Giving Some Love to Factory Skidplates!!

Good points, and noted. I am not in a rush (like next week rush) so will keep looking at skids. With the factory skids, I am still ready for the easy- trails at Moab and all the trails near Ouray, Marble, Telluride, Aspen. Done enough to the Jeep for now. I must say that those EVO coilovers I see, keep calling my name though. Just so tempting. Anyway, back to skids...

wayoflife said:
How about slamming into a rock like what you see on this video at 0:51 and then again at 0:54...


:yawn37: This is just one of the countless times my thin and weak gas tank skid has taken a hit like this or harder over the last 7+ years.



The River Raider ones are one of the worst aftermarket skid plate systems I have seen to date and the photo I showed earlier with the T-case skid bent up after one wheeling trip is theirs. On top of that, their fitment sucks and are near impossible to remove when the bolts heads get damaged and or rusted over. Of course, you can forget about doing a quick check for leaks or making quick fluid changes. As far as the Rockhard ones go, they are a lot tougher but being that the gas tank skid mounts OVER the factory skid, you are ADDING all that extra weight without removing any of it.
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I have to give a +1 to the RK Deep Sump Tranny pan. The first time running Pritchett canyon and behind the rocks in Moab, my tranny would crap out. Had to winch up most big stuff. Now I have the fluid to keep my tranny running AND have protection!!!
 
I took to heart what Wayoflife says about the factory skids 5 years ago. Mine are beat to hell but doing their job quite nicely!


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Flyer said:
Good points, and noted. I am not in a rush (like next week rush) so will keep looking at skids. With the factory skids, I am still ready for the easy- trails at Moab and all the trails near Ouray, Marble, Telluride, Aspen. Done enough to the Jeep for now. I must say that those EVO coilovers I see, keep calling my name though. Just so tempting. Anyway, back to skids...
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If you skip getting aftermarket skids you really don't need, you'll have more money to get EVO coil overs that you really want. In a way, this was the whole point of starting this thread - to give love to the ever under appreciated FACTORY skids.
 
Aspenkid said:
I have to give a +1 to the RK Deep Sump Tranny pan. The first time running Pritchett canyon and behind the rocks in Moab, my tranny would crap out. Had to winch up most big stuff. Now I have the fluid to keep my tranny running AND have protection!!!
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The extra fluid alone is totally worth it to me. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if they still sell their pan.

Road_king said:
I took to heart what Wayoflife says about the factory skids 5 years ago. Mine are beat to hell but doing their job quite nicely!
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Imagine that :D
 
only thing I'm looking to replace at this point is the cross member - seems to take its fair share of hits :thinking:
 
jeeeep said:
only thing I'm looking to replace at this point is the cross member - seems to take its fair share of hits :thinking:
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Well, in all fairness, the cross member isn't a skid plate - it's a cross member :crazyeyes:

But to you point, yes, it will take a beating and I've replaced mine with a Poison Spyder HD one and will be doing the same on Rubicat. While they will do much better, the only problem I've seen with them is that they transfer the load down the line and to the weak frame rail mounts. Even before I replaced the one on Moby, I had already had to repair cracks in my mounts more than once. Fortunately, my EVO long arm brackets have since helped to reinforce these points.
 
wayoflife said:
The extra fluid alone is totally worth it to me. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if they still sell their pan.
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When I ordered mine last year they said they were no longer making them. After calling a few more times to try to talk them into making one for me, they finally gave in and made me one! Had to sit patiently for 6 weeks but worth it.
 
wayoflife said:
With all the talk of aftermarket skid plates that I have been seeing recently, I thought this old thread was worth a bump and yes, I am STILL running factory skid plates :D
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You still running the factory Trans skid?

Only reason I ask is cause I shoved mine hard enough up come in contact with my aftermarket drive shaft and trashed it.

I got a new drive shaft I'm putting in but having 2nd thoughts about slapping on the same damn skid and doing the same thing to another DS.

It has been cut up A little to clear it... But obviously not enough and it tried "self clearencing" :(

 
HDGasser said:
You still running the factory Trans skid?

Only reason I ask is cause I shoved mine hard enough up come in contact with my aftermarket drive shaft and trashed it.

I got a new drive shaft I'm putting in but having 2nd thoughts about slapping on the same damn skid and doing the same thing to another DS.

It has been cut up A little to clear it... But obviously not enough and it tried "self clearencing" :(
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Yup, I posted up the following pic in post #27 and the lower image is my t-case skid or, I should say was up until recently as I now have an Atlas 2-speed that I got with my LS swap. Nothing factory would work anymore.

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As you can see, the skid is bowed a little but nothing quite as bad as what you have and certainly, not any worse than what an expensive aftermarket skid would look like. A cheap harbor freight press can fix that for you.
 
Wake up Eddie!!:yawn37:

Transmission skid my man, not the transfer case skid.

As you can see in post #50 of the pictures I posted.;)
 
You know what, I just realized that yours was a stick before the swap right?

You never had that skid I tweakered. You just did the Trans pan...

10-4

What do you have now for the Trans/engine skid? Only bolt on option for a hemi is the RR but I will pass on those.

Contemplating the rockhard and gonna have to fab up some front mounts I guess?
 
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HDGasser said:
Wake up Eddie!!:yawn37:

Transmission skid my man, not the transfer case skid.

As you can see in post #50 of the pictures I posted.;)
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:cheesy: Sorry about that, I read a bit too fast and only looked at the thumbnail pic on my phone before posting :crazyeyes:

HDGasser said:
You know what, I just realized that yours was a stick before the swap right?

You never had that skid I tweakered. You just did the Trans pan...

10-4

What do you have now for the Trans/engine skid? Only bolt on option for a hemi is the RR but I will pass on those.

Contemplating the rockhard and gonna have to fab up some front mounts I guess?
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Yeah, was running a manual before the swap and so I wasn't running a skid for it. Now, I am currently running nothing. I may get something custom made for it but, I may not. I know that Mel has been running EVO 1 without anything for quite some time now and without any problems.
 
wayoflife said:
:cheesy: Sorry about that, I read a bit too fast and only looked at the thumbnail pic on my phone before posting :crazyeyes:



Yeah, was running a manual before the swap and so I wasn't running a skid for it. Now, I am currently running nothing. I may get something custom made for it but, I may not. I know that Mel has been running EVO 1 without anything for quite some time now and without any problems.
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Cool deal

I'm still rockin the rest of the factory skids... Beat to crap but still truckin.

I'll finger something out, not sure what damage woulda been done had that skid plate not been there. For all I know I probably wouldn't have had to buy a new DS!:doh:
 
So for right now, it is not necessary to get the whole pro-tek system from evo, but I only need the oil pan skid? I would love to get some skids before I start to wheel, but not sure
 
hlax2525 said:
So for right now, it is not necessary to get the whole pro-tek system from evo, but I only need the oil pan skid? I would love to get some skids before I start to wheel, but not sure
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Being that your Jeep didn't come with a skid for your oil pan, it would be a good idea to get one. If you have an automatic, I would get that one for it as well.
 
wayoflife said:
Well, in all fairness, the cross member isn't a skid plate - it's a cross member :crazyeyes:

But to you point, yes, it will take a beating and I've replaced mine with a Poison Spyder HD one and will be doing the same on Rubicat. While they will do much better, the only problem I've seen with them is that they transfer the load down the line and to the weak frame rail mounts. Even before I replaced the one on Moby, I had already had to repair cracks in my mounts more than once. Fortunately, my EVO long arm brackets have since helped to reinforce these points.
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yea..meant to preface not a skid but prone to the hits...it's hard to work off a phone lol

I was wondering about the load transfer with a HD crossmember, I don't have long arm but will look at reinforcing frame rail mounts...thanks :beer:
 
So from what I have read on an 08 auto the full protek kit is what I want. Are they pretty much bolt on? Never messed with any before. I read the install on the newer protek kit where you let the jeep sit off for a while to let to oil cool, and I assume the older kit is a similar install?


Thanks!
 
Ldogg said:
So from what I have read on an 08 auto the full protek kit is what I want. Are they pretty much bolt on? Never messed with any before. I read the install on the newer protek kit where you let the jeep sit off for a while to let to oil cool, and I assume the older kit is a similar install?


Thanks!
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Yup, all bolt on and easy to do.
 
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