ENGINE SKID PLATE - SPRINTER AWD (2023+ 2500) by VAN COMPASS

This was a simple, straightforward installation. The CNC work was perfect, even provided a oil drain access for those times when you need to change the engine oil.

Use a floor jack to position the Skid plates and then tighten everything up. There is a little gotcha with the two bolts going into the frame access points. I changed the bolts such that I could put a socket on the bolt head on the outside of the plate. Though it doesn't look as clean as the supplied bolts, it makes for a much easier installation.

Overall, the installation of the over-run brackets, it's not an issue. The "stud" people are concerned with is just a bolt holding a wire bundle. Take it out, put up the over run bracket and put it back in.

Make sure to clean the threads with WD-40 just to prevent a cross thread. These are big metric bolts and giving them a little lube really helps.

Took a total of 3 hours to put up the engine skid plates and the differential skid plate. Everything can be done with the chassis on the floor - no need for a lift.

Van Compass did a really good job with these products.

Looks great and should do the job of keeping the riff-raff from detonating my oil pan. For the life of me I don't understand why Mercedes thinks it's A-OK to keep all this stuff exposed. But Van Compass has the simple bolt-on, no-drill solution that I was looking for. I was a little intimidated by the thought of holding the 30 lb steel plate up while trying to bolt it on all by myself, but a trolley jack was all that I needed to pin it in place against the aluminum rear shield while I put the bolts in. It was actually easier to install than the rear plate. Took me all of about 1.5 hours to install everything, taking my time and reading the directions a couple times. FYI, you will need a deep-well 5/8 socket for the front plate bolts. The two 5/16" plain nuts for the front strut are trapped a bit by the vertical portion of the strut itself, so you can't get a socket on them and will need to use a 1/2" open end wrench to tighten them down. Only product improvement I would make would be to de-burr the cut edges of the aluminum in the hole in the front part of the plate, they are pretty sharp and I feel like somebody who carelessly reaches up through the hole to drain the oil might thrash their hand a bit.

Purchased this for my 2023 AWD Sprinter 3500. The installation is pretty straight forward if a little awkward. A second person is required unless you can do a single arm incline press of 50lbs for 10 minutes!!🤣 The skid plate looks like a factory installation when complete.
I would highly recommend!