As you can see in this picture the diff is sorta left out there to get tagged with a 2 inch drop required with the AE 4.5" lift.


I looked at several skid plates out there for the Sidekick and there was only two out there that accounted for a dropped diff, that being the Calmini and then the "Bits4Vits" front armor. The costs to get anything from that side of the pond is atrocious, and the Calmini armor also incorporated a suspension brace, so I got the Calmini front skid plate from LowRange(they rock) And luck would have it that they also had a semi used front support brace on their yard sale page.


This is the very first stage for me to install any Calmini part, cover that baby blue crap color! LOL
scuffed and hit with Krylon,


If I had paid full price for the brace I would have been highly, highly pissed off with myself, and even slightly pissed now even at the discounted price, all Calmini did was use a piece of 1.5"x3" rect tube, cut the top off and the bottom where the ears are. I had hoped this was a bent piece, sized correctly, but alas no, it is a piece of 5.00$ steel tube and a few minutes of work with a cutoff wheel. You will need to bend the ears out to fit as the A-arm mount is exactly 3" and the inside of the Calmini support is 2.75".

Here she is all mounted up. Once I got the friggin support installed, the actual skid plate mounted up in 120 seconds.


I took it for a quick spin up and down the mtn, I was hoping that the support would act as a suspension/steering brace as well and I was not disappointed, the steering is alot more solid feeling, especially when hammering the dirt roads at speed!

The armor plate is nice, it is very solidly mounted and is intended for dropped diffs and not a bad price on it's own, worth the cost compared to other skid plates,,,,,,,

But do yourself a huge big favor, do not buy the support bar, make your own, you can purchase the steel and a new right angle grinder and cutoff wheels for less!

Seems you are comparing a used and possibly tweaked part to say it does not fit.  I have not heard others saying it did not fit.  You also are comparing prices that include a steering stabilizer which yours seems to be missing.  I don't have the part on mine but it just seems to not be a fair comparison.

This truss wasnt installed on any vehicle, it was not tweaked or bent, it came with the damper but without any of the hardware, which wasnt an issue as I didnt want to run it anyways, LOL

Outside to outside on my sidekicks front A-arm mounts are 3" precisely, the dimensions of the Calmini truss is also 3" outside to outside, so in order to install the truss, the ears had to be spread the thickness of the trusses steel for it to fit over the A-arm mounts.

As far as cost,,,well that damper is 20$ at NAPA and there is 5-10$ max in steel,,,,The truss is what is most important and one can be fabbed for stupid cheap and would be identicle other than the paint to the calmini part, that is the main point I was getting at.

Now if only the Calmini skid plate was stupid cheep.  I am running the factory skid plate which I got at a yard for $5.  I often find these in the yards.  In fact I have one now to sell with the transfer case skid plate.  With the Calmini 3" suspension I did have to take a few wacks at it with a sledge hammer to create a bulge for the dif clearance. The factory skid plate does not need the brace and I like it because it does not create a point to catch a rock. The Calmini setup create a wide ledge the width of the skid plate to catch rocks. The facory skid plate slides right over rocks.  I found with the factory engine skid plate I had to cut clearance on the drivers side for the rear part of the a-arm in full drop. I also have the factory transfer skid plate which was also included in the $5 cost at the yard.  The transfer skid pate really strengthens the transmission support mount which I have totally destroyed before the transfer skid plate.

Mine didnt even have the factory sheet steel pan on there when I bought the Sidekick, LOL

This Calmini skid plate clears the diff with no issues, not alot of clearance, LOL, but enough.

I will probably get the other two calmini skid plates as well, trans and TC. I will probably go with aftermarket4x4 for the fuel tank armor.

I have the Aftermarket4x4 gas tank skid plate.  I would recommend it to everyone.  It is a serious skid plate and it works even when you lift your gas tank.   I have mine raise 3" with the gas tank skid plate raised with it.  The Aftermarket4x4 engine skid plate also creates a clean no rock catching design.  The gas tank and skid plate are nearly as high as the bumper. But I have managed to scrap it on a few rocks. 

Now bending the "ears" out to fit was no big issue, I just used a rounded end carriage bolt with a nut and washer threaded on, and used that as a screw jack between the ears to spread them quickly easily and evenly. Then the longer a-arm bolt is used to then clamp it all back tightly together. It is very solid and simple design.

We just welded a brace with a piece of tubing cut to fit.  On the White Rabbit we are running a stock front skid plate and rear t-case skid plate with a Calmini center skid.  I did manage to bow the center skid when I turtled on rocks and put some good dents in the front.  The center skid will receive some additional bracing and the front skid will probably be replaced this winter.

Why I like 2wd 

Bigzook
Nice looking piece of aluminum.  How thick?

I had to dogleg my back section of skid plate so I had a gap between it and the transfer case.  It looks like skitime has a similar drop in his skid plate.



10 gauge is not quite heavy enough.  I just welded a 3/16 X 1" stiffener up the center of center section.  Like Drone637, it had bowed when high cenetered.  If that doesn't fix it, next one will be heavier.  Not sure where it was bent, but you won't get there with 2wd.

Why I like 2wd 

 Nice use of an old street sign !!LOL !!