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Got My Skids!!

6K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  FrankB 
#1 ·
WOO HOO the fedex man just dropped off my skids here at the office. Now I can't wait to get home and start painting them. I hope I can get these installed by myself. We'll see how it goes. I may have to do one or two a night depending on how long it takes. Pics will be posted post installation.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Muzikman said:
The only part that you might have problems with is where the engine and tranny skid meet. They use the same bolts and it's a pain in the ass to line them up and start the bolts.

Also, the secret to the tank skid is to put the brackets up first and then use a floor jack to lift the skid into place. It took my almost three hours to install the skids and that included a trip to the hardware store to get some longer bolts for the engine skid.

After my install I talked with Jim and gave him some of my short comings with the skids. I am sure he took care of those minor problems.
I have jack stands, just not floor jack. I think my neighbor has one I can borrow so if you did it alone with those few things, I should be good to go. I'll remember the trick about installing the gas tank brackets first and then putting the skid on.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Finally here are some pics.

All but the front one before I went off-road

After being off-road

Front Skid coverage





Factory tow hook. For this to work I had to use the factory bolts instead of the ones Jim provided.




Thanks again to Dan for helping me get the front skid mounted.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
FrankB said:
Thanks for posting the photos.

Any special tips for installing that front plate (beyond the one about using the existing bolts on the tow hook side)?

The question I have is related to the sway bar. Do the prongs go behind the bracket, up against the frame? It kind of looks that way in one of the photos, but I can't tell for sure. Is it really as simple as loosening up the 4 sway bar bolts and slipping the tabs behind the bracket? Is the bar under any tension? I take it the bolts don't need to come all the way out.

Thanks in advance.
Yes the prongs do go behind the sway bar up against the frame. The only trick I can say is to get a friend to help. I messed with it myself for 30 min and couldn't get it lined up on both sides while pulling back the bumper. Once Dan got there, it took us 2 min to put in place and feed the frame bolts in.

As far as the bolts for the sway bar, no tension that I saw and I only loosened them. Tighting them back up was a slow process and so far can't tell the difference with the sway bar moved that fraction of an inch.
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
FrankB said:
hattrik21 said:
FrankB said:
Thanks for posting the photos.

Any special tips for installing that front plate (beyond the one about using the existing bolts on the tow hook side)?

The question I have is related to the sway bar. Do the prongs go behind the bracket, up against the frame? It kind of looks that way in one of the photos, but I can't tell for sure. Is it really as simple as loosening up the 4 sway bar bolts and slipping the tabs behind the bracket? Is the bar under any tension? I take it the bolts don't need to come all the way out.

Thanks in advance.
Yes the prongs do go behind the sway bar up against the frame. The only trick I can say is to get a friend to help. I messed with it myself for 30 min and couldn't get it lined up on both sides while pulling back the bumper. Once Dan got there, it took us 2 min to put in place and feed the frame bolts in.

As far as the bolts for the sway bar, no tension that I saw and I only loosened them. Tighting them back up was a slow process and so far can't tell the difference with the sway bar moved that fraction of an inch.
Thanks for the quick response. You must be more mechanically inclined than I am. I could not get the tow hook bolts loose tonight, so I'll need to try again later with some sort of extension bar for leverage. I'm using a 1/2" socket driver, any suggestions for something that might make life easier here?

Did you need a wrench to hold the nut on the back of the lower sway bar bolt when you tightened it up? I picked up a 6" extension as Shrock suggested in the instructions, but it almost seems too long to work when taking off the top sway bar bolt. How did you get in there?
Yeah I had to use a breaker bar (aka old pipe) to get enough leverage to get them off. The bad thing that I noticed today is that I now have a poping sound from the front end somewhere. I guess I need to make sure all the bolts are tight enough tonight.
 
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