Skids, protection and more skids

I am almost afraid to ask questions without being told to do the search, so before I do ask a question I do search on few jeep forums and google.
But let's get back to skids.
First. What are OEM skids? My XJ didn't come with any skids so where does OEM come from? Are these the skids sold by chrysler/jeep dealerships or Mopar?
Second. There are so many skids available from different manufacturers. Are they interchangeable. Can I use front skid from Rustys and t-case skid from JCwhitney. Now if I fit body strenghtening plates, will the skids still fit? Which brings me to another question. Once I put the skids in, it seems then I would not need body strengtening plates as the skids give strenght to the body.
And lastly I ripped out that front rubber protection that was attached to front bumper I think. I believe it was protecting the radiator from underneath. How important is it to have and did it have anything to do with cooling and radiator air flow.

Thanks for your time, I just want to see if i can mix and match different skids from different manufacturers without doing any major modifications.

OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer - You know, Jeep.

The skids are all separate so you can mix and match if you like.

The engine/radiator bib is usually thrown out when it rips.

Unibody reinforcements prevent twisting of the Unibody, skids prevent blunt force trauma from rocks and logs/stumps.

Yes I know what OEM stands for, it's just that I have never seen skids on XJ that came factory installed.
What I am concerned about is that if I buy a gas tank skid, i can't really tell if it will fit with my rear hitch, nor can I tell if later I decide to install unibody strengthening plates in the back, they won't interfere with each other, but I guess it's difficult to answer the question without knowing exactly what gas tank skid I will be installing and I would really hate to loose my hitch for a skid. I want to be able to have both.

Edit: I guess it's a good reason to go to meet and greet meeting to check out how others are doing it.

The three stock skids were the gas tank skid, a front skid that protects the serpentine belt and the stock-height steering parts, and a transfer case skid. They are all pretty flimsy but are way better than nothing and they can be beefed.

Here is the gas skid with extra (interior) plating. It bolts to the same nuts as the hitch.



Here is a slightly modified engine skid at stock ride height. Once you lift the jeep the steering parts are below the skid, but it will still keep scrub from getting up into the belt.



Here is the stock tcase skid. It's the weakest of them all but then again the transfer case is just aluminum and if it breaks on a stump or something you aren't going anywhere. Basically it sits at a 45-degree angle between the center crossmember and the drivers frame rail



Other vendors off alternative skids, some of them use the stock mounting points and some of them provide their own hardware

And lastly I ripped out that front rubber protection that was attached to front bumper I think.

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Do you mean the splash shield under the engine? The large mat? It's just for protecting against puddles, replace it if you want, don't if you want, either way will work fine.

So usually there are 3 skids. front, t-case and tank? I ve seen some talk about oil pan skids. Is that just something extra some manufacturers provide.
Also I looked at cross members and they have one with 1 inch drop.Why would I need 1 inch dropped cross member, or any cross member other than stock.
Also if I do drop the t-case 1 inch lower for that death wobble vibration thing. Does it require special t-case skid or just fill in with spacers and longer bolts?
I can't recall if t-case is sitting over cross member that's why they have 1 inch dropped cross members.
Does the gas tank skid go over the hitch or under the hitch. I would think above hitch, otherwise I would loose inch of ground clearance, unless it doesn't matter.
Which gas tank skid is recommended, most cost effective?
Thanks for clarification.
You want to hear something funny. When I bought my Jeep 2-3 months ago. On the way home I took it OFF road and hit my gas tank on something hidden within the snow. Hit hard enough that I lost half tank of gas by the time I drove 15 miles home and replacing gas tank was my first introductionary job to XJ.

snowonweb said:

So usually there are 3 skids. front, t-case and tank?

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If the jeep was ordered with skids it came with all 3, otherwise it had none. There might be some exceptions but that's the rule

I ve seen some talk about oil pan skids. Is that just something extra some manufacturers provide.

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They are for Wranglers. We don't need them on the XJ, the oil pan is well protected by other stuff.

Also I looked at cross members and they have one with 1 inch drop.Why would I need 1 inch dropped cross member, or any cross member other than stock.

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The stock crossmember is stamped sheetmetal, and it's very thin. The first piece of armor I installed was a TNT crossmember that is solid steel, since I was dragging on the stocker a lot just running through weeds.

There are many factors affecting crossmember height. For starters, the manual transmission has a different plane than the automatic, and the crossmember for it is usually 1" lower. You can also buy a lower crossmember to reduce the angle of the output shaft going to the rear. You can also buy a higher crossmember... the stock crossmember is kind of tall, and its not hard to make one that is thinner that doesn't hang down so much.

Here is a pic of my TNT crossmember and the stock transfer case skid, you can see how the crossmember is thick plate and how it has less of a profile

Also if I do drop the t-case 1 inch lower for that death wobble vibration thing. Does it require special t-case skid or just fill in with spacers and longer bolts?

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You can do it either way but if you buy the custom crossmember you'll have to replace it when you get around to fixing your angles.

Does the gas tank skid go over the hitch or under the hitch. I would think above hitch, otherwise I would loose inch of ground clearance, unless it doesn't matter.

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The hitch and the gas skid share some bolts but the hitch uses more bolts. So if you put the gas skid on the bottom, you can remove it (and get at the gas tank) without having to drop the bumper to remove the hitch first. It doesn't hang an inch lower, it hangs the thickness of the hitch rails lower, which is usally 1/8 or 3/16

Excellent info, exactly what I needed to know.
Thank You very much.