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/

_________________
KJ 2002, 3.7L Sport
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Lifetime Member # EJ062115

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.

FINAL UPDATE:

jparts.com finally made things right. We exchanged the front skid for the transmission skid and the descriptions on their web site have been corrected. Just a real pain to get everything worked out. Not to mention that I was basically lied to about my replacement being shipped and had to continually call and bug them to get them to actually do what they said they would do...

marginal source of parts at best...