Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Underneath my -86 lwb patrol, there are skidplates from underneath the engine all the way back to behind the transfer box.
The front and mid-section seems like just dirt protection, fairly thin material and weak fasteings, but the rear section seems different. Its made from double 2 or 3 mm.plate, structured for strengt and with much more solid fastenings.
Does this rear skidplate have a structural purpose in stead of the crossmember you'd expect to find under the rear of the transferbox?
The transferbox seems to be mounted on brackets on the frame rails.

Anyone have experience with removing these skidplates? The two up front seems to just be in the way and restricting access for service and maintainance, and all three of them collect a lot of dirt upon them, which i have to get underneath the car to properly remove.
The rear one clearly make a good job protecting the transfer case, but it sags like the belly of a fat dog and also limits access to the gearboxes for maintainance. Could there be built another crossmember/skidplate combo that just protects the transfer and doesn't weigh 100 pounds and doesn't collect all that dirt?
Any pointers to anyone done something with this?

Not sure if it'll help??

If you wanna keep it.. could drill out a heap of small holes in co-ordinated format so that it allows dirt to come out and perhaps lighten the plate - not too close together thou lol

Cheers
Tom

Yeah i know the ones. Turf the ones up front they are useless and as u say they restrict maintanance and carry alot of crap. The rear one that runs along the bottom of the Hand brake drum on the rear of the transfer case i still run so my handbrake doesnt collect so much crap and it keeps it protected. Gearbox maintance is alot rarer than stuff around the motor. Its only 4 bolts ( 2 on either side ) to remove it anyways. It serves no significance other than light protection. The gearbox is mounted to the inside of the chassus rails on brackets and the solid cross member thats welded towards the front of the gearbox supports nothing either, its only there for chassis support/strenth.

HTH,
Screwy

Thanks, both.
Guess i'll pull them all down. The rear one is already damaged from rust, i'll see if it can be fixed or if i should make a new one covering just the trans and handbrake-drum.

mine are sitting outside the shed......














and thats where they are staying too !

I pulled mine off to but put the one under the transfer due to the amount of damage the handbrake drum recieved

Yeah thats the reason im keeping that one, but only that one.

Screwy