OEM Skid pics?

Whelp, I traded a fellar in Cali my Jet PCM for his OEM front-end and t-case skidplates.

I've figured out how the front-end skid mounts up, but haven't quite figured out the t-case one (in the 2 minutes I looked underneath, lol). Does anyone have any pics on how the OEM t-case skid for a '97+ XJ mounts? And just for fun, how about the front-end one, too?

My XJ is a '98, but the t-case skid is from a '99, and from what I hear, I'll need to drill new holes, correct?

No, you should'nt have to drill anything. The t-case skid fits diagonally from the crossmember to the drivers frame rail. it bolts to the crossmember with two bolts and the drivers frame rail with one bolt. You will need a nutcert to insert into the frame rail to screw the bolt into. for the two bolts at the crossmember, you can use a couple of standard bolts with washers and nuts. Its tough to get a wrench up inside the crossmember, I had to cut one in hlf to fit it inside, but it can be done. Sorry no pics but its not really that hard. hold it up to the crossmember, when the bolt holes line up there, you can tell which hole to use in the frame.

From personal experience, the TC skid is better than nothing, but I'd ditch it and get a good aftermarket one, unless you only wheel on mild trails with few rocks. As for the front skid, mine has been reinforced with 1"x1"x1/8" angle welded on horizontally, but I wish that I had also reinforced the sides because I partially collapsed the driver side of it on a rock somewhere on the Rubicon.

My T-case skid had a transfer case drop on it, but you get the idea.

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Thanks Ray and Tim, that's exactly what I was looking for! :kissyou:

Ok, enough with the gay shiat... lol

meatplow5150 said:

From personal experience, the TC skid is better than nothing, but I'd ditch it and get a good aftermarket one, unless you only wheel on mild trails with few rocks. As for the front skid, mine has been reinforced with 1"x1"x1/8" angle welded on horizontally, but I wish that I had also reinforced the sides because I partially collapsed the driver side of it on a rock somewhere on the Rubicon.

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My personal opinion of the factory t-case skid is that it offer adequate protection, its actually stronger than the crossmember, but it just hangs down so dang low. It eats up at least an inch more clearance than it needs to. Its not so bad if you have a 242 but its a waste of clearance for a 231.

I'll go into a bit more detail on the front one. The front one uses 4 STUDS that go thru the cross member. If you still have that splash guard the holes are under it in the cross member. Those holes ARE threaded. The factory kit had the studs, and 8 nuts, 4 locking and 4 nylocks. I added 8 washers and picked up a few extra nuts, I used two nuts on one stud as jam nuts and used one to chase the paint out of the threaded holes. Then when I installed the studs I backed them with stainless washers on both sides and antiseized the snot out of them, same anti-seize thing on those two big bolts that go into the frame. Exercise care when installing it, that $#%$ plate slipped out of my hands a couple of times and whacked me in my noggin when I was installing it.
I did buy it new from the dealer, took it home with the OEM gas tank skid and cleaned, primed and rustoleum painted it.
I used the washers becasue that front cross member is pretty thin body type metal, the washers gave it a bit more strength.

Thread revival! I'm now (finally!!!) installing my two skidplates. How the hell do you get a nut into the "frame rail" for the TC skid?!

RenegadeStang said:

Thread revival! I'm now (finally!!!) installing my two skidplates. How the hell do you get a nut into the "frame rail" for the TC skid?!

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It is a nut cert, think threaded rivet on the inside, it goes in the frame and is squeezed with an expansion tool leaving a threaded hole. Dealer should have them and the tool. Personally I'd come up with a better method, maybe come up with some L shaped brackets, thick so you can thread them, and go in from the outside of the rails with self tappers like the rock sliders. Too many try to take them off a few months or a couple of years down the road and the nut certs spin in the frame making it a PIA to get the skid off..

RichP said:

Personally I'd come up with a better method, maybe come up with some L shaped brackets, thick so you can thread them, and go in from the outside of the rails with self tappers like the rock sliders.

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I think I like the idea of those brackets, but I can't quite picture how they would be mounted to the frame rail. Do you have any sort of illustration?

Just think L shaped with threaded holes so you can screw in the TC skid and use the same holes the nutcert goes into for depth. Then drill two or three holes on the outside of the frame rail and the other part of the bracket and use self tappers to mount.

RichP said:

Just think L shaped with threaded holes so you can screw in the TC skid and use the same holes the nutcert goes into for depth. Then drill two or three holes on the outside of the frame rail and the other part of the bracket and use self tappers to mount.

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Ahhh... Gotcha! I'll have to see what I can do about that. Much thanks!

gojeep has a write-up on his website to modify the t-case skid so it doesn't hang down so low...might be worth checking out.