Skid plates/Armor what is required?

I do all sorts of different wheeling. I wheel in the desert, mud, hard pack dirt and I love rock crawling. I have not done much rock crawling in my own rig because of the fact i have NO skid plates or armor.

This is what im thinking...

Im soon going to get the TNT long arm kit which comes with an integrated T-Case skid so im good there...
Im also going to get a gas tank skid (how necessary is this and how many people that rock crawl have them?)
Im also going to get rocker panel guards.
I already have front and rear diff guards I just have to find time to install them.

If I had these items:
TNT integrated t case skid
gas tank skid
rock rails &
front and rear diff guards

Would you say that its pretty well protected or am I forgetting a certain skid? I don’t want to break on the trail if it could have been prevented by simply adding a skid plate. Thanks again for the info... You guys are awesome. :us:

fdsa487 said:

Im also going to get a gas tank skid (how necessary is this and how many people that rock crawl have them?)

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very necessary. i have a stock one, and it has held up to quite a bit of abuse, but it will soon be time to replace it.

IntrepidXJ said:

very necessary. i have a stock one, and it has held up to quite a bit of abuse, but it will soon be time to replace it.

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Yeah my Cherokee Sport TRAIL RATED does not have any armor... What ones come with skid plates stock? The Limited's or the Classics or something?

Find one (gas tank skid) on a Grand cherokee they are a little beefier than the stock xj skids.

fdsa487 said:

Yeah my Cherokee Sport TRAIL RATED does not have any armor... What ones come with skid plates stock? The Limited's or the Classics or something?

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mine didn't come with it either....got it from a junkyard pretty cheap

BRIANHO13,

I just got back from the local pick and pulls trying to find an XJ gas tank skid and had no luck but found dozens of Grand Cherokee gas tank skids.

Did you install a Grand gas tank skid on your Cherokee?
Did it bolt right up or did you have to modify it?
If you had to modify it what did it require?

John

i know a zj skid bolts up for the 97 and newer xj's!

I know that my buddy's 93ish Country Edition XJ has all sorts of stock skid-plates and they are quite beefy.

nosigma said:

BRIANHO13,

I just got back from the local pick and pulls trying to find an XJ gas tank skid and had no luck but found dozens of Grand Cherokee gas tank skids.

Did you install a Grand gas tank skid on your Cherokee?
Did it bolt right up or did you have to modify it?
If you had to modify it what did it require?

John

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1) YES
2) BOLTED RIGHT UP
3) NO MODS, But I used hitch hardware to attach it, because I only had a nut strip on one side. I think you can get nuts strip pretty cheap though.

P.S. I have a 98

what year grands? I know what the 96 and older XJ stock gas tank skid looks like....are the grand ones thicker?

After a little searching it appears that the ZJ skid (93-98) will only fit the 97 and up XJ. My XJ is a 92 so it looks like I am out of luck unless someone has made the swap or can ID what mods are needed to swap to an older XJ.

Anyone done the swap to an older XJ?

John

What year ZJ skids will work? All models too? I'm gonna go to the junkyard this weekend & pick one up, I'll let ya'll know what happens.

nosigma said:

After a little searching it appears that the ZJ skid (93-98) will only fit the 97 and up XJ. My XJ is a 92 so it looks like I am out of luck unless someone has made the swap or can ID what mods are needed to swap to an older XJ.

Anyone done the swap to an older XJ?

John

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I am almost willing to bet you can drill new holes in the skid, and mount it to existing holes in your xj "frame". Buy one and check. If it won't end up working sell it on ebay, you could probably get 100 easy for it.

You might also want to consider an oil pan skid as well as LCA skids. I know you can get weld-on ones for around $30