Miss Daisy's Punishment

[Homer]

I think he took it off as it was well dented and some people got together and bought him a new one for a birthday present as a bent plate was unbecoming a soccer mum blue Triton

I've only seen mount breakages with the ribbed plates as far as creating other damage.
I had one myself but welded a couple of Mitch's stronger mounts on and so far no issues.

I don't know how much other damage they could cause by spreading the load elsewhere but my reckoning is not much.

I'd much rather re-weld a mount or a radiator mount than replace an actuator or radiator. Welding is cheap and easy
But this isn't about which is the best bash plate, it's about enjoying a laugh at Fridgies repair bills

[Custom Offroad]

Very true homer! I am currently working on a high clearance reinforced bash plate for 4wd26....I know who will be testing it!

[ultimate]

But this isn't about which is the best bash plate, it's about enjoying a laugh at Fridgies repair bills

What's a bit of damage between freinds?

[snowman]

fridgie missed most of the 4WD lessons except one word ........ "momentum".

[daryn]

So tell me again why you took the baysie one off? A lot of people have buzzy designed plates and they are lasting very well. Alco and daryn haven't had any issues. I seem to remember Kyle caving his baysie plate in when hitting a rock.... If people want bullet proof anything is possible....

Clarification:
Yes Al and I both have "Buzzy design plates" which Al arranged to be built in Sydney by a 3rd party in the earlier days to his specification and material choice from Buzzy's CAD drawing which is available to anyone to access and use with there own 3rd party manufacturer. But that is all I will add to this discussion.

[Custom Offroad]

So tell me again why you took the baysie one off? A lot of people have buzzy designed plates and they are lasting very well. Alco and daryn haven't had any issues. I seem to remember Kyle caving his baysie plate in when hitting a rock.... If people want bullet proof anything is possible....

Clarification:
Yes Al and I both have "Buzzy design plates" which Al arranged to be built in Sydney by a 3rd party in the earlier days to his specification and material choice from Buzzy's CAD drawing which is available to anyone to access and use with there own 3rd party manufacturer. But that is all I will add to this discussion.

Yes and they are made out of the same material 316SS 3mm. The point I am trying to make is the design is sound...

[Blue]

So tell me again why you took the baysie one off? A lot of people have buzzy designed plates and they are lasting very well. Alco and daryn haven't had any issues. I seem to remember Kyle caving his baysie plate in when hitting a rock.... If people want bullet proof anything is possible....

Clarification:
Yes Al and I both have "Buzzy design plates" which Al arranged to be built in Sydney by a 3rd party in the earlier days to his specification and material choice from Buzzy's CAD drawing which is available to anyone to access and use with there own 3rd party manufacturer. But that is all I will add to this discussion.

Yes and they are made out of the same material 316SS 3mm. The point I am trying to make is the design is sound...

I'm not using either plate but as a potential buyer, I do have a question... Why was 316SS chosen...??? Is it purely aesthetics and corrosion resistance...??? The reason I ask is one of strength with 316ss having a yield strength of 205MPa whereas 250 grade 'mild' steel has, as the name suggests, 250MPa... Although the 250 grade would require touch ups to keep it looking good, it would also be cheaper to produce...

[biggibbo]

I have the buzzy design made out of 4mm mild steel, needs a touch up every now and then, but never looked like bending. Have broken off the centre mounts though.

[Custom Offroad]

I'm not using either plate but as a potential buyer, I do have a question... Why was 316SS chosen...??? Is it purely aesthetics and corrosion resistance...??? The reason I ask is one of strength with 316ss having a yield strength of 205MPa whereas 250 grade 'mild' steel has, as the name suggests, 250MPa... Although the 250 grade would require touch ups to keep it looking good, it would also be cheaper to produce...

The latest plates I have been supplying are 304SS. 316SS is a marine grade material obviously has better rust resistance. The 304SS has a slightly higher mild steel content looking at the colour but they will still be very long lasting and slightly stronger I think and from the data i have read. 316SS is more expensive and in my mind not required...the rest of the car would be dead before hte plates rusted away!

I have the buzzy design made out of 4mm mild steel, needs a touch up every now and then, but never looked like bending. Have broken off the centre mounts though.

Very true mate! I have sold heaps of the 4mm mild ones and also use them on my car with h/d mounts and how you could bend them is beyond me....But nothing is beyond fridgie!

[snowman]

So tell me again why you took the baysie one off? A lot of people have buzzy designed plates and they are lasting very well. Alco and daryn haven't had any issues. I seem to remember Kyle caving his baysie plate in when hitting a rock.... If people want bullet proof anything is possible....

Clarification:
Yes Al and I both have "Buzzy design plates" which Al arranged to be built in Sydney by a 3rd party in the earlier days to his specification and material choice from Buzzy's CAD drawing which is available to anyone to access and use with there own 3rd party manufacturer. But that is all I will add to this discussion.

Yes and they are made out of the same material 316SS 3mm. The point I am trying to make is the design is sound...

I think one important point for people to understand is there is a significant design difference in that one employs a higher profile (i.e. better clearance from ground) with no additional supports except for the folded sheet. The other employs a slightly deeper profile (i.e. closer to the ground) with additional welded ribs behind. There is a location where this rib is very close to one of the components but to my knowledge nobody has bent this part yet.

The ribbed version employs 3mm MS with ribs (total weight unknown) whereas the 4mm plate is going to be 25% heavier just on material alone.

Plenty of people have broken mounts. Typically the plate places most, if not all, of its impact to significantly structural parts of the car. I have the ribbed Baysie Plate and have had to bend out some dents with a hammer and get a mount rewelded/replaced.

The folded version, albeit in very adverse conditions, have bent to the point of damaging non structural components which in this case was a radiator. This alone is probably a sub $1000 replacement but if gone unchecked could have been the best part of 10k for a motor rebuild.

Where does it end, again subjectively you could hit something so hard the front end is bent. Yes for 90% of people the folded plate may just well be enough, but in my opinion the ribbed plate can support a bigger impact (based on some unscientific observations - true) and protect the vehicle.

Also the folded plate is cheaper. so what may suit one person is not for another. The beauty of this forum is to allow people access to this information and make their decisions based on the best knowledge available to all of us at the time.

It seems Mitch is already developing a newer product and that is great news for all future purchasers.

[NowForThe5th]

^^^^^^ Good post, Snowy.

This is what it's all about, folks. There are a range of products out there which offer varying degrees of performance (not just bash plates but bars, lights, anything). As the buyer you need to make a decision on your needs and budget and then purchase accordingly.

The supplier(s) may or may not make a product that suits you. That's up to them - whether they cater for a particular market, or not. Credit to Mitch for working on a new product for the "heavy duty" market. Being a Forum Sponsor isn't just about flogging your wares - it's also about developing your product(s) to cater for your market and being an integral part of this Forum. The guys that do this deserve our continued support.

[Blue]

I'm not using either plate but as a potential buyer, I do have a question... Why was 316SS chosen...??? Is it purely aesthetics and corrosion resistance...??? The reason I ask is one of strength with 316ss having a yield strength of 205MPa whereas 250 grade 'mild' steel has, as the name suggests, 250MPa... Although the 250 grade would require touch ups to keep it looking good, it would also be cheaper to produce...

The latest plates I have been supplying are 304SS. 316SS is a marine grade material obviously has better rust resistance. The 304SS has a slightly higher mild steel content looking at the colour but they will still be very long lasting and slightly stronger I think and from the data i have read. 316SS is more expensive and in my mind not required...the rest of the car would be dead before hte plates rusted away!

304 is also 205MPa - containing less chromium and more carbon than 316, they exhibit very similar workability/tooling properties with corrosion resistance being the big difference...

I guess for me the decision is purchase ss prefab or make my own carbon steel copies... SS looks great but I kinda like the idea that carbon steel will need maintenance as that means they come off from time to time allowing you to inspect the stuff they protect...

Sorry for hijacking the thread...

[al coholic]

Seriously joel..this 4wd game is fun but maybe a car upgrade would suit you.... you’re the only one on NTN wearing and damaging their triton at the rate you are.

Upgrade to what?? No use getting a Patrol or Cruiser.....we want to see Fridgie at the top of the track.....not the bottom.

Doing the harder tracks come with the realisation that damage is going to occur.....thats a personal choice on where you wish to take your vehicle........doesnt matter what you are driving, damage will occur Like tailshafts on 4ft rock steps

What the bloody hell did ya hit anyway?? Any pics??
I have the same design as you are currently running.....have taken some massive hits....mine arent even dented. Not like Kwyjibo and Geek among others who have the Baysie design....the centre seems to push in very easily compared to the folded plate.....although like you already said, it probably sits a bit further away to start with.

I would be thinking this is probably a one off and just something to be mindful in the future

[coxy47]

Yeam im interested to see the pictures fridgie.

My opinion is that while the buzzy design is stronger, i think the folded is better. Due to the lack of reinforcing it should allow for a bit of flex which helps to avoid an major dents and worst case under an enormous hit will flex and distribute the load across any underbody components it makes contact with. I would also think that the buzzy design plates, as with the 4mm plates, are more likely to break mounts once again to being more rigid.

Just my opinion though.

[fridgie]

Seriously joel..this 4wd game is fun but maybe a car upgrade would suit you.... you’re the only one on NTN wearing and damaging their triton at the rate you are. Might pay to go easier from now on and not get so into the hype of 'i just did a patrol/cruiser track", and then list 6 things that broke on the triton.....

cya at lcmp where you can relearn some stuff

It's not so much that I'm the only one damaging my car at this rate...... I'm the only one hitting the tracks this often

I probably spend the most time out there using her than anyone else on this forum and basically that means my odds are far greater for damage. This is something I know, understand and expect. If I wasn't prepared to have these issues I'd have bought a single cab and parked it up to watch the others if and when I actually put it into 4wd


With regards to pics/vids..... I believe Diablo may have some, I didn't take many on that trip but will chuck up what I have and might take a couple more of how the plate is now.

[Homer]

If I wasn't prepared to have these issues I'd have bought a single cab and parked it up to watch the others if and when I actually put it into 4wd

Ziiiing.

This is the way I see the bash plate situation.

It is all subjective but the gusseted (Baysie) plates protect a little better from bigger hits. They are gusseted not ribbed.
They dent more because they are solid and don't flex up and then flex back like the other plates can on big hits. This also means they offer up to an inch less clearance on certain angles....maybe more.

90% + people will not require any more protection than the ribbed plates offer.

Prestige Auto is developing extra strong gusseted plates for the Triton which is great so we will have 2 options for the strongest version while the majority have a very cost effective product available to them right now.

[fridgie]

Ok, as promised her's a few pics of my plates.

Starting off with the Baysie version, these had been straightened out probably close to 10 times, been smashed, crashed and bashed through everything and were starting to crack most of the welds. That is the reason I was looking at new as these were getting a bit tired and I know jack all about welding. Have since had some experience with my mig so might look at getting these back up to scratch for the harder trips Still gonna take a bit of work though.....











This is how my reeldreamer plate looks now.....













The last pic kinda gives an idea in relation to the radiator, these ones tell the rest of the story






So, conclusion is to either repair my baysie plate or reinforce my prestige plate as I just can't afford a replacement one.....yet

[Froggy]

If we knew this was how you'd treat your birthday present we wouldn't have bothered
Hope you can get it fixed for LCMP!

[Custom Offroad]

Just wow....

[fridgie]

Fridgie.....the 4wd product tester...I'm better than the Stig!!

[Diablo]

We did a nice job on that recovery hook mate

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[fraz91]

Just wow....

You know you've done well when the supplier says that.

[fridgie]

We did a nice job on that recovery hook mate

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

That indeed we did sir!! Still can't believe the strap stayed on!!

[Froggy]

What rating strap was it? I surely a 5000kg one would snap before doing that to the hook?

[coxy47]

i dont think that rating matters. Either way im now interested in recovery points.

I must say im impressed with the plate damage. Ive just done a model of a buzzy plate and will play around with it on an FEA program tomorrow night more out of interest then anything else.