Hey guys,

Bought an '07 a few months back, put 245/70r16 Toyo Open Country AT's (no rubbing at all), but now I'm looking to armor up. I want to get the most bang for my buck, so I might do a combo of Skid Row, Rustys, Mopar....etc. My question is, are any of the Mopar skids strong enough to be worth picking up, they are darn cheap.

Also how dumb of me would it be to put a Detroit TrueTrac in the front, and an ARB air locker in the back considering I only have 4000 miles on the car, and am under warranty.

Any advice on armor would be great.

The Mopar engine/tranny skid is insufficient for any offroading. You will dent it without a lift. The front engine/suspension skid, transfer case skid, and fuel tank skid are somewhat serviceable. They are still flimsy compared to real skids, but better than nothing. They do have the advantage of being lighter. All those skids will add a fair amount of weight to your ride. Don't forget tow hooks or some other kind of recovery points. The Mopar rock rails are not the greatest. Sliders are pretty important, I would get these somewhere else-- AllJ or RockLizard.

Wait to do the diff stuff till you change the diff fluid (15,000 miles or so). Are you going to lift this? If so are you may want to regear-- In that case wait, you don't want to buy lockers twice.

If you have the money to fork out for a Tru-Track and an Arb (over $1100 in parts alone) I would buy good skids and a lift first. The lockers can wait a bit and you don't have to do them both at the same time, so spreading the financial pain out may enable you to buy better skids now instead of cheap ones.

You have an 07, so you have ESP, which is better than nothing and better than most limited slips. Coupled with the Tru-Trac it should give a locker a run for its money. I hope to get a Tru-Trac in the rear in a few months and will just call it a day after that.

One point to remember when thinking about a locker in the front is that the d30a front diff is an aluminum unit and can fail under certain conditions with a locker installed - there have been a number of owners on here that have had this very problem. A locker in the rear diff would be OK, and the Mopar skids, while not the stoutest in the world, are better than putting a dent or hole in an oil pan. Just my two cents...

_________________
Kevin
AD5VG
Just another red Jeep in the world...
L.O.S.T. #KB051963

Hopefully ESP works out as well as you say.

The weight vs. strength debate will rack my brain for a bit, but even though its a weekend warrior, damage costs more then gas. Does Skid Row still make plates, someone told me they stopped. They are still listed on thier website.

for Sliders I want RL, or will see if anyone local can fab for cheaper.


I have front tow hooks, and rear hitch with shackle for recovery.

Yeah I'm going to lift it, I'm looking at the OME one, a little less stress on the front being 1.75 and 2.5. Don't want Jeep to void my warranty too easily. Have to make them work for it!

Also I have Windshield Light mounts in the works, will spread the love if they work out as planned.

ditto on all above, but will disagree with Pablo about the skids.

Unless they changed the front skid design, (which in the back of my mind I keep hearing voices saying they did) the Mopar engine skid is pretty stout. I've had mine for almost 5 years and many many off road beatings. It is almost to the point of needing replaced as it looks like there is less than 1/2 inch between skid and front diff. Same goes with the transfer and the gas skid. They are finally starting to show some dents and tweaks in them. But as I said after much serious off road action.

I did have the skid row taco, i mean tranny skid on for a year or so, but it bent big time and I replaced it with All J's Super skid. Seen the new mopar tranny skid and it looks like it'll save your but at least once, but that'll be about it. I could be wrong but don't think it'll hold up well and doesn't cover all that much.

have fun checking out this great board and learning about your KJ.

mike

i concur with signcutter.

i have all mopar skids and have beat the heck out of them, with no failures.

not sure why peeps beat up the mopar skids like they're made out of aluminum foil, but most of them are misinformed.

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2004.5 dodge qclb
smarty powered / isspros
2005 sivler lj
http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn13 ... ider_2008/

i also have full mopar skids. they are all good with exception to the tranny skid. i have to bend it back everytime i hit the trail to get it off of my exhaust down-pipe. thats with moderate use too, not pounding the crap out of it.

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-Jon-
02 Jeep Liberty - LOST Trail Tested Edition - sold
09 VW Tiguan 4motion - current