Jeeps without skids

[bd100]

Went to a Midwest car show which had about 20 Jeeps. Lots of big tires, lifts, winches, etc. But I couldn't find a single one with any additional aftermarket skid plates. No engine and transmission skids, and no small skid plates for control arms or shocks. Nor any bumper skids. I didn't look underneath enough to see if there were any exhaust loop or axle disconnect skids. There were some sway bar disconnects to check out, though.

To be fair, I'm not sure a JK Wrangler needs control arm or shock skids as much as the JL and JT do.

Anyhow, my own JT so far is stock height so the family can get in and out, and thus I have installed skids for the control arms, shocks, exhaust loop, and a better aftermarket FAD skid. It also came from the factory with the Mopar enhanced rock rails, which are nice for the family to help climb in. I'd like to find a way to protect the exhaust crossover but not much is available for manual transmission without a lift and with the exhaust loop skid.

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[Wheelin98TJ]

That's pretty much what I'd expect with Jeeps at a car show.

A dedicated Jeep event is where you'd be more likely to see Jeeps built for wheeling.

 

[Not2Late]

"Show car" vs realworld use like yours? I bet you didn't see any trail scratches or scrapes either!

 

[hjdca]

I'm with you. Even with my 3.5" lift and 37s, I run all the skids. RSE sliders, Control arms skids front and rear, FAD, Exhaust Loop, shocks, Engine, Tranny, Transfer case, Both Diff skids, Modular iron diff covers. Note: I also have a Stick shift, and I use the M.O.R.E steel engine, tranny/transfer skids.

When I go 4wheeling/Rock crawling, I only end up scraping up the skids, and sometimes bending the rear end links. I got sick of bending the rear end links, so, to address the end link issue, I switched out to the rock jock antirock rear sway bar. Now, I only need to paint the skids when I get home. I have gone through a couple of cans of flat black spray paint. AEV that Northridge4x4 carries is the best match.

lol, I must have painted my rear control arm skid at the frame 20 times... lol..

 

[GOCAMPN]

I've never had skids, on Jeeps #4 and #5 now. Been to Moab, all up and down the East coast, 10 or so Jeep Badge trails. I've been turtled up on rocks and pulled off, I've been sunk down in water and yanked out. Would love some of course, but picking the right line has worked fine so far lol.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

We are planning to go with the artech aluminum skids.

Anyone else running their full belly setup? Love hate?

 

[hjdca]

I've never had skids, on Jeeps #4 and #5 now. Been to Moab, all up and down the East coast, 10 or so Jeep Badge trails. I've been turtled up on rocks and pulled off, I've been sunk down in water and yanked out. Would love some of course, but picking the right line has worked fine so far lol.

Mostly Rock Gardens (John Bull, Holcomb Creek) scrape up my skids, and I used to bend up my rear sway bar end links before the rear antirock. The Engine skid got marked up on The Rubicon Trail.
I hit my rear control arm skid at the frame practically every place I 4wheel, lol... I do try the hard lines when I can. My JTR is also a Stick shift, so, I like to keep Crawling in the Rocks -- instead of stop and go over and over again.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

I've never had skids, on Jeeps #4 and #5 now. Been to Moab, all up and down the East coast, 10 or so Jeep Badge trails. I've been turtled up on rocks and pulled off, I've been sunk down in water and yanked out. Would love some of course, but picking the right line has worked fine so far lol.

I'm right there with you. I'm on Jeep 7, and have never added skid plates beyond what were stock... never had the need. I just got back from Moab with the JT, and only had a few new scrapes underneath, nothing in areas that would be critical.

If you aren't being a moron out on the trails, and are choosing your lines to where you don't scrape, or would only scrape something that can take it, there are no points to additional plates... except the rear frame side LCA, and possibly the FAD, but the FAD would be more like a truss to give more support than anything...

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

I've never had skids, on Jeeps #4 and #5 now. Been to Moab, all up and down the East coast, 10 or so Jeep Badge trails. I've been turtled up on rocks and pulled off, I've been sunk down in water and yanked out. Would love some of course, but picking the right line has worked fine so far lol.

Several years ago I was with a friend at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes and he managed to shove a stick through the oil pan.

You'd never think you'd need skids on the dunes.

 

[jac04]

I've found that there are a lot of Jeeps out there that are meant to "look the part". Other people can't see your skid plates so there is no need to add them.

Here in New England, we have a lot of tight rocky trails. Sometimes you pick the best line and it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you have no choice and the line ends up picking you. Around here, you need to be prepared for the unexpected.

My 2-dr JKR has benefitted from having a lot of skids. Here are just a few examples of unexpected hits:

 

[RamRod]

Personally I have never ran skids in the 15 some odd years I’ve had Jeeps. My reasoning is that I daily at least one of them and I hated how hot the floor would get from the skids pushing all that heat into the cab.

 

[hjdca]

I'm right there with you. I'm on Jeep 7, and have never added skid plates beyond what were stock... never had the need. I just got back from Moab with the JT, and only had a few new scrapes underneath, nothing in areas that would be critical.

If you aren't being a moron out on the trails, and are choosing your lines to where you don't scrape, or would only scrape something that can take it, there are no points to additional plates... except the rear frame side LCA, and possibly the FAD, but the FAD would be more like a truss to give more support than anything...

None of us in my group are "morons" out on the trails, but, many times boulders move when you get on top of them and your tire slides off. After that, you are resting on boulders and have to turn and back up or turn and go forward. This is what gives you the scrapes. When you start a line, it always looks good until the boulder moves or a tire slips off that line you did not expect. The unique thing with the Gladiator is that lots of trails challenge it's length, so, you can take a great line on your front tires and unfortunately need to turn before your rear tires are done on that line on that obstacle. So, I find that the rear tires slip off much more than the fronts. The front tires are easy to put where you want them, but, to get the rear tires to follow needs some room that you sometimes do not have.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

None of us in my group are "morons" out on the trails,

Most of the people that I have seen that have put skids on are the idiots that believe that the only way to get through obstacles is to "send it".

Like I said in my post above, there are only 3 areas that I have seen on mine or anyone that I have wheeled with that skids are really needed.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Most of the people that I have seen that have put skids on are the idiots that believe that the only way to get through obstacles is to "send it".

Like I said in my post above, there are only 3 areas that I have seen on mine or anyone that I have wheeled with that skids are really needed.

Thought for a second I was in the "What is an unpopular opinion you have in the Jeep community?" thread.

Currie puts skids on their rigs and in more places than you mentioned. They must think they are needed.

 

[NachoRuby]

This country is huge, and the wheeling destinations diverse. I'm sure whether or not you need additional skids largely depends on where you're wheeling. I'm a newbie, for sure, but I imagine the Midwest is different from the east coast, which is different from the south, which is different from the west coast.

Personally, I've just been adding things as needed. Nothing more, nothing less. Lca skids have been added because I keep hitting my lca bracket. I'll leave the front bumper skid, because I've hit it, but it seems to do the job, and now I have bigger tires and a spacer lift for more clearance. The gas tank skid seems to do the job, at least for my skill level and trails I'm doing. Yeah, I've scraped it, but it's holding up fine.

The only things I see myself adding now are either diff skids or aftermarket diff covers. But my skill level is low, and my aversion to risk admittedly high haha. So I'm not doing anything that might break my jeep.

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