Are aftermarket skids too much?

[moabian]

If you have a newer automatic, there is a VERY exposed transmission cooler line. At least Jeep put a cross bar in as a token effort to protect it. Oil pan and tranny skids are among the first things I put on my Jeeps. I'd rather have the added weight of a skid than lose weight by draining precious fluids. I've also added the AEV rear dif skid and Mountain Off-Road's muffler skid (partly to hide the ugly muffler).





FastGlass...nice to see someone quoting Abbey on here. He played a part in my move to Moab 40 years ago...and I was lucky to have counted him among my friends and to have been included in one of his books.

 

[FastGlass]

....FastGlass...nice to see someone quoting Abbey on here. He played a part in my move to Moab 40 years ago...and I was lucky to have counted him among my friends and to have been included in one of his books.

What!? Is it Hayduke?! Tell me you're Hayduke!
That's fantastic. What amazing friends you've kept...I'll bet you have some amazing stories of your own to tell with him as a friend!
Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang occupy a spot directly next to Thoreau's works and Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek on my mantle

 

[Kmrtnsn]

I run the Evo Protek system. I like that it protects the oil pan, transmission pan and crossover line, and the crossmember and exhaust crossover.

 

[TxJprs]

I run the Evo Protek system. I like that it protects the oil pan, transmission pan and crossover line, and the crossmember and exhaust crossover.

X2

I like that it protects without loosing any clearance. The crossmember skid does a great job of providing a nice skid surface for where my 4-door likes to hit on steep breakovers.

I'm in the school of thought that the factory transfer case, gas tank and evap skids are sufficient. I've hit the transfer and gas tank and they've done their job.

 

[moabian]

What!? Is it Hayduke?! Tell me you're Hayduke!
That's fantastic. What amazing friends you've kept...I'll bet you have some amazing stories of your own to tell with him as a friend!
Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang occupy a spot directly next to Thoreau's works and Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek on my mantle

Sorry...not Hayduke. I had a "Hayduke Lives!" bumper sticker on my Scrambler, which to keep this response thread-relevant, had an oil pan skid. The book is Abbey's Road. Ed and I did an article for Outside Magazine back in 1978 when it was still owned by Rolling Stone. He included that article in Abbey's Road as a chapter titled "A Walk in the Park."

Bumper sticker and custom spoiler:

 

[yeol1]

IMO look in to doing a "flat belly" it would protect the engine, transmission, and tcase and the and give you a little bit more clearance. Then I would do a front diff cover, look at Solid diff covers cheaper then some with plenty of beef, the do the pinion skids. I live in the southeast and some people I wheel with are from the northeast and our terrains are very similar. If it was just rocks I'd say you could avoid certain ones and drive carefully, but you never know what is in the bottom of a mud hole.