The sound of the stock center crossmember skidplate dragging over a rock is really annoying! I thought about grinding off the turned-down edges of the stock skid to eliminate the noise, but I worry'd about the strength of the remaining metal - it's only about 1/8" thick. Instead, I decided to replace the whole kit and kaboodle with a stronger plate. At the same time I figured I'd add some more clearance and bring the tranny/t-case up higher.

Ideas

I've seen two TJ's with a flat skid plate. One is Brad Kilby's, and one is on the Currie TJ. I haven't been able to find any details about the Currie plate, but Brad has been extremely helpful. Without his input I wouldn't have tried it.

I talked about it with my friend Dave Goodale, and he agreed to help me build one. We shared a lot of emails, and Steve Friend jumped in too. Lots of good ideas all around, but at the end we needed to drop the stock plate and see what kind of fun we were going to run in to. That's what we did today (May 15, 1999).

I am already set up with a lot of the necessary mods to do this:

• 1" body and motor lift
• Rear D44 with everything rotated for a CV driveshaft/li>
• CV driveshaft/li>

Because of the new front axle, I need a new front driveshaft. I also need to have the rear modified to work with the JB tailhousing kit that's going in the same time as the 4:1. As long as I needed to redo the driveshafts, I figured I'd add one more project to the mix.

The Process

First, we stocked up on 1/4" plate from the local metal yard. I should have brought a bigger truck...

Then Dave cut it to shape with the torch. We used the stock skidplate as a template for the shape and the bolt hole locations. After Dave was done cutting, I used the angle grinder to smooth the edges. Here's a boring picture of the process.

We then decided to test the new plate and bolted it up. Here's a shot of the last two bolt holes.

Oops. Seems the stock plate is too bent to be reliable. Mea Culpa.

We decided to try another approach. Up until now, we were using the plate as a template. The plan is to space it down from the frame with 3/8" bar stock, which we were going to add on later. Dave smacked his forehead and came up with an easy to use plan - drill the bar stock, and then weld it to the skid. We could use it for the drill template. DUH!!

So that's about as far as we got the rest of the day - we drilled 6 holes in the 3/8" bar stock.

Further Planing

Well... We need to cut the plate a little narrower than we thought. Then we need to weld the 3/8" drilled bar stock to the edges, drill through the plate and make sure it bolts up. That's the easy part.

Then we need to build the tranny mount. This part of the project is going to be complicated. Brad has given me some great ideas, though.

After that we will bolt it up and make sure everything clears. We'll add the reinforcements and cut out the drain holes for the t-case and tranny. Then I'll clean it and paint it (Hammerite, of course).

Back After a Break

Dave and I found time to pick this one up again, so Saturday morning (7/31/99) I went over to his place. We made a few errands to find some poly bushings and tubing to use for the tranny mount. Turned out to be an unnecessary trip, as the design we were going to use for the tranny mount wouldn't work - not enough clearance.

I was going to use the same style of mount Brad did, but I forgot he has a 1.5" body lift. I only have 1", so that plan was scrapped. Dave and I looked at it from every angle and determined we could use the stock mount as long as we made a perch for it. This is nice as I won't have to figure out a mount for the catalytic converter, and I can use the stock rubber isolator. So we dove in and made sure everything was just as it would be when the skid was installed.

We began by finishing the side supports and mounting holes. This took longer than we expected...

I then removed the transfer case and installed the one in the wings - has a 4:1 and AA HD SYE kit. Here they are side by side.

In the meantime, Dave cut a square piece of 1/4" plate, drilled holes in it and bolted it to the tranny mount. We installed the mount on the tranny.

Then we jacked the transmission/t-case out of the way and installed the skid plate.

After making sure everything would clear, Dave welded the supports for the mount in place. Then we took measurements for the new driveshafts and removed the skid. While Dave finished the mount, I reinstalled the old t-case and got the Jeep driveable again.

It was almost 8pm by this point and we were tired - we must have had that thing on and off about 12 times making sure it fit at every step of the way. So we cleaned up and put it away.

I have to go over to Dave's area on Monday or Tuesday and pick up a new clutch. The plan is for me to pick up some more angle iron and we can weld it in place then (for bracing). I'll bring it home and paint it asap. I'll order the driveshafts on Monday so I can pick them up by Wednesday. The new clutch, t-case, driveshafts and skid plate should be installed before the weekend.

On the trail: