Garage Projects

The Lone Ranger – Belly Skid

In my XJ, I had actually spend some time making a ‘contoured’ transfer case/tranny skid. That resulted in decent ground clearance, but also meant that I always wound up high centered on one of the nooks of the skid.

So this time, I gave up some clearance in order to have a flat belly. The net result is that I only lost about ¾” and I now have a stupidly stout (and heavy) skid. This thing pretty much threw weight savings out of the window.

So I started with another cross member:
Sara L.: Build and Misc &emdash;

And then started grabbing flat stock (the center is ½”x5, The outer two plates are ¼”):
Sara L.: Build and Misc &emdash;

Added some bracing:
Sara L.: Build and Misc &emdash;

Burned it together, and stuck it back on, didn’t lost much in clearance:
Sara L.: Build and Misc &emdash;
Sara L.: Build and Misc &emdash;

The center bar ties into the front K member where the TTB mounted before (I’ve never hit my engine skid before on the XJ, so I’m thinking this is overkill):
Sara L.: Build and Misc &emdash;

It’s a little hard to tell but there are two cross members, the rear most one, and the transmission cross member. These carry the brunt of the load. I’ve also got a tie in to the front “K” member, as well as the spring bolt on the passenger side

This thing was retarded heavy, but held up very well over the years of abuse.

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