Best skids / armor?

wayoflife said:
Always reminds me of JKX 2013 and when one of the rigs broke the transfer case shifter linkage bushing after a day playing in Sand Hollow. Of course, the stupid skid plates made it impossible to reach the linkage and or work on anything being that they were screaming hot even 2 hours after we got off the trail. Of course, all the allen head bolts had been mashed in and so we couldn't even get them off. Long story short, we worked until 2 am trying to remove what bolts we could, bending down what skids we could just to fix a $2 part. The whole thing was just stupid.
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Great point. Lots of little recessed bolts on after-market skids. The factory skids seem to have bigger and fewer bolts, so I assume not a big problem to remove on the trail?
 
Captain Overkill said:
Great point. Lots of little recessed bolts on after-market skids. The factory skids seem to have bigger and fewer bolts, so I assume not a big problem to remove on the trail?
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You can always take a file to a mashed up bolt head and clean it up to the point where you can remove it with a socket or wrench. Not exactly the easiest thing to do with allen head bolt or any bolt that's recessed.
 
wayoflife said:
You can always take a file to a mashed up bolt head and clean it up to the point where you can remove it with a socket or wrench. Not exactly the easiest thing to do with allen head bolt or any bolt that's recessed.
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Yeah, those little allen heads don't seem like a good idea. If not smashed, they look like they will fill with packed in dirt making it a pain.
 
Captain Overkill said:
I don't know the accuracy of the difficulty ratings for the Badge of Honor trails, but I know he does some 9's (out of 10). He says he wears a multi-point harness for some tougher ones, as well. He probably drives _over_ the other vehicles at the mall for his mall crawling during Christmas shopping season. ;)
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Are they buggy trails?
 
WJCO said:
Are they buggy trails?
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Not that I know of, but some could be, I suppose. He has a highly modified JK that is a dedicated rock crawler. He trailers it to his wheeling locations. I wouldn't put it past him to do some buggy trails with it. He is a crazy MF'er! LOL! He is in PA, and I know he had done the toughest trails at Rausch Creek, which I believe are rated 9 out of 10, but he says he has done significantly tougher ones than that.
 
wayoflife said:
Always reminds me of JKX 2013 and when one of the rigs broke the transfer case shifter linkage bushing after a day playing in Sand Hollow. Of course, the stupid skid plates made it impossible to reach the linkage and or work on anything being that they were screaming hot even 2 hours after we got off the trail. Of course, all the allen head bolts had been mashed in and so we couldn't even get them off. Long story short, we worked until 2 am trying to remove what bolts we could, bending down what skids we could just to fix a $2 part. The whole thing was just stupid.
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Sounds about right.
 
Captain Overkill said:
Not that I know of, but some could be, I suppose. He has a highly modified JK that is a dedicated rock crawler. He trailers it to his wheeling locations. I wouldn't put it past him to do some buggy trails with it. He is a crazy MF'er! LOL! He is in PA, and I know he had done the toughest trails at Rausch Creek, which I believe are rated 9 out of 10, but he says he has done significantly tougher ones than that.
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lol

1741908912816.jpeg
 
OverlanderJK said:
Your buddy sounds like a badass. 👍🏻

#builtnotbought
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Dunno. I can only relay what he has told me. Never gone wheeling with him, and he has never gone off road (or cut trails) with me. He is a friend from when we both were boaters on the Chesapeake before I knew he was into Jeeps / wheeling. I do know he is a bit "crazy" from his street racing days.
 
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Captain Overkill said:
Not that I know of, but some could be, I suppose. He has a highly modified JK that is a dedicated rock crawler. He trailers it to his wheeling locations. I wouldn't put it past him to do some buggy trails with it. He is a crazy MF'er! LOL! He is in PA, and I know he had done the toughest trails at Rausch Creek, which I believe are rated 9 out of 10, but he says he has done significantly tougher ones than that.
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i have done most of the red harder trails at Rausch creek. factory skids are plenty and a harness isnt needed unless your driving like an ass. having a great spotter and taking your time is all thats really needed for those trails.
 
cozdude said:
i have done most of the red harder trails at Rausch creek. factory skids are plenty and a harness isnt needed unless your driving like an ass. having a great spotter and taking your time is all thats really needed for those trails.
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I am not sure the harness he referred to was for Rausch Creek. Might have been Tellico or somewhere else. We have all seen the videos of the rolled over Jeeps in various places. Some of you have seen it personally. Maybe he is a extra cautious guy. The type who won't even take off his seatbelt for going through fast food drive-through. Then again, nah, ... probably crazy! ;)
 
I understand the arguments against skids and would say your casual driver certainly does not need them.

Personally I run them. I've seen y-pipes & trans/oil pans get crushed/pierced on the trail. I've also seen the driver side exhaust loop on the JLs get smashed. In my case the JL392 exhaust is the lowest part of my jeep excluding the differentials and it absolutely needs a skid.

Pic for more info. This is from FB and not mine. Ignore the leak 😆 1742227552785.jpeg
 
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IceBerg said:
I've seen y-pipes & trans/oil pans get crushed/pierced on the trail. I've also seen the driver side exhaust loop on the JLs get smashed. In my case the JL392 exhaust is the lowest part of my jeep excluding the differentials and it absolutely needs a skid.
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No better way than to trap in a shit ton of heat than to put armor over an exhaust pipe. As far as oil and transmission pans go, the only time I've seen them get crushed is when a dumbass who doesn't know how to pick good lines is behind the wheel or doesn't use a spotter when he really needed one. As far as pierced pans go, yeah, can't say that I've ever seen that happen in persona and in the over 30 years of doing this Jeep thing but then, I am just a mall crawler.
IceBerg said:
Pic for more info. This is from FB and not mine. Ignore the leak 😆 View attachment 422276
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Not sure what the point of this pic was for but a full skid would sure as hell make it hard to see this leak let alone service it.
 
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