Giving Some Love to Factory Skidplates!!

wayoflife

wayoflife

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I always hear people talk about how much the factory skidplates suck, how inadequate they are and how important it is to install heavy and expensive aftermarket replacements. And, truth be told, I just don't get it. I mean, I'm totally on board with protecting vital parts on your Jeep that come with little to no protection at all, such as the oil pan on all JK's, the automatic transmisson sump pan on 2011-up JK's and even a very exposed transmission cooler line on 2012-up, but I simply have not seen any need to replace what you already get for free from the factory. Sure, things like your gas tank, transfer case or automatic transmission skid plate may get beat to all hell and may not look real pretty after a lot of wheeling but, in the over 5 years we've been punishing the 4 JK's we've owned, I have yet to see any of them fail. In fact, I have yet to see or hear of any factory skid fail on any of the JK's that join us on our runs or, even online for that matter.

Having said all that, I'd like to take a moment and give some love to the under-appreciated factory skidplates. They are provided for FREE from the factory, do not add extra weight, do not hide leaks that you want to see, don't trap in excessive amounts of heat like aftermarket skids do, are easy to remove and because of it, allow for easy access to service your transmission and transfer case. Again, I would be the first to recommend protection of vital parts on your Jeep such as your oil pan and transmission on newer JK but, only because they come with little to no protection at all.

I'm sure there will be people out there who will go on and on about how wrong I am but, I'm the kind of guy who prefers to go off of what I've seen and not what I imagine can happen. :cool:
 
Look Ma, no aftermarket skid plates!!

Yep, even EVO 1 has always run factory skids. Here's a shot of them back when it was still back and on the UA representing Hobart...
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Of course today, they no longer have a factory gas tank but, they still aren't running any aftermarket skids...
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My only issue with the stock skids are how exposed the bolts are. Constantly dragging them over rocks tends to cause the heads of the bolts to get crushed. Numerous times I've had to take the dremel to the side of a bolt to trim it down so I can get a socket on it.

A lot of the aftermarket skids have a recessed bolt so rocks can slide over them without causing any damage.
 
dremex said:
My only issue with the stock skids are how exposed the bolts are. Constantly dragging them over rocks tends to cause the heads of the bolts to get crushed. Numerous times I've had to take the dremel to the side of a bolt to trim it down so I can get a socket on it.

A lot of the aftermarket skids have a recessed bolt so rocks can slide over them without causing any damage.
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and that's a totally fair point to make. but still, i'd rather have the option to use a file or dremel to make those bolts useable again than to have to deal with flush pan head allen bolts. while they provide a smooth surface, i have seen where they too can still get damaged and then, not even a dremel can get them out. if it's that important, i suppose you could always installing the bolt head protectors like what rock hard uses on their skids or like what OMF uses on their bead locks.
 
I couldn't agree more. Mine has taken plenty of hits over the years and it hasn't let me down.


image-1879059469.jpg

I like to think of the dings and scratches as badges of honor. Nothing a flat black rattle can cant handle.

Save your money and show your factory skids plates some love.
 
wayoflife said:
and that's a totally fair point to make. but still, i'd rather have the option to use a file or dremel to make those bolts useable again than to have to deal with flush pan head allen bolts. while they provide a smooth surface, i have seen where they too can still get damaged and then, not even a dremel can get them out. if it's that important, i suppose you could always installing the bolt head protectors like what rock hard uses on their skids or like what OMF uses on their bead locks.
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That's a great idea, for some reason it never occurred to me to try and buy head protectors as a stand alone part! I think I'll have to try and track some of these down and give them a trial run this year.
 
Thanks for posting this WOL! Ive always kinda felt bad for my factory skid being soo smashed to all heck! But then I watched your videos and noticed that yours and the peoples that run with you are too.
Mine look pretty (actually prolly really bad :crazyeyes:) bad these days but I am glad to have them!

Thank you Factory Skids!:thumb:

Do you do anything to them, anti-rust stuff or just let them be as is?

I dont know what happened, but my brother had a huge dent in his skid that was pushing up on the gas tank and it broke some kind of bracket somewhere tho, but the skids still work amazingly!
 
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This is a real good topic ive always thought about. People have always told me first get rid of the stock skids for some aftermarket ones. Thanks everyone for postin about the stock ones being good skids. Then when i get me a jeep i want be afraid of hittin the skid.
 
NAUJK said:
Do you do anything to them, anti-rust stuff or just let them be as is?
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out here in socal, things like rust are a non-issue but, i still hit the bottom of the skids with some frame paint from time to time. just to pretty them up ;)

Drumr90 said:
This is a real good topic ive always thought about. People have always told me first get rid of the stock skids for some aftermarket ones. Thanks everyone for postin about the stock ones being good skids. Then when i get me a jeep i want be afraid of hittin the skid.
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well, i'll tell you, if i ever have any problems with my skids, i'd be the first to tell you. in the mean time, i just hope to save you some money so that you can invest it in things that you really need. :yup:
 
sm_rubi said:
I found a bad combination of events and products to make the oem gas tank skid not so great. We came down right on a boulder and popped the spot welds holding one of the braces on the skid, that alone probably would still be okay but since we're running the adapter plates on our DS they rubbed against the skid leaving metal shavings all over the trail.
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Frank, I would swear that you took that photo under my JK! I have the identical battle scar :crazyeyes:
 
skidplate-abuse.jpg

Now, I would be the first to say that both skidplates did their job of protecting the transfer case. The only difference is that one came on the JK from the factory at no additional cost and, the other will cost you an additional $315 while offering NO better protection. I'm just sayin...
 
wayoflife said:
Now, I would be the first to say that both skidplates did their job of protecting the transfer case. The only difference is that one came on the JK from the factory at no additional cost and, the other will cost you an additional $315 while offering NO better protection. I'm just sayin...
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I saw a few of the response on Project JK's Facebook page to this same posting. I'm still amazed at how many people think that it's almost an absolute must to go with full skids to be able to go anywhere offroad in a JK. Also amazing is the perception that running 40" tires equates to the reason you get away with running factory skids. The 40"s only help getting thru unscathed in the rocks that 35"s have trouble in, but the terrain I have personally seen you traverse only a hovercraft or helicopter gets thru without scraping something :crazyeyes:
 
GCM 2 said:
I saw a few of the response on Project JK's Facebook page to this same posting. I'm still amazed at how many people think that it's almost an absolute must to go with full skids to be able to go anywhere offroad in a JK. Also amazing is the perception that running 40" tires equates to the reason you get away with running factory skids. The 40"s only help getting thru unscathed in the rocks that 35"s have trouble in, but the terrain I have personally seen you traverse only a hovercraft or helicopter gets thru without scraping something :crazyeyes:
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it really is too funny to hear. of course the logic is that with bigger tires, the belly of your jeep is further away from the rocks that would otherwise damage it but what these naysayer fail to realize is that we just play on much bigger and more technical rocks. if anything, with 40's, i have hit the bottom of my jeep more and harder than ever before but hey, not like i need to convince you of anything. :crazyeyes:

what i don't get is that i am honestly trying to save people money by providing good and accurate information. perhaps with the money they save, they could get things they really could use like rocker guards, new tires, new gears, etc. unfortunately, there are people who are determined to believe what they want to believe and really, that's fine by me :yup:
 
Didnt Rubicat have EVO ProTek skids? Just sayin...

I personally run Clayton skids because with a long arm, my oil pan and transmission pan are nice and open for anything to hit them. Gives me the comfort of knowing they'll be relatively protected in case my dumb moves land me in the wrong situation...
 
Impostr said:
Didnt Rubicat have EVO ProTek skids? Just sayin...
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only to protect what doesn't come protected from the factory - NOT to "replace" anything with aftermarket skids as it's clearly not necessary. if you had read the original post, you would know as much - just sayin ;)

I personally run Clayton skids because with a long arm, my oil pan and transmission pan are nice and open for anything to hit them. Gives me the comfort of knowing they'll be relatively protected in case my dumb moves land me in the wrong situation...
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an oil pan skid is something that i highly recommend as the JK doesn't come with one from the factory. on a 2012, the automatic transmission doesn't come protected either and so i would also recommend protecting it as well. if you have an 07-11, i personally prefer the rock krawler HD deep sump pan for protection as it not only works well, it allows you to run more fluid for better cooling and steeper operating angles and comes with a drain plug. it's what we ran on nemo and is a much better solution than any other aftermarket skid option available today. but hey, that's just my opinion.
 
Impostr said:
Didnt Rubicat have EVO ProTek skids? Just sayin...

I personally run Clayton skids because with a long arm, my oil pan and transmission pan are nice and open for anything to hit them. Gives me the comfort of knowing they'll be relatively protected in case my dumb moves land me in the wrong situation...
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I decided against the full skids for two reason and simply augmented the oil pan with a Rancho cover and the trans pan with a Rock Krawler deep sump replacement heavy duty skid pan. I will say that the Rock Krawler piece is a great idea, just poorly manufactured. Reason 1- I saved a ton of sprung weight and lessened heat retention going the pan reinforcement route. Reason 2- any repairs between the underbody and the skids (especially on the trail when the jeep is hot) can seriously be a hassle trying to remove full skids that have chewed up bolt heads.
 
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