THANKS for the help with skid plate install.

I installed the Flatland skis plate on my WR today. The one thing I was worried about was how much noise it would create because it sure made a difference on my wife's XT250. Anyhow I put it on without any rubber spacers and took to it for a ride. Just what I had expected, nothing to bad but just enough to irritate me. So back to the shop I went to try it with spacers. After reading several post on the topic I decided to use garden hose washers. Got an 8 pack at the feed store for $1.15. Used all 8 of them at the hard contact points at the back corners, along each side and up front near the bolts. HOLY SMOKES!! what a difference it made. Not as totally silent as it was without the skid but almost. I was so excited that I had to try it with the XT250. Pulled the Moose skid off of the XT and did the same with it. It took 10 rubber washers to do the trick. 6 were used on hard contact points which were easy to see by the wear on the plate and 4 on the bushing/spacers the the bolts go through. Not sure they were needed because I couldn't see it they pulled up tight or not. Off to the road with the XT and the noise is all but gone too. What a great day to find an easy fix and I owe it to all of you who have posted your ideas in the past. So THANK YOU!! Mark

Thanks for the input, I was going to go with a layer of rubber of some sort but for under 2 bucks I will try the washers 1st.

You are still going to get the rattle of the motor noise bouncing back up toward you but not the vibration noise.

I had read that before but forgot all about it.....painted it with some plasti dip, will use that in combination with the washers.

Thanks

Hopefully that will be enough. I am sure it will help absorb some of the engine noise. We put the Flatland skid plate on my son's WR this past weekend and used the same washer approach for the vibration noise. He didn't think it was any noisier at all but he has the box mod and exhaust is louder too.

I wanted to put it on for a week to see the difference but decided to get the painting out of the way when I could.

did you guys just place the washers between the contact points before tightening ?

05cr125r wrote:

did you guys just place the washers between the contact points before tightening ?

If you already have the skid plate on, take it off and you will see where they need to go. the paint on the Skid will be worn... easy to tell. I placed some spare rubber insulation I had laying around in the garage and it make a big difference.

Yes as Caldsy said, it is easy to see where the contact points are by the wear on the plate.. I just got my bike back from the shop for the stator recall and they didn't put the washers back in. Now I have it all to do again. I should just take it back and let them do it but it isn't worth the 2 hour trip. Rode this past weekend and it drove me nuts.

When I put my Flatlander on I just bought a roll of the thick 3M double sided tape and ran strips of it down the frame where the skid plate would be. Then I bolted it on.....no noise.