Gas Tank Skid

Moto · Jul 21, 2003

I am trying to find a factory skid for a 98 XJ, but from what I have been told by a few dealers is that the whole kit is no longer available, one place said that they can get me just the skid and some bracket but not the whole kit. Anyone know where I can find one?
What does everyone think about the tomken skid? and its fitment on the 97+ xj's?

RichP · Jul 21, 2003

The skid consists of 3 pieces, not counting bolts, two nut cert rails that go inside the frame rails and the skid plate itself, Skids come in two models, one thats kind of flat and wraps around the tank and the other one that has two fins on it that the consensus says are for drainage. Start looking at bone yards for them. You should only need the drivers side nutcert plate, my 98 had the passenger side one already in and the tailpipe hung from it.
You will also need to remove your rear bumper to put the other plate in on the drivers side. At the same time you order the nut cert plate see if they can order your the rear hook bracket, it's a $20 part and will take a normal 3 hole steel horse hook. For the bolts just pull one of the tail pipe bolts and take it to a gooe hardware store and pick up 8 more of the same size or 1/2" longer.

Moto · Jul 21, 2003

I checked at a couple boneyards. not much luck yet but gonna try some more tomorrow. Is anyone running an after market skidplate on a 97+ XJ? If so how do you like it? I have rear hitch so I need one that will still work with the reciever hitch.

ender · Jul 21, 2003

Tomken gas tank skid is a poor design. We ordered one
for a 95 and returned it. It is mounted on to the threaded
j-hooks in front of gas tank. If you land the skid on a rock,
it will crash the tank and/or will pop the j hooks off their
slots.

BLUTO · Jul 22, 2003

gas tank skid

I just got one for my 2000 XJ, it is sitting at the dealer waiting for me to come and pick it up. My parts guy at the dealer and I are on a first name basis (I have spent a few bucks there in the last several months

), but that shouldn't matter....you should be able to order a new skid plate. Mine came out of Milwaukee and was ~$212. I work for DaimlerChrysler, it is considerably less.
I bought engine and TC skids, both for less than $100,...a non-employee would of paid just over $100.
Mark (counterman) has been able to get me stuff that is on national backorder or discontinued (fr & rr mud guards). The name of the dealership is: Clarkston Chrysler/Jeep 248-625-2635.
If your guy can't get it, it may be because he's LAZY

When DC discontinues a type of vehicle (ex. XJ) they will have a HUGH clearance sale and the "dealer-installed" accessories go out-the-door at cost or less!

BLUTO

Eagle · Jul 22, 2003

Re: gas tank skid

BLUTO said:
When DC discontinues a type of vehicle (ex. XJ) they will have a HUGH clearance sale and the "dealer-installed" accessories go out-the-door at cost or less!

BLUTO

Correct. DCX had the clearance sale on XJ stuff two years ago. They were selling the gas tank skids for something like $20 each back in the summer of 2001. Lots of people were buying them in lots of a dozen and selling them on e-Bay.

It's nothing short of a miracle that your guy was able to find one. It didn't come from a warehouse ... had to have come from a dealer who still had one on the shelf (or in the barn).

rockwerks · Jul 22, 2003

Tomken gas tank skid is a poor design. We ordered oneIt is mounted on to the threaded
j-hooks in front of gas tank. If you land the skid on a rock,
it will crash the tank and/or will pop the j hooks off their
slots.

That wont happen...I dont like how theirs is built but I hang mine the same way.....and in testing we dropped the back of my xj 4 feet onto a 3' boulder several times, 10 to be exact, and it didnt even budge....mine is 3/16" bent steel hangs from those bolts and attaches to the body fold @ the rear bumper....Ive trashed my rear skid and no problems...matter of fact I use it to jack up the rear to change tires...theirs is boxed adn mine ramps to the rear so you cn use it to ramp over things...and open sides so yo can wash out the debris that collects there.

BLUTO · Jul 22, 2003

Re: Re: gas tank skid

Eagle said:
Correct. DCX had the clearance sale on XJ stuff two years ago. They were selling the gas tank skids for something like $20 each back in the summer of 2001. Lots of people were buying them in lots of a dozen and selling them on e-Bay.

It's nothing short of a miracle that your guy was able to find one. It didn't come from a warehouse ... had to have come from a dealer who still had one on the shelf (or in the barn).

He told me that Milwaukee has a warehouse. DCX has them set-up around the country in zones. Good chance that MOTO can still get one if he calls that #, they may drop-ship or transfer it for him.

BLUTO

EricsXJ · Jul 22, 2003

ender said:
Tomken gas tank skid is a poor design. We ordered one
for a 95 and returned it. It is mounted on to the threaded
j-hooks in front of gas tank. If you land the skid on a rock,
it will crash the tank and/or will pop the j hooks off their
slots.

Disagree. I have this skid plate and it works. In fact I prefer it to the factory skid. The issue about hanging from the threaded rods is a non-issue and here's why -

That is the front of the skid plate. Where is the front of the skid plate? Right behind and above the axle. If you can get a rock to hit the front portion of that skid I'd like to see pics of the carnage and abuse you put your XJ through!

When you come down on a rock it is almost always toward the REAR of the skid which is tapered to allow you to slide off of it. The rear portion of the skid is mounted along the rear crossmember and is quite strong.

One nice thing about the skid is it leaves the frame rails open for use with other items such as a hitch, or rear bumper mounting brackets.

Another nice thing about the Tomken skid is it is fully enclosed on all 4 sides. Some factory skids are not.

rockwerks · Jul 22, 2003

Another nice thing about the Tomken skid is it is fully enclosed on all 4 sides. Some factory skids are not.

That is teh bad thing about the skid...it will fill with small rokca snd junk and put a hole through your tank...you need to drop it every 6 months and clean it jout...I have seen tanks get punctured by junk that collects in this skid....keep it clean...

EricsXJ · Jul 22, 2003

Not so sure about that either. There are 2 drain holes that are 3/4" wide on the bottom of the pan. After wheeling I flush the dirt and debris out until all I see if clear water flowing out the drain holes. You are right though about pulling off the skid every once in a while due to the odd chance a slightly larger rock gets in. I've never pulled mine off though and I've had it at least 2 years.

collegeoffroad · Jul 23, 2003

not to knock the Tomken skids or anything, but for just a little more (the tomken ones are $159 for the gas tank skids) at $175, you could get the Skid Row skids. The main benefit that I can see here is that they use a bit thicker steel. Instead of 1/8" steel, they use 3/16". I don't actually have any of these, but am looking into doing the same thing on mine, so I've been looking around a bit. As far as their other undercarriage stuff, I'd probably go with Rusty's offroad- they make the same 3/16" steel skids for all around and it's cheaper than Skid row.
http://www.rustysoffroad.com/skids_xj.html

http://www.skidplates.com/skid_plates_84_01_XJ.htm

if anyone has either one of these, let us know what you think! I'm still looking, so I am by no means sold on either one of these, although I've heard very good things about Rusty's.

Moto · Jul 23, 2003

Ok I called a ton of places now for the factory skid, verdict is Chrysler has no more kits the only way to order them is to buy the plate and then buy the nut strips separate but are looking at $250+ and it doesnt include any hardware, not an issue for me but it may be for some. That is still a bit much, Salvage yards dont seem to be of too much luck, got one more that is gonna check for me tomorrow, hopefully that all works out well, if not it seems as though I may have to break down and buy an aftermarket one. I was lookin at the tomken and the skidplates.com one but dunno how much I like the whole side protection thing, as it has been said, it holds rocks and mud and in my area Salt and Calcium during the winter I dunno what the rusty's kit is like, or how many people have actually recieved one from him ( I have heard many bad things about his shipping) so I am kinda weary to buy any of those. So as of right now I am still workin on getting a factory skid but if it turns up that there arent any anywhere I will just buy an aftermarket so keep the opinions coming I don't want to buy something that I will regret
thanks

robs · Jul 23, 2003

EricsXJ said:
Not so sure about that either. There are 2 drain holes that are 3/4" wide on the bottom of the pan. After wheeling I flush the dirt and debris out until all I see if clear water flowing out the drain holes. You are right though about pulling off the skid every once in a while due to the odd chance a slightly larger rock gets in. I've never pulled mine off though and I've had it at least 2 years.

I fabbed my own...

I was worried about this too.. but I left the plastic skid in place, and there's about 1/2 clearance between the fabbed steel one and the plastic one... hopefully this will leave enough "dead space" to help keep this from happening...

Only been in place for a few months... time will tell...

BLUTO · Jul 23, 2003

Moto said:
Ok I called a ton of places now for the factory skid, verdict is Chrysler has no more kits the only way to order them is to buy the plate and then buy the nut strips separate but are looking at $250+ and it doesnt include any hardware, not an issue for me but it may be for some. That is still a bit much, Salvage yards dont seem to be of too much luck, got one more that is gonna check for me tomorrow, hopefully that all works out well, if not it seems as though I may have to break down and buy an aftermarket one. I was lookin at the tomken and the skidplates.com one but dunno how much I like the whole side protection thing, as it has been said, it holds rocks and mud and in my area Salt and Calcium during the winter I dunno what the rusty's kit is like, or how many people have actually recieved one from him ( I have heard many bad things about his shipping) so I am kinda weary to buy any of those. So as of right now I am still workin on getting a factory skid but if it turns up that there arent any anywhere I will just buy an aftermarket so keep the opinions coming I don't want to buy something that I will regret
thanks

Call that dealer's number that I posted (ask for Mark in PARTS). I talked to him earlier and he said that you can't buy the "accessory" skidplate (since most dealers got rid of all their XJ stuff when the Liberty came out). You want the OEM skidplate, it is the SAME one that the factory installed: it should be $212 + tax.
Mark has an XJ, he knows what he is doing,

BLUTO

2offroad · Jul 23, 2003

the last i heard skid rows did not 97 up XJs, that is why i have a Tomken skid on the way, i will post back on how it works on my 98.

outlawjeep · Jul 23, 2003

I have been talking with Eric at Skid Row about the '97+ skids for the gas tank. Last I heard was that they should be shipped out in September. I just e-mailed him a few minuets ago about it and will let you know what he says. Also, I gave him a bit of info that a freind told me, "The'97+ XJ's used the same tank as the ZJ. The skids should be about the same." He said that they tried it and it did kinda fit ( you need to have different holes to mount it up or something) but he said that it fit and thanked me for the info. Now if I could just talk him into giving me a discount for the info I would be all set...

Art Triggs · Jul 23, 2003

I have a 96 xj, the skidrow skid fit, but because of the hitch (hidden hitch) I had to do some metal bending to get it all to fit, the rearmost legs of the skid row plate had to fit over one part of the hitch, with the skid installed there is almost 3/4" clearance between the tank and the skid, it has drainage holes, and seems very sturdy, I like the fact that they chose to use the "frame" rails to mount the skid instead of what appears to be the gas tank brackets, it is strong enough that it does not appear to flex if you jack up the jeep fom the center of the skid........

97XJ · Jul 24, 2003

Try Lambertauto.com,I got OEM gas skid(bolts&nut
certs)for my 97 for $125+shipping a couple of months ago.

Moto · Aug 7, 2003

Thanks for all the help, I went with http://www.lambertauto.com/ they were a huge help and were able to get me everything I needed for the least amount of $, they seem like they have thier act together and advertise that they buy and stock old AMC/Chrysler Jeep parts

Gas Tank Skid

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