Modified UTV Inc Tree Kickers XP4

Finally got some time to work on the Jagged today.

Thanks to my buddy Mark (Orangecrush) for a great deal on his old tree kickers. After seeing the abuse Mark put them through I figured they needed some added bracing. They were slightly bent so I straightened them back out. There is no support for the front and any good whack will bend them upward. After a few cups of coffee and some thinking I came up with adding a brace in center and bolted through the center roll cage bar. I bent a piece 1" DOM to the basic shape I wanted and notched it for the 1.25" bottom rail. Then I cut 1" round circle out of 1/8" sheet, drilled a 3/8" hole, welded a nut the back, and then welded it up to the end end mating to the the roll cage. So it did not degrade the roll cage, I drilled the upright for a 1/2" OD 3/8" ID sleeve and welded it in place. I also drilled the frame and used 1/4" SS bolts & nuts instead of the stock sheet metal screws. I was going to re-powder coat them put figured they would just get scratched up quickly. Ford engine blue matches nicely to the Jagged X blue. I quick cleanup a fresh coat of paint and they look good as new.

Mocked up:





Painted and installed:

looks great !

Good idea! I was looking at their version of those for my 1000 and thought just what you said would happen with that designe.

Update:

I had noticed that mud has collected between the sheet metal and the skid plate. It would enter through the cut outs and work in between the skid and the metal because it had nowhere to go. This caused the skids to droop down. I cut the skid to match the cut outs in the sheet metal. Then replaced all the hardware with SS and added four more bolts down the center to tighten up the skid to the metal. So now the mud/water can run straight through.

 

 

nice and clean. good job.

Looks good but I'd still bend that shit lol

CatMostFeared wrote:

Looks good but I'd still bend that shit lol

They are only meant to be wife proof not Marty proof