GOT mine install on my 2002 xl-7 with a clamini rear tow bar in about 20 mins, no issue. Nice clean install.  I will get some pics up in a day or two.

George

Blacknight, had you had your fuel tank off since you had the truck?  I haven't gotten around to installing mine yet, but expect I'll probably "get to it" this weekend.   Looks straight forward and it appears both you and Bell had no rusty bolt issues.   I was feeling up around my fuel tank mounts and it appears the bolt thread ends aren't exposed to where I could pre-soak them with some break free a day or so prior to the install.

Norm

I per - soaked my as  I have never had it off.  The ones for the tank straps can be gotten to if you spray in to the small openings in the frame just to the out side of the bolts if I remember right. Also the emptier your gas tank the better trust me I did mine full  :'(

Thanks for the tip Blacknight, I'll check out the acccess points to get some lube on those bolt threads.   Oh yeah, and I anticipated the hassle of the additional fuel weight.  I've been running around with just 2-3 gallons in my tank for about a week so i wouldn't have to deal with the additional 80+ pounds come install time.  Wouldn't ya know it, I sent Sean the e-mail in the AM.... and then FEDEX pulls up in the early PM with the tanks.  Sean delivers!!

Got my skid mounted this afternoon... but it took me longer than 20 minutes.  About an hour plus for me.  Had no problem with bolts breaking or the tow bar getting in the way.  I mounted my skid in my drive wiith my truck lifted 2 inches on jack stands.  I removed the stock skid, then used two pieces of 550 cord looped off on the upper frame brace forward of the axle and ran back under the fuel tank and tied them both off on the tow bar to support the tank while I removed the tank mounting bolts.  I slid the new skid plate under the truck and raised it with my jack right over the top of the 550 cords, started the two rear mounting bolts after aligning the skid and strap with the threaded frame holes, then yanked the cords out before I aligned the front mounts and threaded the bolts in.   Slick.

The mounting holes were dead on.   May not seem like a big deal, but I don't know how many times I've had to enlarge a "manufactured tapped hole" in something in order to make it fit the way it was supposed to be designed to fit in the first place.

Good product Sean.  Thanks much for making them for those of us who ride the short bus when it comes to mechanicals.  Yeah... that's me!

Finally got around to my install.  First things first; I drive a two door.  I know that was a concern for many who read this board, and Sean said that I'm the only guy w/ a two door that's ordered one of these.  Completely tweaked my back earlier in the week or it would've been on sooner.  I'm back to about 90%,; so, I figured it was time to bolt it up.

Fortunately for me, I had the benefit of reading everyone else's post who's already installed theirs.  I didn't jack it up or use a lift, and I left my hitch on, which actually proved useful. First, I dropped the factory skid (I'm thinking about using it as a large pie tin).  Then I put a floor jack underneath with a huge block of wood between it and the tank (< 1/4 full).  I ran one bolt out at a time and replaced it w/ a large zip tie.  In the back of the vehicle, I wasn't able to fish the tie all the way through, so I just zip tied it to my hitch.  Next, I SLOWLY lowered the jack just to make sure the zip ties would hold.  I put the skid on the jack, jacked it in place (that actually required some persuasion to get the skid to clear the rear axle, lateral rod, etc.).  Then, I'd snip one zip tie, thread a bolt, repeat.  I did have a similar clearance issue on the front passenger side as Rally_T-115 (frame support for lateral rod (the only reason I know what that's called is because I checked the diagram in my repair manual)), and I was having three out of four bolts line up.  After a few tries, the winning combination was to start w/ just a few threads on the right, front corner, start the other three, and then, go around a couple of times making sure everything is snug.

Took me over an hour, but I had a messed up back, and I left it on the ground.

The clearance issue seems to be just a bit different for each truck.  On my first skid install, it made contact with the frame cross member on upper right side of the skid about an inch before the corner turn of the skid.  (see pic) All my holes lined up very accurately (I started with threading the rear bolts) and my skid snugged up without any mods, although i am sure I probably pulled the right front mount surface in a little.   No biggie.

I made note of the contact area and on the second one took my 4" grinder and notched out about 1/8" of the last inch of lip on the right side of the skid before the corner and I also ground off about 1/8" of the front right corner where the skid folds back to the horizontal (NOT the corner fold).  Took me 30 seconds, to mod then smoothed the ground area and coated with primer and paint... then mounted.  The truck will rust and fall apart before these skids do.  In fact, you can count on being able to pull these babies off after a few years and mount them on your newer rig.  Second skid was also SPOT-ON with the mounting holes and snugged up very well.  I'm fully satisfied with the quality of these skids. 

If you're "waiting to see" quit waiting and get one.  You'll be glad you did.

Oh yeah... I forgot to mention, for the mechanically challenged, like me, if you DO have the tow bar on your truck, you CAN use the tow bar to hold the rear of your tank up during the install by sliding two or three 1/4" wooden shims about 4" long on each side (left and right) onto the top of your tow bar (betweeen the bumper and tow bar frame).  Push them all the way in until they come into contact your fuel tank (under the lip).   With these shims in place you can remove both the rear fuel tank bolts and these shims will hold the rear of your tank up in place. 

Be sure to clean out all the gravel and crap that accumulates on the top lip of your fuel tank before you snug them up to get a clean seating surface.   If you hear a lot of crunching as you torque it down, you still have a bunch of crap left on the lip. 

There are two small holes next to the rear tank mounting bolts that you can spray some blaster or rust eater into before trying to loosen the bolts (as Blacknight mentioned) just in case you live in the salt belt... and you probably do.

For everyone's info... I sent Sean the pic of the contact point area where the skid appears to contact the frame crossmember (on the upper right side) of the trucks.  Here is his reply

"That does help me quite a bit as it definitely did not hit anything on the XL-7 I test fit the skid on. As the last design change I actually beefed up the bracing in the front corners (exactly where you pointed to in the pic) so the front lip of the skid could not fold over if hit hard from behind. In retrospect I may have beefed them up a little too much. I will take a look at them and slightly alter them for the next production run."

BLUF:  he is continually making improvements tweaks to his skid design to make it "more better".

Norm