What is your Skid Plate Priority?

[korisu56]

Everyone make your personal skid plate priority list. Say you could only buy one at a time, what order would they be in?

[miljeep]

1- dif Guards
2- Rock Sliders
3- Belly Up
4- Engine Skid tied into belly up (#2)
5- LCA Skids (weld on type)
6- Steering Box Skids
7- Gas Tank Skid
8- Radiator Skid
9- Body Mount Bracket Skids

[vajeeper]

1. Diff Guards
2. Rock Slider
3. Gas Tank
4. Steering Box
5. Belly Up

Once I figure out what I am actually doing my list may/will change...

[korisu56]

Who all makes a Belly Up?

[miljeep]

I bought mine from Jeep medic. You saw what it did, it just raised everything up a n inch or two, which is a good thing on my jeep since it has a longer wheel base.

Teraflex belly up skid - ink on quadratec (http://www.quadratec.com/products/16192_001.htm)

Found this online:

There are of course several ways to fix this problem, one of which is getting a tcase skid that trims up the "beergut" of your Jeep by raising the tcase up more between the frame rails. There are many tcase skids on the market:

* Teraflex "Belly-Up" Skid plate
* Rubicon Express raised skid
* Nth Degree Mobility's flat skid
* 33 Engineering's High Clearance Skid plate
* Fabricate your own

[miljeep]

I guess you could always look at it as: Armor up everything which is not already armored with stock armor first, then it would go:

dif guards
lca skids
rock sliders
steering box

then replace current stock armor if needed:

Belly up
Engine
gas tank
radiator

I would drop the body mount bracket skids, they are expensive as heck and you can prob fab your own with a little metal bending.

[Pacifier]

1 - Nth Degree Belly up
2 - Nth Degree Belly up
3 - Nth Degree Belly up

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f108/irkermit/IMG_0269.jpg

[korisu56]

Diego, even with my steering box as exposed as it is with my bumper?

[korisu56]

I liked Ryan's cause it went from the belly pan all the way forward.

[miljeep]

Mine was the engine skid bolted to the belly up. I just reversed the bolts because I did not like the nuts being left vulnerable below the skids.

[korisu56]

So if I get an engine skid with the belly it'll run flush like that? Or is that only with Medic Skids? This is all later, but I'm planning ahead.

[Pacifier]

You can also get a engine skid for the Nth degree Belly up... I opted out and went with a TBT oil pan instead. You get the best clearance out of all Belly ups from the Nth degree. It's almost flushed with the under carriage.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f108/irkermit/IMG_0650.jpg

[korisu56]

Does Toys by Troy make any belly up? I really like their stuff.

[Pacifier]

Jeep medic has about 3.5" drop from the frame, thus only gaining about 1" from the stock skid plate.

[korisu56]

P.S- I wrote companies about Nth degree, and they said they're going bankrupt and someone else bought them. They have no idea when they're going to restart distribution.

[korisu56]

Do you have a better alternative to Nth Degree should they still not be in business when it becomes my time?

[korisu56]

As much as I'd like to get a nth degree one, I wouldn't wanna get hosed by a company that bought them out looking to jack up their prices for the name...Maybe by the time my priority list gets there, it'll all be worked out.

[Pacifier]

The Nth degree was the most expensive ($480) out of all of those as it is. /images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif I can't wait to see how much more AEV is going to jack-up the price.

[korisu56]

Should be interesting.

[Nick]

1.steering box(broke a few of those playing)
2.differentials
3.gas tank
then the rest.

[splitz]

Hmmm, hard to say. I've hit all of my skids hard.

XJ w/3-4"s of lift

1. Diffs (although I don't have them)
2. Rockers
3. Trimmed rear quarter panels - I know this isn't armor, but you can't hit what's not there
4. X-fer case & Trans
5. Gas tank (its plastic and forgiving on the XJ, plus I've yet to hit it)
6. Exo cage /images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

[Pacifier]

*** Heavy Duty Steering system *** (Est. $400)

1 = Rock Sliders (Est. $300)
2 = Diffs (Est. $200)
3 = Oil pan (Est. $70)
4 = Belly up (Est. $400)
5 = Steering box (Est. $60)
6 = Control arms (Est. $60)
7 = Gas thank (Est. $300)

[TexCJ7]

that's alot of $$

[Pacifier]

It is when you start adding it all up. If you buy them little by little, it's not too painful, I guess.... Keep in ming that these are only Estimates. It could be more, it could be less.

[vajeeper]

http://www.quadratec.com/products/12027_101.htm

On clearance at Quadratec.

[03Sahara]

belly up
diff guards
engine
gas tank

[E5EDDIE]

1.steering box(broke a few of those playing)
2.differentials
3.gas tank
then the rest.
maybe a dumb one, but, what happened when you broke the steering box? Could you still drive?

[Nick]

didn't break break it. had a good size leak from a pounding. had to add power steering fluid a couple times a week till i traded that jeep in for my rubicon.

[HillBillE]

I went this way:

1st Rear diff (after fixing it on the trail!, Home Fabbed)
2nd... Gas Tank skid (Home fabbed)
3rd.... Front diff (SOLID axle, won at an event)

Next up are:

Belly up (Home Fabbed)
Steering gearbox (Home fabbed)
Rocker knockers/sliders (TBD)

Going one at a time, I would start at the diff covers, than go to what seems the most vulnerable after that, and so on.

[JeepinSoldier]

Think about what kind of wheeling you really do and then buy the skids accordingly. The stock transfer case and gas skids on the 03+ Wranglers are actually pretty decent. Mine are battered but have held up OK. If you are just running fire roads, you can take your time buying the skids. If you are in the big rocks, get em right away.

Protect what will stop you from driving if damaged first. Start at the lowest point:

Diff covers/guards, LCA skids, Engine/Trans, steering box, gas tank.

Then protect what will just be expensive to repair:

Rocker guards/corner guards

Then replace what will give you more clearance:

Belly up skid, some gas skids.

For general trail riding with some hard obsticles, I would do them in this order:

1, Engine/Trans

2, Diff Covers/Guards

3, Rocker guards/skids

4, Steering box

Add the others as necessary. The rocker guards are actually pretty important. I recommended them to a new Jeeper and they saved his Jeep tub from some serious damage on his first time out. We were on a pretty easy trail and he slid slowly sideways into a tree. Elevator Guy's over on Beltway actually stopped his Jeep from rolling on an obsticle at Oak Ridge.

[HillBillE]

Yep, rocker guards really help!! And not the soft aluminum ones, they look nice, but don't win any battles in the rocks!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/Pappy/Devilfish%20Lake/2007_0715devilfish20030.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/Pappy/Devilfish%20Lake/2007_0715devilfish20031.jpg