A HMMWV radiator, as well as the cooler, are rather expensive. Although the splash shields do offer some protection from rocks and debris thrown from the front wheel, they are probably limited to offering protection against little more than water.
Plastic tends to break down over time and exposure to elements. Although our side shields appeared serviceable, we opted to install supplemental armor to provide additional protection.
The picture below shows the RH side supplemental armor 2510-01-189-9744 [2510011899744] installed over the side shield.
There are two additional side shields available for each side. The standard (or basic) radiator shield for the RH side is 2510-01-185-7946 [2510011857946]. The supplemental armor is a little over twice as thick, and is called out as “armor plate.” The basic plate appears to be manufactured from mild steel.
Supplemental armor for the LH side is 9515-01-189-9728 [9515011899728], whereas the basic is 2510-01-185-3107 [2510011853107].
We also updated and improved the fasteners attaching the supplemental armor to the splash shields.
In the picture above, we did utilize the 5/16-18 x 1″ self tapping screw 5305-01-253-2993 [5305012532993] called out for attachment to the air lift mount. However, the TM calls out for a 5/16″ washer over a 3/8″ washer. We instead chose to use a 5/16″ lockwasher and a 5/16 x 1 1/8″ fender washer. In our opinion this offers an esthetic improvement as well as ensuring that the load is evenly distributed. We are unsure as to why this was not done instead of stacking two different size washers. Regardless, our substitution is appropriate.
On the other positions that did not call for a self tapping screw, we substituted 5/16-18 x 1″ “Wiz” bolts and nuts (also known as serrated flange) in place of the regular bolts called out for in the TM. Because of the serrated flanges, these act to some degree as a lock washer, and the flanged head helps distribute load on the inner side of the splash shield. Also, again we used 5/16 x 1 1/8″ fender washers in place of the stacked washers called out.