It is bolted on with 5 bolts and comes standard with a access hole just to drain the motor oil. As an option, you can delete this access hole (which I opted to do). In order to do anything, you must remove the skid plate. It sounds like a hassle, but it's very simply to take on/off. The trade-off, of course, is great protection. It covers a larger area than the factory black plastic garbage, especially with the optional "stinger tail" which I also got. This tail extends the rear of the front skid plate just enough to cover the tranny.