[UTEngineer]

Finally took the time to drill ~40 holes and press rivnuts into the frame underneath our General 4 to properly secure the aftermarket skids plates (ultra high molecular weight - UHMW).

Highly recommend installing rivnuts as part of the original installation of the UHMW skid plates. The metal thickness of the factory frame is too thin for the supplied hardware to hold the skid plates in-place longterm. Wish I would have taken the time to do this during the original installation.

 

[KineKilla]

40 seems like a lot of holes. Did you just drill out the OE mounting holes plus a bunch? Did you counter sink all the screws in the UHMW so they are flush or recessed as well?



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[Buelligan666]

The Factory UTV, SSS Off-road, and most other UHMW skid plates are machined to accept the same domed washers the factory belly pan uses. 40 holes, sounds about typical of a skid install on a 4 seater. Too much is never enough...

 

[KineKilla]

So these are the OE mounting holes, just drilled and rivnutted to make removal and install easier/stronger?

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[Pirate]

The only way to mount a skid plate set. Won't have screws starting to wobble and then falling out!
Pirate

 

[Buelligan666]

So these are the OE mounting holes, just drilled and rivnutted to make removal and install easier/stronger?

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They reuse the original mounting locations and add some more. Drilled and rivnutted to prevent the thread ripping out or striping out. The factory bolts are threaded into some pretty thin steel. If you remove your skid a couple times, you risk stripping the holes out when retightening the sheet metal screws that Polaris uses. @Pirate brought this technique to the forum years ago and has an extensive write up about it on here somewhere.

 

[Pirate]

This post has my description on mounting skid plates the right way.
Pretty complete looking at it just now.

skid plate questions 2020 general

Just finished my break-in period, changed all my fluids and finally gave a good run. I had 2 bone jarring hits, one hit my tree saver / rock slider bar, and the other was a hidden tree stump that high centered me and took some work to get back off of it. I pulled the Gen up on the trailer and...

www.polarisgeneralforum.com

Questions? I'm here.
Pirate

 

[UTEngineer]

40 seems like a lot of holes. Did you just drill out the OE mounting holes plus a bunch? Did you counter sink all the screws in the UHMW so they are flush or recessed as well?



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“~” means approximately 40 holes to mount the skid plates under a 4 seater. Didn’t count them exactly. Rivnuts came in a pack of 50 and there were ~10 when the job was done. Factory UTV skid plates come with a recessed washer for mounting. They machine the recess in the skid plates at their factory.

 

[UTEngineer]

So these are the OE mounting holes, just drilled and rivnutted to make removal and install easier/stronger?

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That’s correct. The factory mounting holes stripped easily due to the thin frame metal.

 

[Pirate]

One thing to do...for the new screw locations. Use some good tape to hold the domed washer centered in the recesses cut in the skid.
Then use a drill the same size as the bolt hole in the washer to drill the hole in the frame.
Doing this have the washer centered in the recess.
In 2008 my dealer didn't do this. I found domed washers with a huge hole others with a slot on order to get the screws in the drilled hole and the washer in the recess. All the holes had been drilled free hand.