Muzikp's Sometimes Driveable Build

Skid plate making is exhausting when you don't have the right tools.

Measure out where the bends go. You can see my cross member sitting to the side, lot's of hole filling and reinforcing but I'll get pics of that when the paint dries.



Park the truck on the skid plate with some really thick steel plate I have



Resort to heating the plate after all efforts to bend it fail. You can see the smaller skid plate that we already bent just behind my son. It was easier than the larger one we are working on here.



Get your 16 year old to help and rupture your spleen while trying to bend it. We are lifting the truck more than bending the plate.







It's bent... the 16 year old recovered much quicker than I did



I'll get some pics of the two plates on the Jeep soon.

 

Swag press brake out of the question?

 

Valuable father son time? Looking good James and that skid plate should be plenty strong. If need be, I have torches and such. Just come on up.

 

The skid plate... plate is 1/4" thick aluminum. I'm worried it may be soft and sticky like Kyle commented about his aluminum rock sliders but well see.



There were 19 holes in the top of this two days ago. I added captured nuts where the skids bolt on.





I reinforced the cross member where the plates bolt on.





Here's the rear one attached.





I bought a small can of enamel and thinned it down with acetone and poured it in all the holes so I wouldn't rust from the inside out. It's my version of fluid film I guess.



I'm going to bolt on rubber or poly bushings where the unsupported edges make contact with the transmission and transfer case. I wasn't planning on supporting the front and rear edge, it can get pushed up against the trans and tcase.



Now I can get hung up on the rocks because of the bolts. Need skid plate bolt skid plates... or something



So do we think this will be too hard on the cross member and break it? Will this be too much of a shovel and scoop stuff up? Is this good or should it be better?

 

Also, the bar that my son is using to pry with is the left over DOM from my drag link. I know we were wondering about the strength of it since I put the bend in it for the power steering gear clearance. It's still straight after he and I used it for a pry bar. Still need to test if the drag link with the bend in it will flex or not.

 

Well I'll be dipped, look at that affordable thing

 

I want one but I am running out of dry storage. I really need to find another place to store junk.

 

I would have suggested carriage bolts but I see that's not going to work. Maybe some mushroom headed allen bolts?

 

copper lines conduct electricity . Ask me how I know . On my second copper line I wrapped it with electrical tape. my keyboard should have an " ask me how I know " button

 

3

3/16" ID fuel hose . Run your copper thru that, if you want to " insulate " it . The copper is way better that that 1/8 " poly hose. Engine vibration alone , will have that leaking Toot Sweet !

 

Countersunk head Allen bolts will do the job. At 1/4 inch thick, you should be fine to countersink.

 

I have a 1/4" thick aluminum skid on my gas tank. It has held up well over the years but is a pain to get lined up when I remove it now. Definitely taken a lot of abuse. The transmission/transfer case is thick steel and is very stout. I have the same problem and probably should have used different bolts.

 

When you start that truck on fire, your gonna cry, we're gonna laugh.

 

It's ok, I practice safe redneckery

 

I've been needing a 33" spare forever. I wasn't worried about finding one because I've been seeing them Craig's forever. Now when I actually want to find one there are none

 

Update

I bought a 33" spare



And if you saw the de-motivation thread you know I was having some bad noises from my transmission/Tcase/bell housing area.

Pulled the transmission and it all looked really good inside. I don't have any play in any of the input shafts and aside from a bit of pitting on 1st gear it looks great inside





Here's a video of my transmission. It all seems really good to me but maybe you guys will notice something.



I was starting to pull the transfer case off to see if anything in there was bad. I took the nut and snap ring off and I couldn't get the tcase off the adapter. Is there something else holding it together?

I removed the rear cover where an OD would go and this is looking inside. I thought when I took the nut, gear and snap ring off it would come off but it won't



This evening when I was picking everything up and organizing all the pieces and I think I found my problem. This cheap Omix clutch fork is missing a tab. That would explain the noises I'm getting





Anyody know where to get a decent quality clutch fork. This is my second one to break

 

Did you get the extra bolt on the other side of the transfer case? Theres one that hard to see, I'm sure someone will speak up with a pic.

 

I did, the tcase can spin on the adapter but it won't pull off.

 

try putting the nut back on the Transmission mainshaft and apply a dead blow hammer.

 

IIRC, a big-hole D18 should separate from the transmission without having to remove the bull gear. Just remove the bolts that hold the two together and it should separate. Am I wrong?