Jeeps without skids

[jac04]

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".

Come on out to New England!

"The rocks were slippery that day my friends..." is how the story starts. Anyhow, slow & steady, following my spotter ... I totally had this, until I didn't:

Here are a few of my wheeling buddies rigging me for extraction, and I'm resting on the engine/trans skid plate on top of a big pointy rock.

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[brianinca]

I've also seen wood do incredible damage. I went with the Asfir aluminum engine/trans/case skids in hopes of deflecting some damage like that. Not sure it will stop a spear headed for the oil pan, though!

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.

 

[Rusty PW]

I've also seen wood do incredible damage. I went with the Asfir aluminum engine/trans/case skids in hopes of deflecting some damage like that. Not sure it will stop a spear headed for the oil pan, though!

Had a buddy run over a log. Decided to back up over the log. The log went through his radiator. Between the axle, frame, and motor.

Before I took my JT offroad. I changed the diff covers and added skids to every lower control arm point. One weekend at Rausch Creek. Every skid plate got kissed multiple times. Did Crawl Daddy and Crawler Ridge. Both are black trails.

 

[Blade1668]

My XJ has fuel tank skid, rock rails, transmission/ T-case, and rear axle cover skid I built, chopped shaved shock mounts. But it got flogged on trails. LJ rock rails (mainly street) gravel or dirt roads. JT none as of yet but not off‐roading it much yet.... yet. Different priorities and use by many owners. The stock "belly pan" on my LJ has a few scratches and bend, something I learned to do differently especially owning multiple Jeeps... don't try to keep up with the Jones.
It's really strange to think that for a long time, well known trails have "gotten so much worse" that a stock MB, CJ-2 - TJ could do in years past with out tons of mods. Now can only be "done" after adding so much stuff and 36 plus tires now. ? ? A big change seems to be from I want to go see stuff and places to I'm going to drive up a wall or how far can I take this and break it. Hmmm.... The Lion's Back is closed and more than a few others???

 

[bd100]

A big change seems to be from I want to go see stuff and places to I'm going to drive up a wall or how far can I take this and break it.

Ditto. I want to bring the family neat places, and have the vehicle survive to get us home again.

 

[hjdca]

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.

This has not been my experience. Most of the technical stuff out west requires low lock granny gear... Maybe, a quick bump for the rear may be required to get up the obstacle. The JT is a different animal than a JL, JLU... The extreme length changes things on normal Jeep trails. You are much more prone to scraping with a JT through the same trail that you may not scrape in a JL or JLU. I find that most people that are putting skids on their JT are doing it for reliability/longevity. Skids are cheap insurance and an effective way to save your underside brackets.

 

[Snake Eyes]

I am running stock…the other day I was pushing it and almost had to crawl over a couch sitting in the middle of the road…..

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