What's this? Daughter noticed hanging down while following me. It feels like felt and the front edge is about even with the front wheels.

 

The infamous diaper! Stone shield maybe or aero, many have fallen off. Some get replaced under warranty, many get left off. Some including myself have put on a steel shield off of a Raptor, works for small hits and hides the cats fairly well. Some go to aftermarket skid plates ($) that are sturdier than the factory steel shield. If I remember 3 more bolts and you can remove it till you decide what to do. Jim

 

Just a felt splash shield and it probably helps deaden sound also. The one on my wife's truck was getting in tough shape around the mounting locations so I just took it off.

 

Very common with our trucks. Guys call it the "Diaper". The material is felt and is said to reduce sound. Thing is garbage.

 

Mine dropped about five years ago so I took it off and chucked it. Doesn't seem to have made any difference other than easier oil changes.

 

Thanks. I yanked the diaper and ordered to steel Rapter part.

 

It's for sound deadening and nothing more. Most are damaged by lazy oil change places who only remove one bolt, then pull/bend it down to gain access to the plug. A lot of time they forget to put the bolt back in.

Remove all the bolts and throw it away. I got rid of mine after the second oil change. That was 8 years ago.

 

A nice addition if you do your own oil changes is the Fumoto drain valve, I used the one with a nipple for a hose. Lay the hose on the shield in between changes. Easy to reach in and drain. They are slower though in drain time.

 

Do you have the part number for the raptor one? Both my 2015 and 2019 Gen 13 FX4 trucks included the steel version of that plate...another delete by mother Ford for Gen14. My dealer replaced my hairy cardboard one at my last oil change but I'm sure it will be gone in a year again.

 

HL3Z-7222-E. I skipped the additional piece at the front. Small access door for oil changes, I left it open on mine. Also if you have a decent hardware nearby I used u-nuts from hardware and bolts I had on hand. Some have mentioned pretty crazy prices from Ford for bolts and nuts. To each his own! Jim

 

I have replaced mine once so far in 42000 miles. It does offer some protection to components underneath so I opted to replace mine. I forget the exact price but it was around $200 and not covered apparently by warranty even though I have the extensive extended warranty on my truck.

Just curious how much is the steel plate from the Raptor. If I have to replace it again I may opt for the Raptor steel plate. Is it safe to assume the Raptor plate bolts right on with no adaptation?

 

I believe I gave my local dealer parts guy $140ish for mine. A quick internet search just got prices from 112 to 190 , there is a small plate that can go with this that I left off. Oil change access I believe, I didn't bother with it. There are 2 screws at the front that you reuse from the original piece and 2 on each side that you will add. On mine (23 XLT) it bolted right up no drama. This may fit a bunch of different stuff, when I told parts guy the parts number he asked if I was sure cause his system showed it fitting an Expedition. Jim

 

OK, I repaced the diaper with the steel guard from the Raptor. I screwed up ordering the parts thinking I was ordering one each and I was getting 4 each on the nut clips and bolts. They want a pretty hefty repacking fee for those, so I'd be willing to send some to anyone who wants to pay the shipping.

 

should I have this shield on my 22 xl regular cab short bed? Since this shield seems to be there for sound deadening maybe XL's wouldn't have the shield. Any XL owners know? I guess I could slide under my truck and check but don't really want to (too old0

 

Well, in a house cleaning fit the extra bolts and nut clips got thrown away.