dana 30 LCA skid weld on

[VAhasnoWAVES]

1/8 will work, its just as thick if not thicker than the mount. you ideally want 3/16" or 1/4" though. and tie it to the tube.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

i have a big sheet of 1/8 steel laying around, proabbly 4ft by 4ft, do you think 1/8 is enough, my jeep is
2.5 lift, 30 BFG AT tires, (upping to 31s soon) JK shocks, WJ control arms, skids etc. i dont do rocks per say... but i have noticed that these are inherrently weak. although christmas is coming and the price of the zone kit is decent enough for a stocking stuffer... maybe i will put it on the list..

I have a sheet just like that.. 1/8" worked for me.. One of them is "dinged up" but nothing worth fixing..

It is true that aftermarket mounts are better.. Meh.. i put a quick thought into it while i had the axle out.. I'm not paying to put new mounts on a Locked dana30 on 35s. the axle internally, is my jeeps "weak link" why buff and polish it to that fine of a detail?

 

[bobnoxious]

I personally like using the JKS mini skids.

And adding mini skids makes the stock LCA mounts stronger by leaps and bounds.

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

I went with the JKS mini skids, as well. They were cheap ($25, I believe), fit well, and the install was simple. Good, cheap insurance, IMO.

Craig

 

[sunburned]

I personally like using the JKS mini skids.

And adding mini skids makes the stock LCA mounts stronger by leaps and bounds.

Yup. My LCA mounts got bent to hell the first run I went out without the skids. That weld on the front of the skid to the axle tube prevents the mount from tearing off from the front like it would without the brace. A friend of mine ripped a mount off, but didn't have skids. I've had my whole jeep hung up on the skid while backing up and they still come out fine. Also, the lower edge of my skids have been ground down almost to a point, but they still haven't bent or touched the LCAs.


Here's some evidence to show east coast abuse:

 

[MoparManiac]

No pics, but on my buddy's D30 we plated with 1/4", and notched/bent/rewelded so we could attach it to the tube as well.

We also added weld washers to the bolt holes since he upped to 5/8" bolts (1.25" Ruffstuff heims).

 

[OutkastBoss]

my skids seem to hold up fine.. The stockers were bent to helll.. But seemed to hold

but some people love beating the hell out of their rig and are attached to the skinny pedal.. And taking the hardest lines... (dont see them ending up anywhere I don't go though )

to each they're own I'm shure I'm just not hardcore enough like you guys ripping them off are (haha).
which is what all those super tough mud truck guys think of cherokees in general with their sky high lifts on huge lift blocks .. ( got alot of those here)

In the end if I had a beater trail rig maybe I'd beat the hell out of it for fun (probably not).

 

[MoparManiac]

but some people love beating the hell out of their rig and are attached to the skinny pedal.. And taking the hardest lines... (dont see them ending up anywhere I don't go though )

Some people just like a challenge.

 

[kastein]

I buckled a set of lower brackets on a potholed dirt road in my stock MJ. It's not that difficult.

On the other hand I spent about 30 minutes with an angle grinder, welder, and 3/16" plate and gusseted the stock mounts on the 30 in my old jeep and never folded them once, even though I beat it like it owed me money. No skids across the bottom, just gusseted each side of the mount.



Cost: I think I paid 7 bucks for a 3 foot piece of 3" wide 3/16 plate at lowes... used about half of it, between the 2 LCA mounts and the passenger UCA mount

 

[OutkastBoss]

Some people just like a challenge.

that was more friendly than I was expecting haha

besides I'm plenty challenged... hah.

don't get me wrong I push what my rig can do and do have some body damage and spin tires here and there but some people I know are very proud of being ridiculous as hell. I don't go on trail rides w an old friend anymore because of this. (for some reason he breaks alot) hmm wonder why..
I'd rather make it to that campsite at the top or the cool view or whatever my goal is than spend all day tyring to wrench in the woods

anyway I suppose my time to break one will come and I'll change my tune. I have broken a trackbar mount before so yes it does get wheeled..

 

[Begster]

my skids seem to hold up fine.. The stockers were bent to helll.. But seemed to hold

but some people love beating the hell out of their rig and are attached to the skinny pedal.. And taking the hardest lines... (dont see them ending up anywhere I don't go though )

to each they're own I'm shure I'm just not hardcore enough like you guys ripping them off are (haha).
which is what all those super tough mud truck guys think of cherokees in general with their sky high lifts on huge lift blocks .. ( got alot of those here)

In the end if I had a beater trail rig maybe I'd beat the hell out of it for fun (probably not).

I mangled my LCA mount and ripped part of the weld going well under 10 mph, while I didn't have my foot on the skinny pedal at all. I definitely wouldn't say that what I was doing was "hardcore," as I was just driving on an access trail in snow and hit a rut that was hidden by the snow.

And taking the hardest lines... (dont see them ending up anywhere I don't go though )

Its not just about getting from point A to point B, its all about the path you took to get there.

In my eyes, driving up the more gnarly and twisted terrain is much more fun and rewarding then driving up the slightly uneven dirt road, even if they bring you to the same spot.

 

[zachandandy]

Begster, did you mangle a boxed lca with a welded in skid or a stock single weld factory pos? The difference in strength is huge. Put a piece of 1/4" plate in a vice and hit it with a hammer, it bends. No put a piece of box tube in a vice and hit it, doesn't bend so easy.

 

[JAS]

I also added a similar strip of metal to the passengers upper mount. For insurance... If I do fold it or the lower mounts then I need to consider a bigger axle... Not just bigger mounts.

Since I am a class one rod sicker and burn through artist I paid to have the welding done to a professional 4x4 shop. I think it was like $20 for the jks mini skids install and an additional 75 to have them fab similar for the one upper mount.

Since I was also having ARB and gears installed the extra $130 for the minor fab was just simple insurance because I was going to be pushing harder on my D30 and dragging the axle more.

 

[Begster]

Begster, did you mangle a boxed lca with a welded in skid or a stock single weld factory pos? The difference in strength is huge. Put a piece of 1/4" plate in a vice and hit it with a hammer, it bends. No put a piece of box tube in a vice and hit it, doesn't bend so easy.

Oh, no I understand the difference the cross sectional area of a structure has on its area moment of inertia and therefore resistance to bending.

I was just trying to make the point to OutkastBoss that you don't need to be doing some stupid hardcore stuff with heavy skinny pedal to need to box in your control arm mounts. My mounts were not boxed.

I'd rather make it to that campsite at the top or the cool view or whatever my goal is than spend all day tyring to wrench in the woods

I didn't see this before, but I think you're looking at things differently than others. Going out wheeling with the end goal of camping or making it to a scenic outlook is in a whole different ballpark of "offroading" than going out to go rock crawling and the like, where the point is to go wheel the biggest obstacles. (I'm not saying this in a mean way, just pointing it out)

 

[xjtrailrider]

I made my LCA skids out of a couple of old XJ U-bolt tie plates, some slight trimming and they work fine for me and i beat the hell out of them all the time.

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

what steering setup are you running on that axle? i see you went though the trouble of trussing it but didnt move the track bar or stabilizer mounts.

 

[xj^REMY]

ooo, good idea with the u-bolt plates xjtrailrider... & beeeautiful 30

did u rotate C's?

 

[xjtrailrider]

what steering setup are you running on that axle? i see you went though the trouble of trussing it but didnt move the track bar or stabilizer mounts.

Still stock but with a Big Daddy tie rod, no issues other than one bent drag link when i center punched a rock

ooo, good idea with the u-bolt plates xjtrailrider... & beeeautiful 30

did u rotate C's?

Nope, I'm running RE drop brackets and adjustable uppers and lowers. Drives straight at 65mph, its not "darty" and it re-centers easily. ZERO bump steer!