For Those Of You Adding Cat Skid Plates

[Severdog]

I have been following all of the different skid plate threads. I finally broke down and bought a Talons Garage F-150 PowerBoost Skid Plate to protect my cats. I don't want to get into the differences between the different vendor solutions; what I do want to bring up that I've not heard anyone talk about so far is how different my truck sounds now.

My PB was always very quiet with a very soft exhaust note. After the Talons installation, there is a much more distinctive growl at lower RPM.

If you think about it, it makes sense. Instead of having a felt diaper down there with excellent damping properties, now I have a rigid cavity "sound chamber" which is going to have some resonant frequencies.

Just thought y'all would want to know.

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[OneFiddy]

Add sound deadening

 

[EricR]

Add sound deadening

Any ideas on how to go about this?

 

[Pedaldude]

On the thread about adding the Raptor skid plate, there’s a dude who added one of those rubber mats. Make sure that whatever you do, it is rated for the temperatures and also, when you uninstall, clean the plate as well as possible before adding the sound deadening.

Good luck!

 

[Iconic22F150]

Just a by the way. I have the regular 3.5EB and I didn't notice any sound differences.

 

[powerboatr]

i put on the raptor skid plate under transmission and used generic sound deadening rated for outside similar to dynamat but at much less dinero. so if it fails from raod water or what ever its no big deal and i put it on the side that is UP so its not taking a beating from the road or critter that get hit
my truck was always very quiet and the panel for me made a very slight difference in road noise as in a tad bit less road rumble into cab

 

["Steve"]

thanks for posting. for some it's an important variable to consider.

 

[Je1279]

You may also be able to cut up the felt cover and glue it to the top side of the skid plate with some high temp glue.

 

[oncechance]

I don't have any deadening material on my metal cover and it doesn't make any noise. Guess some people are hearing a noise.

 

[Severdog]

Update: Solved the "additional noise" issue with my Talons Garage cat shield.

I had been planning to get in there with some sound deadening material but could not find the right "stuff" at the right price. Kept delaying and cogitating, looking for the right solution.

Eventually the noise got so loud that it would rattle at low RPM; I knew something was wrong in the nether regions.

I removed the skid plate and it was obvious; the driver side lower cat was just *barely* touching the skid plate. (see gouge in the pic below) The cat was a bit "shiny" on the corner as well but no harm done.

I flipped the left side "wing" to the outside mount, verified that there was no interference, and it's blessed silence once again. Talons does advise that you check clearances and flip wing mounting if necessary, I did not do an adequate job on the first go-round.

 

["Steve"]

hmmm. seems like a design flaw. good to know.

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