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Skids

stoneattic

stoneattic

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Honey Brook, PA
I'm looking at upgrading to something better than the factory skids. I'm mainly thinking about an engine/trans skid and a t-case skid. I've been searching and found a few experiences here and there but was hoping people could chime in with various experiences, good and bad, with various brands.

TIA
 
stoneattic said:
I'm looking at upgrading to something better than the factory skids. I'm mainly thinking about an engine/trans skid and a t-case skid. I've been searching and found a few experiences here and there but was hoping people could chime in with various experiences, good and bad, with various brands.

TIA
Click to expand...

I my experience, I have never seen the need for an engine skid. I have never seen anyone in a XJ get into their oil pan in the rocks. I have seen this happen in a TJ though, not sure why but TJ's seem to be more susceptible to this than XJ's. But I HAVE bent a few factory cross members. I would either build a strong crossmember, or buy a nice strong one aftermarket, then mount a good t-case skid to it and call it done. After I bent my second factory crossmember (and this was before anything was available aftermarket...), I made a crossmember out of 2x8 rectangular 1/4" wall tubing, spaced it down off the frame 1/4" and bolted it to the factory location. It took the weight of the entire Jeep a few times with no problem.

HTH's
A.
 
x2 on the Rusty's engine/trans skid. I have seen 2 Skid Row engine/trans skids bent from contact with rocks, but never did anything more than a scratch on the Rusty's.

I ran a Skid Row t'case skid before the TNT LA, and was happy with it.

Depending on the terrain you run, I would recommend a set of LCA skids, either the Skid Row bolt-ons or the weld on JKS.

Skid Row and Tomken make nice gas tank skids, good experience with both.
 
Thanks guys

I was looking at Rusty's, looks like it covers a lot. Any loss of ground clearance? It seems like a lot of aftermarket t-case skids hang pretty low. I'm only on 31s right now (33s soon) so I don't want to give up too much clearance.
 
The Rusty's sits flush with the transmission crossmember, so no loss there.

The Skid Row t'case skid is designed to work with a 1" crossmember drop , so it will dip a little if you don't have a t'case drop.

Here's a pic of the Skid Row on my 91:

1078724873037396418S600x600Q85.jpg
 
Sorry to resurrect a kind of old thread, but I was hoping for some more feedback on engine & t-case skids. I'm leaning towards Rusty's engine/trans as well as the t-case. I know lots of people have had issues with Rusty's but it seems that people have had good luck with their skids.

Currently I have factory engine, t-case and gas tank skids. Are aftermarket skids a significant improvement? Who had had damage with the factory skids?



thanks
 
DPGOffroad.com makes an awesome belly/t-case skid....and also a great fuel tank skid!
 
ah, didnt realize you had the 242, my bad...

well, you could still get their gas tank skid :)
 
My SkidRow skid works great, and since the 242 is a bit lower than the 231, and I dont have a tcase drop, it works great. A few good hits and it tucked up real nice, but now I need to take it off and rebend it since its about 1/8" from my tcase.
 
mecompco:
The TNT belly pan is sweet but awfully pricey compared to a more "normal" t-case skid. I'd love to get it but I don't think I have that kind of $ to spend on a skid unless I want to not get some other things I have planned (gear for example).

93XJLI:
I've heard a few people mentioning their Skid Row t-case skids getting bent. That concerns me.
 
Since I have the Clayton's kit that replaces the crossmember and uses the outboard ends for CA mounts, a conventional aftermarket skid wouldn't bolt-on for me. So I made one that's very similar to the Totota mini-truck one. A buddy had given me a skidplate off of a Ranger, I cut the end 18" off of it, located and market it for holes on my Clayton's crossmember center section, drilled and tapped holes in the crossmember (it's 1/4" thick) and bolted it on in five places. I'm considering some sort of support at the aft end of it, but it's stout as-is, and will hopefully only ever "skid" off of things on the way over, keeping the aluminum T-case from taking the brunt of a rock landing.

I also skidded my LCA mounts on the axle with some rectangular pieces of 3/16" steel I cut to fit. Hopefully it will keep the ridiculous sheet metal bracket from getting mangled. It seems stout.

It also seems I have a solid lead on a factory gas tank skid, at which point I'll be as skidded as I need to be.
 
i have the skid row t case skid - awesome product

i have a stock oem gas tank skid for my 99 - it is pretty good for a stamped stock skid and has held up well on a few hard trail hits - rocks? we will see i can always beef it up but not nearly as strong as an aftermarket 3/16 which is fully welded and better reinforced
 
Just a quick note on the LCA brackets on the axle: You can use old spring plates from a rear axle on here. All that is needed is to cut down one side 1/2 way across the holes from the U-bolts, and then weld them on. I have done this to all of my XJs', and my 2 MJ's. It is really working well, as the plates are 3/16" thick to start. I also welded one to the Pass. side upper mount, as it is just folded sheetmetal also. The plates can be found with a small "radius" on the short side that helps to skid them over stuff, instead of the "bottom" edge being straight, since the "radius" wraps back up under the control arm a little bit, and maybe becoming an anchor, if you have to back up.
 
I think all of the aftermarket ones suck. Simply because they have NO respect for ground clearance. The stock x-member hangs down about 2" IIRC, and is basically an anchor.

A lot of the aftermarket skids are a similar height, or lower.

Here is mine for height:

P1010624.jpg


Tcase is raised with a custom mount, and everything clears. There's a rear portion to the skid too, but it's not on there. The idea was to flat-belly the entire thing, and the only way that I really failed was that I left the bolt heads down, and the skid does not extend foreward enough - but I have never touched the oil pan despite crushing my exhaust cross-pipe.

Anyways, basically I can't recommend anything.
 
DirtyMJ said:
I think all of the aftermarket ones suck. Simply because they have NO respect for ground clearance. The stock x-member hangs down about 2" IIRC, and is basically an anchor.

A lot of the aftermarket skids are a similar height, or lower.

Here is mine for height:

P1010624.jpg


Tcase is raised with a custom mount, and everything clears. There's a rear portion to the skid too, but it's not on there. The idea was to flat-belly the entire thing, and the only way that I really failed was that I left the bolt heads down, and the skid does not extend foreward enough - but I have never touched the oil pan despite crushing my exhaust cross-pipe.

Anyways, basically I can't recommend anything.
Click to expand...

I like the idea of a flat belly. I looked at tying to come up with a flat belly skid/crossmember but it would take a serious amount of raising the t-case, particularly with my 242. How high did you have to raise it? Did you have to "clearance" the floor to do it?
 
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