Jessey Dearing
Member
I picked up the hitch and skid plates through a group buy organized by @13mclean. Both are relatively straight forward but neither come with instructions and when I was trying to install over the weekend the FTS website with photos of the install was down so I thought it would be helpful to do a quick writeup.
FTS4x4 Hitch
Pretty straight forward overall. Remove spare tire (easier to access). Remove the existing white bar if you have one.
Mount the two brackets to the van. I used two existing bolts from the white bar in the original spot they were in, then an included bolt for the upper hole (the white bar doesn't attach in that spot). Tighten the two brackets down before attaching the hitch.
Next attach the hitch with the included bolts and spacers to the two holes furtherest rear of the van (red circle). If you don't use these you won't be able to get your spare tire back on. This means the three hitches stick out about 1-2" from the back of the van. If you have your spare tire somewhere else you can use whatever setup you'd like.
FTS4x4 Skid Plates
These are a little more confusing on first opening, again no instructions, but with some photos of the installed plates, it's pretty straight forward other than bending two metal tabs. There are three new plates that come with the kit and some bolts.
Remove the existing metal protectors under the "mouth/plow" of the van (there are two that are sort connected together). You also have to remove the top part of the mouth (attached to the bottom part). I think these are mostly 12 and 14mm bolts. You will reuse the top metal sheet that feeds air up into the engine.
Bolt on the two L brackets with existing bolts from the front most skid plate (red circle). The L's should turn inward toward each other. You may have to adjust the angle of them later, so I kept mine snug, but able to move by hand.
Then attach the first (longest) skid plate but don't tighten it down all the way (green circle). I ended up taking two extra washers I had from the hitch and put washers on both sides of this attachment.
Before attaching the second plate, which underlaps with the first plate using the same bolts and holes, you have to bend two metal tabs (green circles) that the original metal plate bolted into. Bend them downward until they are mostly flat. According to FTS4x4 photos and my experience, getting some vice grips on them and prying them down works best and surprisingly not as hard as it sounds. I did lift the front of the van up about 4-5" on blocks (make sure you have all the tires blocked off so you don't get crushed), which helped with leverage. You do not need to bend the middle tab.
Now you can slide the second plate under the van. You will see that it goes under the rear part of the first plate. I used a dense cardboard box to keep the plate within a couple of inches from the bottom of the van so I didn't have to fully support the plate while trying to screw the bolts in. Now you can kind of shimmy the two plates around until you get the bolt through both the first and second plate and loosely attached to the van. Then you can use the two thinner and longer black bolts (red circle) included with the skid plates to mount the back part of the second skid plate to the two metal tabs you bent. I added locknut washers to these after I took the photos, which were not included. Now you can bolt down all bolts on these two skid plates (don't forget the ones you left loose before).
Next you want to craw further under the van and remove the two metal tubes below the oil pan with the four bolts, two for each tube (three green and one red circles). Again I used a box and some 2x4s to lift the plate and get the bolts threaded on so I didn't have to lift the entire weight trying to thread these in. I did the two bolts closest to the front of the van first because I tried it the other way first and was having trouble getting it to mount flush. The bolt with the red circle I had to replace with a longer bolt that I went out and bought from the local hardware store. For some reason I couldn't get the threads to catch with the shorter original bolt (maybe my van is crooked, I don't know).
Last, reattach the top of the mouth to the first skid plate. For my van, I was only able to mount it with the front two bolts (green circles). The rear two (red circles) that originally mounted to the original metal skid plate has no where to mount to. So I tightened it down and it doesn't seem to make any rattling noises while I drive around. Not sure if I'm missing something here?
The completed install (best photo I could get without getting the van on a real lift). I don't know if I'll ever need such intense skid plates, but it's a little more comfort. I noticed the thin metal that was on the bottom of mine was pretty beat up in places and looked like it had taken a few hits. I also notice a little more of a low rumbling coming from the engine while driving, I assume reverberating off of these much more thick and flat pieces of metal on the bottom of the van.
FTS4x4 Hitch
Pretty straight forward overall. Remove spare tire (easier to access). Remove the existing white bar if you have one.
Mount the two brackets to the van. I used two existing bolts from the white bar in the original spot they were in, then an included bolt for the upper hole (the white bar doesn't attach in that spot). Tighten the two brackets down before attaching the hitch.
Next attach the hitch with the included bolts and spacers to the two holes furtherest rear of the van (red circle). If you don't use these you won't be able to get your spare tire back on. This means the three hitches stick out about 1-2" from the back of the van. If you have your spare tire somewhere else you can use whatever setup you'd like.
FTS4x4 Skid Plates
These are a little more confusing on first opening, again no instructions, but with some photos of the installed plates, it's pretty straight forward other than bending two metal tabs. There are three new plates that come with the kit and some bolts.
Remove the existing metal protectors under the "mouth/plow" of the van (there are two that are sort connected together). You also have to remove the top part of the mouth (attached to the bottom part). I think these are mostly 12 and 14mm bolts. You will reuse the top metal sheet that feeds air up into the engine.
Bolt on the two L brackets with existing bolts from the front most skid plate (red circle). The L's should turn inward toward each other. You may have to adjust the angle of them later, so I kept mine snug, but able to move by hand.
Then attach the first (longest) skid plate but don't tighten it down all the way (green circle). I ended up taking two extra washers I had from the hitch and put washers on both sides of this attachment.
Before attaching the second plate, which underlaps with the first plate using the same bolts and holes, you have to bend two metal tabs (green circles) that the original metal plate bolted into. Bend them downward until they are mostly flat. According to FTS4x4 photos and my experience, getting some vice grips on them and prying them down works best and surprisingly not as hard as it sounds. I did lift the front of the van up about 4-5" on blocks (make sure you have all the tires blocked off so you don't get crushed), which helped with leverage. You do not need to bend the middle tab.
Now you can slide the second plate under the van. You will see that it goes under the rear part of the first plate. I used a dense cardboard box to keep the plate within a couple of inches from the bottom of the van so I didn't have to fully support the plate while trying to screw the bolts in. Now you can kind of shimmy the two plates around until you get the bolt through both the first and second plate and loosely attached to the van. Then you can use the two thinner and longer black bolts (red circle) included with the skid plates to mount the back part of the second skid plate to the two metal tabs you bent. I added locknut washers to these after I took the photos, which were not included. Now you can bolt down all bolts on these two skid plates (don't forget the ones you left loose before).
Next you want to craw further under the van and remove the two metal tubes below the oil pan with the four bolts, two for each tube (three green and one red circles). Again I used a box and some 2x4s to lift the plate and get the bolts threaded on so I didn't have to lift the entire weight trying to thread these in. I did the two bolts closest to the front of the van first because I tried it the other way first and was having trouble getting it to mount flush. The bolt with the red circle I had to replace with a longer bolt that I went out and bought from the local hardware store. For some reason I couldn't get the threads to catch with the shorter original bolt (maybe my van is crooked, I don't know).
Last, reattach the top of the mouth to the first skid plate. For my van, I was only able to mount it with the front two bolts (green circles). The rear two (red circles) that originally mounted to the original metal skid plate has no where to mount to. So I tightened it down and it doesn't seem to make any rattling noises while I drive around. Not sure if I'm missing something here?
The completed install (best photo I could get without getting the van on a real lift). I don't know if I'll ever need such intense skid plates, but it's a little more comfort. I noticed the thin metal that was on the bottom of mine was pretty beat up in places and looked like it had taken a few hits. I also notice a little more of a low rumbling coming from the engine while driving, I assume reverberating off of these much more thick and flat pieces of metal on the bottom of the van.
