I thought I would post my current skid plate modifications and set up.
I have a 2021 Badlands 2.7. It comes with all the stock skid plates.
I have added-
DV8 Shock Skids- Now modified to more easily drain/clear debris. Be careful with SQ reservoir shocks and these skids, they can collect debris and water and rip off your remote reservoir. They worked great up until the freezing issue. The take a lot of abuse and have been a good modification.
ASFIR Transmission and Crossmember. I used bed coating on the crossmember skids. I probably needed to take all of the original corroision coating of the skids, I tried to ruff them up with scotch bright pads and clean them with alcohol, but the paint adherence doesn’t seem good. The crossmembers take a beating, so I will watch these and see if the slight loss in ground clearance is worth the extra protection. The transmission has never been an issue, but it looks exposed. It’s not hard to see how a log or rock could end up taking out the stock plastic transmission pan, I will watch that modification and report any findings as well.
Be careful with any transmission skid plate you order. Badlands w/sta-bar disconnect have a different design than other models. The ASFIR fit perfect.
All were fairly easy to install, total a couple of slow hours on the floor in my garage doing the work (2nd time on the shock skids, so it was quick too).
I highlighted the drain holes and front cut out mods in this picture. I used an angle grinder and cut off wheel-
