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Installing an Armordillo Skid PlateMarch 20/06 Written by Treds I have found the stock underbody armor provided by Yamaha to be less than adequate and decided to upgrade to the Armordillo underbody. The Armodillo skid plates are made from a space-age plastic that will not shatter when cold, stress-crack with age, or deform on impact. They are very slippery; ice and snow will not stick to them, and they slide right over boulders and stumps. No drilling is required, and all hardware is flush-mounted. The biggest challenge of this little project is to get to the underside of the quad, as it doesn't really give you the space you'd have on a regular vehicle. The answer was to loop a chain around an accessible beam I have in my garage (4-4x10's). I then attached the hook from my winch, put the quad into neutral, and shut off the gas feed (or so I thought - more on this later), and winched 'er in and up. If you should try this, do not winch the back tires off the ground, as you'd be putting all of the weight of your quad on the beam - with wood you never know! I then removed the old plastic sheet that Yamaha calls a skid guard by removing the eight bolts from the front plate, then removing the three bolts from the rear plate. To install the Armordillo product, I started with the second-highest bolts, and loosely installed all of the nine bolts down to the trailer hitch (rear), making minor adjustments to the one-piece underbody. I then took a heat gun to bend the plastic sheet to form the bend, to take it up to the lower portion of the winch roller fairlead. Once I had the appropriate bend to the plastic, I could install the last two bolts at the top (front) of the quad. I then finished tightening the rest of the previously-installed bolts. I then lowered my upright quad to its normal sitting position and rolled it outside to start it up. This is where turning off the gas was so important. It wouldn't start. I could smell gas, so I checked out the spark plug thinking "no spark", pulled it out, "hmmm it doesn't look too bad, let's give it a little buff with some sandpaper". I tested it, saw spark, and stuck it back in. It still wouldn't start. Possibly flooded? Waited a hour, came back and still no start. Still had a strong gas odour. Removed the seat; access to the air cleaner revealed all the gas had filled the air-cleaner box!!! Siphoned out a litre or two of gas, turned the key, and voila we're off and running. The moral of this installation is make sure you turn the gas to off and not to auxilliary, and it's a piece of cake. Don't do it, and you can add a couple of hours of head scratchin' and wrenchin' to find out where you went wrong (well maybe you won't 'cause you read this article). Time to remove old "armour" (haha): 20 mins. A complete check of the quad while it's up and exposed: add another 15 mins. Install the Armordillo product: 30 mins. Now we'll see how tough the Armordillo stuff is. Contact InfoAll-Terrain Charley's (Canadian distributor)Website: www.atvtires.ca Phone: 1-902-864-2832 Toll-free: 1-888-722-8222 (orders only) |
Photos Stock Yamaha skid plate to be removed  About to start  Yamaha skid plate removed, underbelly exposed  Armordillo plate attached loosely before heat gun application  Completed installation  Suspended quad  Ground view of underside (note old skid plate on ground) |
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