair will be required.

Pajero Sport chassis is identical to PB/PC Challenger so there is history of these issues.

OJ.

[JohnFromPerth]

Hi Old jack
Possibly the use of oversized holes in the plates and nylon or similar grommets would solve the problem. The bolts would tighten on the grommets rather than the plates and allow the plates to flex on the nylon.

[old Jack]

Hi Old jack
Possibly the use of oversized holes in the plates and nylon or similar grommets would solve the problem. The bolts would tighten on the grommets rather than the plates and allow the plates to flex on the nylon.

Unfortunately clamping down onto flexible grommets is unlikely to work as you will never get the bolts tightened enough to prevent them from vibrating loose especially where 2 plates overlap. One possible solution is to use rubber isolation mounts but this would lower the plates by about 30mm which is too greater lose in ground clearance.


Oversize holes in the plates prevent the bolts from shearing when the chassis twists and the plates do not. I do pre and post trip bolt tightness checks and on longer trips over with extended periods of corrugations I check every day or so.


OJ.

[DID Dash]

Anybody got any thoughts on why the Pajero Sport has a flimsy front bash plate and long plastic splash shield under the Auto while the similar Triton has a slightly tougher and less venurable profile front bash plate and a half length 2nd metal splash shield? I had intended to use my 3mm ' diff actuator protection plate' which I had on my Challenger until I realised it is not compatible with either the Pajero Sport plates. 1 cheap solution would appear to be to source a OE Triton front bash plate and use my H/D Challenger second plate, but this would mean discarding or cutting the long plastic splash shield. Curious why 2 similar cars have completely different under belly protection while the chassis and mounts appear same.

[DID Dash]

Unable to answer my own question about why the Pajero Sport and Triton have different bash plate set ups, but can confirm that they are not interchangeable without some surgery. I trial fitted a mates OE MQ Triton bash plates over the weekend with the following observations. 1/ the front bash plate wont fit unless you modify the plastic air guide. 2/ the fixing points where the front and mid plates interface are different. 3/ my Challenger HD bash plate is not compatible with Pajero Sport due to the fixing locations unmatch and 4/ the big plastic splash shield is fixed on by no less than 8 bolts. Interestingly, some of the fixing points appear more robust than on the Challenger, being directly into the chassis rather than the flimsy little light gauge brkts that often fail on Challenger when heavy bash plates are fitted. No cheap intrim fix possible for me right now.

[silverbull]

Only possible solution is to make plates from 2.5mm high tensile stainless but the cost will be significantly more
OJ.

Custom off road make 3mm stainless steel plates for the Pajero sport. They are expensive at $450 but lots of folks on the PS facebook group seem happy. I'm wondering why stainless fixes this problem though? Is it more flexible than mild steel?

[DID Dash]

Went for a play in the sand dunes at Peake here in S.A. recently. Noticed sand falling out on the drive way weeks later. Took the factory plastic splash plate off to find 6.5kg of sand trapped. The splash plate survived the trip, but probably time to think about an upgrade. Pajero Sport was very impressive in the sand.

[puug]

Got a set from custom offroad after recommendations here and got it fitted when I had it rustproofed. I've only taken it to Bribie since then and so far so good. The ironman mild steel set I had on my Grand Vitara used to get knocked around a fair bit, and I've seen a number of PS's with dinted stock guards driving around, so absolutely a must for me before any beachwork.

[Greg Grey Grumbly]

Factory Bash Plates

I had the factory bash plate set fitted prior to delivery. They’re not particularly robust but I’m thinking that they’ll provide a basic level of protection, and much lighter than my old Bushskinz on the NT Paj, helping to keep vehicle weight down overall.

The other factor was that they won’t be an issue come service time as they are Mitzi genuine, and as well, they should have the required amount of flex to avoid bolt cracking etc. They weren’t cheap though.

[JohnFromPerth]

Has anyone cut a hole in the plastic "bash plate" to allow an oil change without having to remove the whole thing?