Custom tranny crossmember/skidplates...

[A-man930]

As I was installing my poly transmission mount last night I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the stock crossmember, it worries me... Now I don't personally have much experience with fabrication, but I do have acess to the necessary materials/equipment, and I think a crossmember/skidplate project would be a fairly easy first effort (with lots of help of course.)

However, I'm having trouble finding examples to look at. I've seen plenty of XJ pieces, but since the similarities to our trucks basically ends behind the cab, only the furthest-forward portion works, and I want a skidplate that extends almost to the gas tank (this is in a short-bed btw.) I would ideally want one that is flush with the rails, but I also want to keep the design fairly simple, and it doesn't seem those two go together... so one that merely offers improved clearance is fine by me. I'll post up pics of what I've seen that I like when I get my picoodle account to work :hateputers: Until then, post up pics and/or whatever. :chillin:

 

Oh, and I eventually will be running a 321/242 box4rocks doubler, so I want protection for the t-case that will eventually be there... thinkin' ahead :dunce:

[Pete M]

I made mine from simple 1/4" C-channel (came from some industrial shelving unit). I bolted it to the extra brace on the side of the frame rails that XJs don't have. No problems yet.

 

 

 

 

 

It nestles in comfortably between my t-case skid and the control arm mount crossmember.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I also made a skid plate that is welded to the factory crossmember.

 

 

Works good so far.....

 

CW

[Carl'sMJ]

How did the mount install go?

[A-man930]

Quite well! I did have to sand quite a bit of the poly away on the front portion (I'm still finding red chunks in my eyes...) but other than that it went great! I love the way it drives now :D

 

Pete: How many bolts are holding it to the truck? what thickness is the C-channel? Did the whole drivetrain get shifted up? (if that's a stock mount I see there)

 

Still no luck on the pictures, but I'll try and describe what I'm thinking:

 

Boxed tubing (maybe, 2"x10" .25" wall...) mounted by the extended lower "layer" of the tubing, bolted from underneath to the rails. Probably hard to picture, I may be able to draw something up if all else fails. I may just add the extended skidplate later, just a stock-ish one would suffice for now.

[A-man930]

AhHA! Here we go... Again, this is in an XJ, but I like the design.

 

I would go the simpler route and secure it from under the rails (as opposed to the sides as he has it), and the box would be smaller (shorter?) and recieve the transmission mount the same as stock. This shows basically the skid I want as well, skinned of course. However, I think it would be unwise to design a skid without having the doubler actually there to measure... (shown here is this guy's 231/231 "box4rocks" combo)

 

As above, I would use shallower box tubing, and have a shortened tranny mount bolt through the middle of the x-member, stock-style... How big do you guess this box is?

 

Pics of someting like this in an MJ is what I'm looking for. Or if anyone has any different ideas/designs feel free.

[minydigger]

This is the cross member I just did for my grand with a 3-link

It will get a skid built to to cover the t-case eventually

[Andy in Pa]

I think that you are thinking along the right lines. I wouldn't build anything off of the factory crossmember... they WILL NOT support the weight of an MJ (or XJ for that matter...) without bending. I even had a transfer case skid attached to my factory crossmember, and it still bent easily when I sat the Jeep on it.

 

I built a crossmember out of 2x8x1/4" wall rectangular tubing for my XJ, and it took the entire weight of the Jeep without bending.

 

A.