By Tony K
If you have ever crawled under a Land Cruiser you will have seen some sheetmetal that can best be described as gravel shields even if Toyota does call them skidplates. If you are gonna hit the rocks you are going to need a decent skidplate and for us wagon guys that means fabrication.
Don’t skimp when it comes to a skidplate for your tranny and t-case. There is no good reason to go light when it comes to protecting these critical components of the drivetrain. And remember that it will only protect things if it is made of heavy enough materials, is installed in the right place and has a sturdy mount system.
Fortunately for me I had a ready made place to install a skidplate as my BJ sits on a 62 frame so the unused crossmember mounts from the auto were the perfect place to start. That and a couple of existing holes in the frame were tapped to provide some additional attachement points.
I had made several skidplates previous to this one so I had a really good idea of just what I wanted. And even though I say to go heavy this doesn’t mean add a bunch of unneeded weight with excess metal. Protect the important parts but temper it with some reality. All told this only added about 27lbs to my rig.
The mounts are made from some 2 and 1/2 by 1/4 in angle I had and the main crossmembers are 1 and 1/4 x 3/16 square tube. The only thing I had to go out and buy was the plate on the bottom. It is made from 3/16th plate. Fortunately for me I have access to a huge hydraulic press to make the bends. If you are not so lucky it can all be done with cutting and welding to get the shape you want. I also incorporated a bend outboard of the crossmembers to create short ramps to help it slide off rocks rather than catch on them.
Don’t forget to leave a hole in the bottom so you can get to the t-case drain plug. Even though it is only held on with eight bolts I would much rather just pull a plug for service instead of removing the whole skidplate. And just as the t-case is off to one side so is the bulk of this skidplate. No reason to protect air and leaving the drivers side open allows good access to the fill plug on the tranny. Still have to make a minor mod around the tranny drain to make it easier to drain as well.
