I appreciate Honger..

THERE you go. The greatest website stikes AGAIN!!!!!

Heh, funny thing is I had seen that skid around before somehow too.

One thing I wanted to ask-do the side bends protect the undercarriage well enough? Looks a bit short in height there, maybe the pictures dont do it justice.

On a related note, do you think the transfer case needs a skid or what? I found one I had saved from somewhere;

Heres a sheet of diamond plate aluminum, just a bit of trimming to get it to fit.

The skidplate protects what it needs to. The side bends are really just there to add rigidity to the skid plate, not provide protection. The stock skid plate was more of a splash guard. Since my design isn't quite as wide, water splash gets inside the engine bay much easier. That isn't a big deal except my engine bay is not *****-and-span anymore. Of course, no skidplate is going to keep water splash out of the engine bay in situations like this...



The only thing I would do differently is extend the plate back to the rear-lower IFS member... mine terminates at the front member and leaves the rear of the oil pan vulnerable. Of course, this makes it easier for me to drain my oil.



That picture is of Brew's integral transfer case crossmember/skidplate. Before making such a low profile skidplate you'd need to do a 2" bodylift and 2" drivetrain lift (as he did). You could still do an integral transfer case crossmember/skidplate, it just would protrude down further than his.

Regards,
Joel

The transfer-case skid plate is huge if you're not going with a 4" or more suspension lift. If you check what you have stock you'll find it to be as flimsy as the plastic splash guard under the engine. I repeatedly hit the TC when playing around on even mild stuff and it was what stopped me cresting steep inclines being the lowest point on the truck.

But Joel is right; the only benefit to the one I had fabricated was in unison with a drivetrain lift. I used 4crawler engine mount lift blocks for 2", had the skidplate incorporate 2+" of lift, raised the center support bearing/notched the crossmember 2" and adjusted the pinion angle while doing a U-bolt flip to maintain the proper angles. You should also understand that my mods were not cost-effective for someone who intends to sell their truck. I did this for the long-haul and can rationalize that the expense will be spread over 20+ years of use. They'll be prying my cold, dead fingers off the TC lever after I die and will probably have to wipe the smile off my face for the viewing <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Brew

For adequate protection without all the additional mods, a simple steel plate might work and at least allow you to high-center or scrape without all the abuse being put on the transfercase itself.


p.s. - Here's a link to the bearing/crossmember mod... Link

Yea, I had been wondering as the pictures really didnt do it justice. I am gonna give a local 4x4 shop a call and see if they will do the fab work and discuss extending the said plate plans.

On a related note, do you think the transfer case needs a skid or what? I found one I had saved from somewhere;
I think plain metal would work just the same as the front skid-is it possible to somewhat tuck the transfer case up higher without a lift? I know the case itself is pretty loose down there and is possible to move, but I worry it may be a problem.

Thanks so much guys, the build will be coming slowly along but I will do it. I wasnt interested in a huge lift, only lift as much as you need (and can afford)I say, so its gonna be BJ spacers up front with slightly cranked t-bars to give 1.5" and rear leaf pack to give 1.5, then an overall 1" body lift. I dont think I will need to relocate anything int he drivetrain, transfercase, gas tank neck, etc for such small body lift.

keep me posted on the project, I am in NJ too and want to ditch the plastic skid plate too, and maybe we can get a 2fer....

The place I was gonna contact in the next week or so is OK auto, 4wd and tire in stewartsville http://www.ok4wd.com/ . They do say they do fab work on thier site-but I dunno. If its gonna cost an arm and a leg I might just use diamond plate for a cheaper solution for now.

So back to the Q at hand: can I tuck the transfer case up any without causing any problems or using a drivetrain lift? It hangs really low imho.

A couple of problems with aluminum skid plates. One is aluminum's love of disintegrating in the presence of steel. You have to use special grades of aluminun or isolate the two metals from each other. The other is that, in salt land, you can kiss it goodby in about 3 years unless you have special grade aluminum, which will kill you on price. Better to go to steel or, if you can afford it, stainless, 304 or even 316.