UM Racing Skid Plate: Anyone Use(d) It?

[bomber]

My friend wants to race his '05 TRX 450 in the D38 series, but recently put on a Houser LT kit with Elka shocks and now has no skid plate. I have been looking at different plates that are offered for his quad and know that the linkage hangs down low enough where most plates would hit it.

The UM skid plate has what looks like a large enough slot for the linkage to go, but wanted to see if you guys have used it or know if it's a good product in general.

Thanks.

[RacerX1]

I don't know much about the UM's. I have friends that use them. I use the AC skids. They're nice and beefy and have a cut-out for the linkage. I also have a TRX450R.

Is there rocks in D38? I always compare everything to Lucerne (D37) where every rock west of the Colorado seems to be piled up there, esp during a race! ;)

[Dirty Neil]

We also use AC Racing plates. Ours needs a little cuttting to fit the Ed Tex link. But AC's stuff is top notch.

[Vtr_Racing]

We use AC skids exclusively. They are made to take a beating for one ,and the stuff mentioned by Patty. The guy who makes em is really cool too! ;)

[Dirty Neil]

Thats pretty funny Marc....

[bomber]

Thanks for the responses guys and Patty ;).

Haha, I actually called up UM Racing and spoke with their sales manager, Damien, who was really cool. He said that they have a sponsored rider who races the GNCC X-country series and has the exact linkage that my friend is running; and that it fit without any cutting. So I ordered the rear and chassis plates. They have good prices too, rear was $72.95 and chassis was $69.95.

They do testing with guys who run Best In The Desert and Score so it seems like they should hopefully have a product that can handle dez rocks well.

I did a search yesterday about this topic on here and read that these plates get beat up pretty quick to the point that spares are needed for the 1000. What happens to them that they need to be replaced? Do they get pushed up into the chain or sprocket/rotor? Do they just tear off?

Down in D38 we run at Plaster City and Superstition. PC has some pretty good rock sections, I just raced my CR250 last Sunday and we went through some full on rock gardens. Sups isn't too bad, but if you're running fast you may ding a good sized rock hidden in the sand.

[Dirty Neil]

Ours was thrashed after Vegas 2 Reno.

[StrunkBro]

Run an AC skid plate. We ran a UM Skid at Vegas to Reno this year and it broke off and got stuck in the chain. The problem was that the skid plate hangs down two low in the front. This make it easy for it to get caught on rocks and rip off. It cost us the race. Belly pan worked fine though.

[D Bergstrom]

I think the best skid out there is the PRM 0.25" thickness skid. I have ran the same skid in the BITD series for almost the last two years and have not had any major problems with it, it is one tough sob! I have never even had to beat it back into shape, it looks like hell, but is still doing its job.

I am running the same setup as your friend, Houser swingarm/linkage. It does not hang down any lower then stock, but it does move the shock further back towards the rear. The PRM skid will need to be cut to fit, but it is only at the top plate to make room for the shock being moved back, the linkage box itself does not need to be touched. (This is for their "original" or MX link. I know Houser now makes a XC link. I do not have any experiance with it.)

Doug

[Ratedxmo]

I think the best skid out there is the PRM 0.25" thickness skid. I have ran the same skid in the BITD series for almost the last two years and have not had any major problems with it, it is one tough sob! I have never even had to beat it back into shape, it looks like hell, but is still doing its job.

I am running the same setup as your friend, Houser swingarm/linkage. It does not hang down any lower then stock, but it does move the shock further back towards the rear. The PRM skid will need to be cut to fit, but it is only at the top plate to make room for the shock being moved back, the linkage box itself does not need to be touched. (This is for their "original" or MX link. I know Houser now makes a XC link. I do not have any experiance with it.)

Doug

I would have to agree after trying them all. The fit and finish of the PRM is light years ahead of the others.

[Dirty Neil]

I have to say my PRM one is real nice quality, however it wont work with my link. I got a nice PRM one I'll sell to ya if interested Bomber.

[D Bergstrom]

I have to say my PRM one is real nice quality, however it wont work with my link. I got a nice PRM one I'll sell to ya if interested Bomber.

Yeah, I have a Teixera linkage on my practice quad, and there was no way I could get my PRM to work on it, so I am using a AC skid on that quad. The AC skid is good, but I like the PRM better.

I actually bought a UM skid originally for my practice quad, was not really all that impressed. Not as thick as the PRM and AC skids and offered no linkage protection at all. I only used it for one or two rides. Had no problems with it, but I could see what StrunkBro was talking about, the front did hang down pretty low.

I have also used Pro Armour and DG skids. Pro Armour was pretty good, but the DG was junk, I would have to replace them after every race they were so beat up.

Doug

[bomber]

Hey I really appreciate all the comments everyone. I am hopefully going to receive the plates today or tomorrow and will post up about their fit and finish.

I had read before about the PRM plates being 0.25" thick and was thinking that would be nice to have. My friend is not a crazy aggressive rider and will most likely miss the big stuff, so hopefully the 0.19" will suffice for now.

He is running the Elka linkage, not the Houser just to clarify. UM has racers that run their plates with the Elka linkage and do NOT need to cut them up to make them fit.

I'm anxious to see if this rear plate turns out to fit w/o cutting and how it performs out in PC and Sups.

Thanks again for the info.

[Vtr_Racing]

If you are racing in the dez primarily, you may want to consider using beefier bolts. Just retap the orig mounting holes. Every little bit helps.

[bomber]

Thanks for the tip on the bolts, I had been wondering about that.