Howdy.

I'm attempting to retro-fit the Mopar transmission skid (p/n 52128925AC) to my '02 KJ. Admittedly I've only looked at it briefly this morning, but it seems as if there are already holes in the rear cross-member (the one between the transmission and the transfer case) that will accept the nuzerts, they're just in slightly the wrong position.

So the question is, to those of you who have done this retro-fit job, did you drill new holes in the cross-member to match the skid plate, or new holes in the skid plate to match the cross-member?

I think I'd prefer to drill holes in a $30 bit of metal rather than my chassis, but are the existing cross-member holes in wildly incorrect places?

Any help's much appreciated.

Cheers.

From what I've read recently you should be able to make 2 holes line up (one in front and one in the rear). Then I'd just get out the drill and go straight through the cross member. Get some long bolts. The fewer nutzerts to deal with the better. They'll eventually fall out anyway and a bolt going all the way through the cross member will just be stronger.

Thanks for the info. After doing a bit more searching I found this;
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=701&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Which seems to show it being held on by the front passenger side engine skid bolt, the rear driver's side bolt/nutzert in the 'correct' place on the tranny skid and the rear passenger side bolt/nutzert through a 'custom' hole in the tranny skid. The front driver's side of the tranny skid is just sandwiched between the engine skid and the cross-member.

Hopefully that'll be OK. I try to give it a whirl sometime this weekend. Basically as long as I manage to get this chunky bit of metal between the jagged rocks and my squidgy soft transmission case I'll be happy!

Ed, I just got a reply to an e-mail from Troy (who had the picture posted) and it confirms what you are seeing. He said he drilled thru above one of the nut-zert openings and had to drill thru both sides of the cross member for the other bolt. I am planning on doing this myself this weekend if I can find a tranny skid at one of the local dealers (and I have plenty of dealers to choose from).

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

Cool, thanks corwyn (and Troy).

Actually, I've just been out and offered up the skid to my KJ. On mine it seems that both the passenger side (except it's the driver's side over here!) bolts fit in the standard skid holes, the front skid one at the front and a nutzert one at the back. The front driver's side gets sandwiched as per Troy's installation, and I just have to drill a hole in the skid to match up with the standard nutzert hole in the driver's side rear.

Troy, if you read this, is there a reason why you used the diagonally opposite standard holes in the skid?

Also, there are some funny little tab things on the skid sticking out from the front of the oil change hole that I think I'll have to cut off since they're fouling the front cross-member. Did you have that problem too?

On my Mopar tranny skid install on a 2002 Liberty, I lined up the skid with the factory holes and drilled new ones through the $30 plate at the correct locations. I figured it would be best to drill through the $30 plate rather than the $17,000 vehicle.

If I remember correctly, there was another hole in the front crossmember hidden under the front skid plate, and I drilled through the front skid to expose it.

I also touched up all the drill holes with primer and paint to help prevent rust.

As it worked out, the tranny skid is sandwiched between the front skid and crossmember up front, and sandwiched between the transfer case skid and the crossmember at the back.

As for the tabs, I read that some newer Libertys have holes in the front crossmember to accept the tabs. I just bent mine upward with a hammer. There is still plenty of room to access the oil drain plug.

Some folks like to drill through the whole crossmember and use bolts. I used the nutzerts and it went together pretty slick. Some say the nutzerts will fall out eventually, and that may be true, but I havn't knocked mine out yet.

I figure I will deal with that issue IF it ever comes up.

Also, check for clearance between the new plate and the exhaust pipe under the driver side area. I hit the skid plate with a hammer in this area a few times to give about 1/2 inch of clearance. If not, the exhaust can touch the plate and make an awful racket. In earlier post about this I joked that we had built in "skid plate bend" detectors, since if the plate takes a few hits and bends upward to touch the exhaust, we will hear about it.

I installed one this week. i didn't know what those tabs were for so i bent them up and flattened them out on the top side of the skid. my kj is a 04, 3 of the four boltholes lined up. just needed to drill out 1 on the front crossmember.

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N8
Lifetime member #NG050001
2004 Sport
Flame Red
cb, full armor
"If you're not living on the edge...You're taking up to much space!"

Where have you guys been ordering the MOPAR tranny skid from? I need one for my '03.

_________________
MikeP
L.O.S.T. #000202
2021 Compass

there is one in the part for sale thread, prob. sold other then that go to a stealership.

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N8
Lifetime member #NG050001
2004 Sport
Flame Red
cb, full armor
"If you're not living on the edge...You're taking up to much space!"

I downloaded a drawing of a tranny skid off the old forum. Had it made for 40 bucks out of 1/4 inch plate. Painted it black. It fit up pretty good,, had to elongate a hole or two. And had to trim a bit near the exhaust,, and yes, it does make an awful racket if the exhaust rubs . I inserted the front end under the engine skid, but put the rear on top of the xfer skid.

get muddy

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George
MUDLUST: Black 03 Renegade
LOST 135
3" Lift 265 Cooper Discoverer S/T
Brushguard Diff Guard
Skids & Rails

The difference between me and a madman is: I'm not mad! (Salvador Dali)

I think thats the way they are meant to go on, with the plate in front overlapping the one behind it - that way if you are sliding across rocks they won't grab the front edge of the plate and try to drag it off (unless you're going backwards). At least, thats the way I'm going to install mine.

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

2 diff part numbers for factory skids...read


http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... php?t=2147

RE:[ i didn't know what those tabs were for so i bent them up and flattened them out on the top side of the skid. ]

Those tabs fit in pre-punched holes in an '05 and later, that support the skid during assembly on the production line. On my '04 I also just bent them up.

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_________________
Daddio
L.O.S.T. #000532 Chicagoland
2004 khaki Liberty Sport, 6 cyl Auto, 4 armor plates, AT/S tires or MT/R's, hooks, H/D cooling/towing, Yakima/Thule rack system, rockrails, HiLift jack, Old Man Emu full suspension, etc.

I cut my tabs off! Apart from anything else it gives a bit better access to the oil drain plug.

It was an absolute breeze retro fitting the skid (thanks largely to the great help and advice from L.O.S.T!) just requiring one hole to be drilled through the skid plate. Via a combination of luck and judgement I managed to drill it in exactly the right place first time!

Here are some pics of it fitted with the (also newly fitted) transfer case skid. As you can see, it underlaps (if that's a word) the front suspension plate, but bolts into different nutzert holes in the rear cross-member in front of the transfer case skid. Interesting that those holes are there but aren't used by anything. Almost as if Jeep intended to create a transmission skid for the 02-04 model but never got around to it.

Click for bigger.



Thanks again folks!

Any comments or advice on the following situation?

I ordered some items from jparts.com (which is actually the Savage 61 Dodge dealership in Reading, PA). One of the part numbers is 82209026 which their web site catalog gives the description of "Extra protection when off-roading. Bridges area between front axle skid plate and transfer case." Since I needed the transmission skid plate, this was the way to go at 10% off and free shipping. Guess what you already know and which I just learned the hard way... this IS the front axle skid plate.

I gave Ken a call a jparts.com and he stated that is the description given in the Chrysler parts catalog so he is not at fault. After some major a** kissing on my part to keep things smooth in this rough situation he grudgingly agreed to send me the kit with part number 82210003 at no extra charge (upon my suggestion and giving him this part number from this forum). He told me that Chrysler has not released this part and it is not available yet, but he will send me one as soon as he gets some in. In the mean time among the major breaks of silence on the phone I can hear he is not writing any of this down, and from this forum I know this part is readily available. So what to do? I need this skid for my job activities and I can not wait forever while this guy may be feeling hurt on this situation... Any suggestions on what else I can do?

UPDATE: jparts.com magically updated their product descriptions a few hours after my complaint and have since added the correct skid plate to their inventory. I made an anonymous call to inquire about the part number they are supposed to ship to me "as soon as they get one in" and it's there in stock - not shipped to me, just sitting there. So, they still will not admit fault and have left me hanging with the wrong skid.

Unless they make things right by me, I DO NOT RECOMMEND ORDERING FROM THIS PLACE!

YET ANOTHER UPDATE:

Just talked with Ken and he admitted he had not shipped the transmission skid yet. I offered to exchange the skid in error (which I thought was the deal anyway) and he said he would ship out the correct skid today and for me to return the wrong one in the same box. So, this is the second time I've been told the skid will be shipped out.

Light at the end of the tunnel? Don't know... Stay tuned...

Dude you ordered the worng part number. There are quite a few threads giving the exact part numbers for the plain skid, and the one packaged with nutzerts. Even the dealers cant tell what's what from their catalog descriptions-that's why this forum can be helpful BEFORE the fact, not after. You gotta have the right info and demand what you want first. I've ordered from JParts and thought they were great.

52128925-AC for around $28 at dealer-plain skid
# 82210003 for $49 for the 05-06 models with nutzerts.

What I ordered was;

Skid Plate (52128925AC) 1 @ $25.83
Bolts (6506027AA) 4 @ $1.22
Nutzerts (6506644AA) 2 @ $0.77
Total = $32.25

That "retail packaged" version seems a bit pricey doesn't it?

I was also nearly mislead by the 82209026 description but, fortunately, managed to get the right part numbers from Troy's site;
http://www.youngs.org/kjparts/

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KJ 2002, 3.7L Sport
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Yeah, I figured that out once it got here. I took the advice of this board and went to jparts.com - that's how this got screwed up. According to their website description I ordered the dead-on correct part. The "real" part was not even offered until after I called them and they corrected their website. Notice that part # 82210003 was added on Friday, October 14, 2005? That was the date of my call to them. And, since I had free shipping with over a $200 order, the extra cost of the retail package more than saved me $$$ by pushing my total barely over $200.