[Grewe02]

Scotch, let me know when you're coming down here for school. I'm going to need you to make me one of these.

[Scotch740]

Originally Posted by Grewe02

Scotch, let me know when you're coming down here for school. I'm going to need you to make me one of these.

Ok we will have to see. One nice piece of equipment I had access to was a shear (thanks work ). WOW that made this project sooo much easier. I was able to cut the plate in under 10 min. and was able to trim off some more just as easily. I guess you could have a shop cut it for you but the shear saved me the cutting cost.

[Scotch740]

Got to use my skids this weekend. It turns out I am at the point where I need to be protecting those bolt heads.



They made the ride a lot easier with an additional 4" of clearance under my belly. However the 60lbs of beer and ice combined with the 350 lbs of 2 more people plus gear for 4 people made me drag my hitch all the way down the trail.

[safarimike]

Is this possible to do without a body lift? Or is the extra room needed to tuck everything up there?

[Scotch740]

Originally Posted by hockeyhair55

Is this possible to do without a body lift? Or is the extra room needed to tuck everything up there?

The room above mine is SUPER tight. Although I did not have to "clearance" anything with a BFH. If your willing to do that you might be able to get away with it. However be perpared to have to drop the skid 1". Which will still net you 3" of clearance gain.

If I were not doing a BL with it I would have designed a separate cross member into the skid so I don't have to support the TC to remove it. Also I would have made the Engine skid and TC skid attached to a Cross Member so I do not have to drop the Engine skid to remove the TC skid.

[JeeperDon]

9.5" to 13.5"? You need a lift more than skid work. My truck measures easily over 20" from the skid to the floor. I don't mean that as bragging, just that I feel other things can be done first to improve clearance. Any lift takes the skid with it. An example of why is if you do lift it later, the new skid will make it even harder then to get the drive line angles right.

[Scotch740]

Originally Posted by JeeperDon

9.5" to 13.5"? You need a lift more than skid work. My truck measures easily over 20" from the skid to the floor. I don't mean that as bragging, just that I feel other things can be done first to improve clearance. Any lift takes the skid with it. An example of why is if you do lift it later, the new skid will make it even harder then to get the drive line angles right.

I'm in school now and have to put away an entire years worth of payments+insurance in 15 weeks. I can not afford a lift and tires that I want at this time.

After my first trail the main thing hanging me up was my TC skid. Since I got my jeep to work on and build my own stuff I wanted to do something I can build myself that will not have to be replaced when I go to 33s or 35s. Another reason for doing this was to incorporate my engine skid (see sig) into the design of this. Since the engine skid is bolted to my TC skid I decided I might as well do this first. Plus this was a great first project to learn to weld and fab metal.

Instead of getting a BB and tires that would have cost me close to if not over a grand I made my skids. Gained more clearance under my skid than a BB and 33's would have given me. BB=+2 33=+1.5 total =+3.5 I got 4" with my skid and it cost me around $350 for Both skids. Cant even get tires for that, much less wheels and mount/balance and an engine skid.

What would you suggest for clearance before a Flat TC skid?

As for drive line angles, I know I will need a SYE with any additional lift and that is something I would have wanted to do anyways. Also I have an Unlimited so my Wheel Base is already stretched and I have more room to strech it when I reach +40" tires (in 8-10 years) Also doing the skid after the lift will just make me have to adjust the angle twice. Now when I lift I will just have to adjust the angle once.

Would I like to have a lift.. HELL YEAH. I am now scraping my frame control arm mounts on rocks on the trails and using my trailer hitch as a bumper skid . But as of now I don't have the money to afford a lift. RE the trailer hitch: I need it to get stuff to school and to tow my boat, I don't like it but it keeps me legal.

I did not waste any money doing this because it will be used at least until I go Long Arm. Which may not be for a few years. Until then I have 4" more than I did before and already have a flat TC skid and engine skid.

Now when I go to 35"s or 36" which is where I want to be next summer I will have at least 20.5" of clearance and already have the skids to cover my ***. Not sure if I will make it to 35"s next summer but thats my hope.

The first trail ride this past weekend I was able to navigate the trail MUCH easier than completely stock. I was not getting hung up as much and I could slide over stuff instead of having it push into my skid and get me stuck. Our Jeeps should have come like this from the factory .

I also am learning to drive my jeep stock, so when the funds magically appear for a lift and tires I will REALLY appreciate it and will be that much better at picking a line.

However I am accepting donations of parts and funds for a lift

Edit: As you can see from the picture above I would not have made it over that rock without this skid. What you can't see in that pic is the tree about 3" off of my roll bar on the other side of the jeep.

[Scotch740]

Well I added an Advanced adapter bracket and had to do lots of grinding on it to get it to fit and so the linkage rod (where the adjustment nut is) wouldn't rub on the bracket. I got it working just enough for camp jeep. I have part of the linkage rubbing on the body still though.

After Camp Jeep I will cut about 1/2" out of the bracket to move it closet to the transfer case and away from the tub. I will also cut off the crimped part of the linkage rod so I can flip the adjusting nut and piece around to the other side.

UGG I should have just left well enough alone. I didn't notice any significant improvement by adding the bracket. Other then the minus $70 in my account. And they still haven't refunded me the money yet for the wrong bracket. OK they finally got the cost refunded after a few weeks and a few phone calls.

UPDATE:
I scraped the idea of the AA bracket, and went with a Novak shift kit. WOW! huge improvement even over a unmodified stock set up. It gets warm/hot but I can still shift to 4lo when I get to the trail. Also chasing down a rattle thats being very elusive. The novak kit shifts so crisp. You KNOW when you have it in and when you don't.
While I could have left it stock, I though the AA bracket would improve the situation. It had its own problems mainly due to raising the TC up so close to the body. Might work for some of the production skids but not for flat skids. Although a 2" bl would have put my stock shifter at about just the right location.

[buddy]

Originally Posted by JeeperDon

9.5" to 13.5"? You need a lift more than skid work. My truck measures easily over 20" from the skid to the floor. I don't mean that as bragging, just that I feel other things can be done first to improve clearance. Any lift takes the skid with it. An example of why is if you do lift it later, the new skid will make it even harder then to get the drive line angles right.

I just found this post & felt I neede to respond to this as well.

He not only gained 4" of breakover clearance, but he also did it without raising his C.O.G by too much.

There is something to be said of a moderate approach to building a Jeep, it's usually cheaper because you modify as you need to, not necessarily as you want to. It also allows you're driving ability to grow with the Jeep. Plus he can always do the lift down the road.

Let's add it up.

Flat belly skid = 13.5" of clearance on the stock 30" GSA's
Let's say he just does a 3" lift & goes with 33's for the time being. He'd be at 17.5",(+/- due to tire variance), which is just a bit under what you have currently. If he went to 4" & 35's, he'd be at 19.5". If he did a highline fender mod, 3" lift & 35's he'd be at 18.5" at less than 1000.00 out of pocket for the clearance of the 35's.

It sounds like a win-win-win to me. Evolving progress, low cost, high function.
Later,
Buddy

BTW - this is a great model for my Jeep as well, because I'm broke too.

[klimb2xs]

I will be doing this in the next month or so. It all depends on when the 33 Engineering mount gets here from Off road toy store.

[Steve B]

Hello,

I have just finished my flat skid which I used some of scotch740's ideas and some new ones.

The finished piece is really nice and with a modest 3.5" lift I now have 500mm of clearance.

I have a question now, I fitted an AA fixed yoke, and CV drive shaft and rotated my rear d44 to align the new drive shaft which now sits at 25 degrees and 30 degrees at full droop ( the cv yoke now needs a small grind for clearance) I have the rear shock relocators but the shocks still hit the spring perches. I dont want to invert them as I have OME's with the steel guard.

My question is has anyone ground their spring perches for clearance and how did it look. Did you grind it flat or just by the amount needed.

Pictures on my take of scotch740 idea are in my gallery.

Oh and I also reused the standard gearbox mount, all was needed was a couple of washers to adjust it to the new angle.


Steve

[azcoyote]

Doh... In the gallery... that is like an extra click!!

[Scotch740]

Originally Posted by Steve B

Hello,

I have just finished my flat skid which I used some of scotch740's ideas and some new ones.

The finished piece is really nice and with a modest 3.5" lift I now have 500mm of clearance.

I have a question now, I fitted an AA fixed yoke, and CV drive shaft and rotated my rear d44 to align the new drive shaft which now sits at 25 degrees and 30 degrees at full droop ( the cv yoke now needs a small grind for clearance) I have the rear shock relocators but the shocks still hit the spring perches. I dont want to invert them as I have OME's with the steel guard.

My question is has anyone ground their spring perches for clearance and how did it look. Did you grind it flat or just by the amount needed.

Pictures on my take of scotch740 idea are in my gallery.

Oh and I also reused the standard gearbox mount, all was needed was a couple of washers to adjust it to the new angle.


Steve

So there is enough room to go completely flat with only a 1.25" BL and use the stock transmission mount? Did you have to modify the exhaust hanger? If I already asked you this in a PM sorry I have responded to a couple people now about their skids.

Nice skid. Did you have to grind the cv yoke do to the skid?

Hope you don't mind if I link a pic to your skid.

[Steve B]

[QUOTE=scotch740]So there is enough room to go completely flat with only a 1.25" BL and use the stock transmission mount? Did you have to modify the exhaust hanger? If I already asked you this in a PM sorry I have responded to a couple people now about their skids.

Hello,

My jeep only has a 1" body lift and the stock transmission mount



It is tight but fits fine, you can just see on the left I had to replace the bolts which bolt to the transmission as the heads were too big.

For the exhaust I have a flexi joint just in front of the catalyst to allow it to be lifted a little and the hanger next to the silencer was shortened by 65mm. The rear hanger is ok but I may look for a shorter exhaust hanger rubber. I will get some pictures this weekend.

As for the driveshaft, yes I checked the clearance at full droop, (the rear sway bar is connected and limiting it's travel) and I will need to grind a small amount from it as it is just kissing at the front part of the cardan joint.


Steve

[skipper]

I have a OME 2.5 lift and everything is stock. if I do a body lift and mml can I do this and not have to have a SYE?