Flatland Skid Plate

Reschly wrote:

I like many have installed a flatland skid plate, the first time I rode it, I thought it something was wrong with the motor but it was just skid plate noise...

I just had the same thing happen when installing my new Flatland plate. The back end of the skid plate was making contact with the frame. The noise was horrible. The noise was so bad I was forced to wear ear protection when just riding for two minutes to get some groceries. I tried rubber tape, weather stripping, old bike tubes, a hammer and vice to bend it, and even truck bed spray-on liner. None of them worked.

Finally, I broke out the cut off wheel/grinder, and removed a couple milimeters from the back corners of the skid plate. Peace and quiet now! I'm so happy

Thanks for the tip about grinding off the back corners. It sounded like a chain saw underneath me at moderate RPM. Interesting thing is, if I leaned to one side about a foot, the noise went away so it must be focussed vertically. Seems like Flatland would fix this ASAP!!!! I'd never buy another one if they can't figure out something this obvious. I cut off enough to clear the frame and it is much, much quieter. thanks!

I put on my Flatlands skidplate and didn't experience any fitment vibration noise. However I did find the deflection of motor vibes noise very annoying. The thump of the motor was deflected back up toward me and it was very tinny sounding. Anyway, to get rid of it I put some thick weather stripping tape on the frame where the plate makes contact and put skidplate foam in there. The bike sounds like it did before.

The sound was far from "Tinny" on mine. It sounded like someone was taking a jackhammer to a big aluminum plate. After shaving the back corners of the plate, the sound is totally gone. I'm sure I would get some engine deflection, but I have truck bed liner coating the whole inside of the plate. Now it sounds like it did when new.

Truck bed liner coating! Brilliant. When the foam gets pooched I am going to put truck bed liner coating on the inside. Thanks for that tip.

Which back corners are you guys grinding off? I have foam weather stripping tape between the plate and the frame rails, but that only helped a tiny bit. I'm about to spray the plate down with HF-recommended rubber spray, but this grinding idea sounds promising. Is it the inside of those two "tabs" on the back that seem to touch the frame?

Dynomat or the like works very well.

I used a 4 1/2" grinder with a composite wheel to grind off enough that the skidplate has about 1/8" clearance between the aft corners and the frame. There must be some variation between skidplates and motos since some people don't have any noise and others have mega-noise. I marked the area to be removed with a sharpie so I didn't go too far... although I don't see any risk to taking off too much... 1/4 to 3/8", err 6-12 mm. I tried a flap sander disc and the sandpaper just loads up with aluminum and stops removing material. I guess you could use a saw too? I didn't remove the skidplate to do this... I jammed a big flat head screw driver blade between the skidplate and the frame to get some clearance. Hope this helps... the safer way to do it is to remove the skidplate, of course.

Yes. The inside of those two tabs. I actually shaved a good chunk of the whole tab off. At first I didn't shave quite enough off and the sound got worse, but after a little more grinding the problem was solved.

Mr.Metal wrote:

Which back corners are you guys grinding off? I have foam weather stripping tape between the plate and the frame rails, but that only helped a tiny bit. I'm about to spray the plate down with HF-recommended rubber spray, but this grinding idea sounds promising. Is it the inside of those two "tabs" on the back that seem to touch the frame?

Ok, good to know. I wonder if I can Dremel my way to peace and quiet, or if the aluminum will win.

Has anyone tried to contact Flatland Racing to see if they'd "fix" their design to match this grinding fix?

thumpjump wrote:

Yes. The inside of those two tabs. I actually shaved a good chunk of the whole tab off. At first I didn't shave quite enough off and the sound got worse, but after a little more grinding the problem was solved.

Mr.Metal wrote:

Which back corners are you guys grinding off? I have foam weather stripping tape between the plate and the frame rails, but that only helped a tiny bit. I'm about to spray the plate down with HF-recommended rubber spray, but this grinding idea sounds promising. Is it the inside of those two "tabs" on the back that seem to touch the frame?

texascycle wrote:

I put rounded bolts in it later ... not bad for free ... here is a pic ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xlD2Pp6vw1x00YOQSu_OxXJmSyagb9MAPRNwLqFHab4?feat=directlink

Hey that's awesome. What kind of bolts (size & thread) did you use?

Mr.Metal wrote:

Which back corners are you guys grinding off? I have foam weather stripping tape between the plate and the frame rails, but that only helped a tiny bit. I'm about to spray the plate down with HF-recommended rubber spray, but this grinding idea sounds promising. Is it the inside of those two "tabs" on the back that seem to touch the frame?

Looks like you already figured it out but I'm assuming this is what they mean. I used a bench grinder long ago.