Yes, the Slee does attach to the radiator. I asked Slee about using the tow points and received a lengthy (and informative) response. If you're interested, watch the video starting at 27:45 to see an LC jump and break the radiator on some sand dunes. Then read Christo's response (the owner of Slee Offroad).
Christo's response to whether or not Slee uses the tow points to attach their skid plate:
Looking at that damage there is nothing a set of skid plates that are attached to the tow points is going to make a difference. It is not even clear whether it was the skid plate / cross member or maybe some other part that damaged the radiator without seeing what was damaged during the bottoming out of the truck. There is a relatively large gap between the first cross member and the radiator. The AC condenser is also in front of the radiator. It is entirely possible some internal component or any of the multitude items that are in front of the radiator did the damage. See attached photo. Unless you put a massive crossmember there and try to even lower that skid plate the tow point attachment does not really come into play. I do not believe it was the fact that it was attached to that crossmember that caused the issue.
We designed our skid plates as high clearance as possible and arguably it might not even have bent in like that since it sits as high as possible. We decided not to use hidden fasteners that inevitably require standoffs to be welded on the skid plates and drop the skid plate down. We attach directly to the cross members and use low profile counter sunk bolts with protection washers. That allowed us to get the skids about 1 to 1.5” higher than most offerings on the market currently. The bolts are easily replaced if damaged vs dealing with hidden fasteners and collapsed stand offs.
The LC 250 does not have the sway bar in front of the crossmember, so it allowed us to put the skid plate as high as possible. On the GX550 the sway bar is in that location that got crushed and there is additional brace installed that would help in an impact like this.
We also don’t attach to the tow points since we designed the front skid plate to easily remove for oil changes. You need access to the oil filter, and we found that just leaving a small access port is not conducive to easy servicing. For the drain plug we do have an access port and a built-in funnel to make draining easier.
We will do steel in the near future. With our use of 7ga (3/16”) Grade 50 High Strength steel it would hold up better in an impact like that. Even the Aluminum would be better.
