I am looking into makeing a home-made TCase Skid that will be 'flat-belly' from frame-rail to frame-rail.

Wanted to talk to any TJ Jeepers who may have already done this type of mod.

Here is what I think is needed to do it.
1) 1" Body Lift
2) 1" Motor Mount
3) SYE, rear CV Shaft, etc...
4) Rectangle peice of flat-stock steel around 3/8" thick
5) Cutouts for front shaft and tcase mount bolts


Now, assuming 1-3 are already done and ready....is it as simple as getting the flat-stock; cutting it to measure; and swapping it with the stock Tcase skid that hangs down 4 inches low?

Also, Has anyone mounted the tcase directly to the skid-plate; or do you have to cut-off the tcase mount from the OEM skid; and move it to the new flat-skid?

This seems like a pretty easy mod; but I haven't seen alot of TJs doing it...so I wanted to see if there is something that I am missing...it sure seems better than buying a flat-belly skid from the 3rdparty vendors who sell them for around $350....

Thanks in advance.

Must be Tuesday....

Dave, rule #1 in this forum is...mention titanium cryo-treaded rockwell shafts in your thread title or it gets moved to the newbie section. *shaking head*
To make an effort in helping...Nth degreee has a cool skid...I'd copy that if you posess this skills.

First off, this would be a great topic to search. . .that's how I made mine. One thing that leads me to believe that you might want to spend some quality time under your Jeep is that you think that the Tcase mounts to anything other than the tranny. . .

But, since I never posted how I made mine, I'll give it a shot.

1. Clocked TCase to about 8 degrees below flat. (Dana 300)
2. Measured clearance.
3. Liberally cut body to clear TCase (body lifts are for the mall)
4. Fabbed up a saddle mount that bolts to the tranny and has two bushings Looks like this \__/ with the tranny bolts on the bottom (with counter sunk bolts) and the bushings on the / parts.
5. Built flat skid out of 1/4" plate reinforce with angle iron.
6. Built tabs to bolt on to the bushings.
7. Threw paint on it.
8. Captured the motor mounts so they won't flex too much. . oh, wait, you don't need to do that, just use poly motor mounts. the bushings on the tranny mount should line up (roughly) with the motor mounts so they flex in the same plane.

I think that I might put some right angles on the edges and sleave/bolt through the frame at some point, but it is holding up really well for the last year of hard wheelin'.

NO pics, because I didn't take any

i just built one for a friend. he has 3.5 inches of lift and with the flat skid the adjustable rear upper control arms from RE are too short, so we had to make longer rear arms. also, any more than 3 inches of lift on a stock wheelbase and the CV joint is gonna max out, you also need the transfer case shifter bracket that skyjacker sells, or build one similar. with a 1 inch body lift on a 4 cylinder 5 speed i had to bang a few dents in the floor, but didn't have to cut any holes. you might have to tweek the exhaust also. i have a flat skid on my tj also with a 6 cylinder 5 speed with no body lift and had to cut quite a bit out of the floor and totaly redo the exhaust to get it to fit....good luck, take your time........oh yea, i made these out of 1/4 inch with angle to brace the edges....

can someone post some pics of their flat belly pan?

search and you shall find...


http://members.cox.net/rioshilo/skid.JPG

For the tranny mount I just "remade" the factory one...I drilled out the stock 4 bolt pattern on a piece of 1/4" then welded that on 2 "spacers" to keep it up off the flat skid & keeping the tranny mount bolts from sticking out the bottom

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v705/00tjken/Picture125.jpg

For access to the tranny mount bolts you can see here where I use a holesaw to make room to get a socket on them.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v705/00tjken/Picture130.jpg


Pretty simple stuff.....oh yea the hardest part was countersinking the 6 mounting holes for my allen head bolts.

:cow:

Consider building a seperate crossmember to hold the drivetrain in place, then a skid plate for protection. Here is a couple pictures of a TJ with this setup:

http://www.code4x4.com/imagebin/BM_TJX-Mem_10.jpg

http://www.code4x4.com/imagebin/Skid_09.jpg

For the tranny mount I just "remade" the factory one...I drilled out the stock 4 bolt pattern on a piece of 1/4" then welded that on 2 "spacers" to keep it up off the flat skid & keeping the tranny mount bolts from sticking out the bottom

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v705/00tjken/Picture125.jpg

For access to the tranny mount bolts you can see here where I use a holesaw to make room to get a socket on them.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v705/00tjken/Picture130.jpg


Pretty simple stuff.....oh yea the hardest part was countersinking the 6 mounting holes for my allen head bolts.

I got a question... Are you guys bolting the tranny directly to the skid with out any type of rubber mount ?

Im looking ate making a skid this weekend and would like to know how you guys are getting around not using a rubber mount.... Does it cause any vibartions in the drivetrain... Have you noticed any damage to the ears on the tranny from not having any movement during binds??

Thanks,

Consider building a seperate crossmember to hold the drivetrain in place, then a skid plate for protection. Here is a couple pictures of a TJ with this setup:



You want to be careful here. With stock or worn motor mounts you can get too much of a torsional twist and can break mounts that way.

You want to be careful here. With stock or worn motor mounts you can get too much of a torsional twist and can break mounts that way.

Not sure if I agree with that or understand the reasoning why. Is there really a difference between using a mount attached to the skid versus a mount attached to the frame rails as shown in the pics by Code. It appears that there are bushings in that picture. As long as it isn't a "solid/rigid" attachemnt seems like it would be fine.

I got a question... Are you guys bolting the tranny directly to the skid with out any type of rubber mount ?


I used the factory rubber mount....it bolts to my flat skid the same way it bolted to the factory skid plate

Aside from the thickness of the flat-stock sheet that has been discussed; I haven't found any articles on the flat-tummy skid that list the measurements of the length/width (frame-rail to frame-rail) ....anyone remember these off the top of their heads and care to list them?

Not sure if I agree with that or understand the reasoning why. Is there really a difference between using a mount attached to the skid versus a mount attached to the frame rails as shown in the pics by Code. It appears that there are bushings in that picture. As long as it isn't a "solid/rigid" attachemnt seems like it would be fine.


Because in that case it's mounted solidly to the xmember, but not to the frame. I the other examples it's mounted solidly to the frame but not to the xmember. There will be much more flex in the first.