making a Hustler 980 skid plate

[mudbug3]

I have a friend of mine that has a Hustler 980 , Deep tub and he also has an upper and lower tub off of a 950 Hustler that a large tree fell on. He asked me if he could cut the bottom half of the 950 lower tub off and heat it up to make a skid plate for his Hustler 980? Will this work?

[amphibious drew]

I would think so. The frames match up, and anything is possible with some heat. not sure a skid is necesary on a poly body, but if its just laying around it couldnt hurt.

[racerone3]

it will depend how far up the front, rear, and sides you want the plate to go. Like Drew said, anything is possible with a little heat. As you know, there are a lot of contours going in a lot of directions on the bottom of a hustler (damn hump...) and the inside dimensions of one body are going to be a good bit off from the outside dimensions of the other. I'm sure it can be done, but have the torches ready. I honestly think it might be easier to start from scratch with a flat sheet like I did with my 980. seems like in using another body, you will be having to undo a lot of the existing bends and redoing them an inch from where they were... just my thoughts. If he tries it, please post up the results. when I first started playing with these machines I thought that would be the easy way to plate one, but now having worked with the plastic tubs for a few years, I'm not so sure

[mudbug3]

Thanks for the imput guys, I'll be sure to mention this to my friend.

[6 WHEELS OR BUST]

Hey man that is exactly what i am going to do, should stack like an egg crate , ha ha.

[hydromike]

Hey man that is exactly what i am going to do, should stack like an egg crate , ha ha.

yeah, they should match up just fine, but remember that like an egg-crate (or what I like to call the Tupperware fit), there will be a substantial gap between the tubs when you put them together. With a lot of heat and re-bending, (I mean, a lot...) you may be able to get a lot of the corners and seams to meet up flat, but I think you'll still be left with a lot of air space between the two across the majority of the plate.

If you have a junk lower to play with, I'd definitely give it a shot.

[Dan67]

Hey guys, I have just started turning my old 950 tub into a skid plate for my 980 build. Seance the tubs are the exact same size I had to cut it down with a jig saw to allow for some stretching. I will be cut out some strips from the old tub to use as filler.

[Dan67]

The biggest problem I see with using an old tub, is the thickness. The bottom varies from 3/16" up to a hair close to 1/4". So figure about 1/2" plus a bit longer to make a rivet long enough to seal it up tight. The next question is, how many rivets are needed and at what distance spaced apart? I can easily see rivets costing about $1+ for each. I really don't want to end up spending over $100 just to rivet the skid plate on. I called RI a bit ago, Their rivets would be about $1.40 each and don't think they are long enough to join 2 hustler bodies. One of the issues with the Max's skid plate is that it is only about 1/8" thick and the body is only about 1/8" thick on the bottom too. I think that is why they sell so many with the skid plate. Starting to think it might be better to just get a 4x8 sheet of 1/8" HDPE and mold it with a heat gun.

I'm going to continue my R&D using old tub skid plate and report my findings. Not going to Busco this fall so I'll have some time to play with it while you guys are having fun.

[6 WHEELS OR BUST]

What about using stainless socket button head cap screws ? They also make them with a flange. That is also what i am replacing all of the bolts with that sandwich the upper and lower tubs together.

[Dan67]

What about using stainless socket button head cap screws ? They also make them with a flange. That is also what i am replacing all of the bolts with that sandwich the upper and lower tubs together.

The big issue is leaks. Using sealing blind rivets like these McMaster-Carr would solve the problem. The button head cap screw does not seal by itself.

[6 WHEELS OR BUST]

Yeah thats what they said about my aluminum jon boat when i replaced some of the leaky rivets with stainless bolts & bonded washers. Thats 10 years ago & it still doesnt leak at all.

[highrollinmopars]

What did you ever end up doing? Pics?

[Dan67]

I finished it as good as I could. Its not perfect but I think it will do just fine. I had to heat the front and the hump area to reform the old tub to match the new. What a PITA! It is very thick on the front edge and the hump. It is so thick in some spots that rivets are too short.



I don't think I'll ever do this again. And I'll advise against it too. Spend the $$ and get a 4x8 sheet of HDPE.