After weekend activities need a tummy tuck?

[Maz]

Well it rained a bit here in adelaide on the weekend so decided to go to a local place for a bit of a play in the mud. I was having some fun til I went up a dirt mound and ended up high centering the Jeep. The transfer case bash plate managed to scoop up a sh!t load of dirt and wedge itself on top of the hill. At this stage the baja claws had turned into slicks from all the mud and I was completely bogged. After and hour of digging in the rain I finally managed to get it out but not after a lot of frustration and swearing.

So what have i learn't, firstly the transfer case drop from the lift kit needs to go so I think a SYE and CV drive shaft will be comming soon and secondly the stock transfer case skid plate is a piece of sh!t. So I was thinking about looking at an aftermarket one that will give me some extra clearance around the belly of the jeep.

My question is who is running a tummy tuck skid plate and what mods have you done to accomodate them? Also, what sought of cost is involved?


cheers

[Bundybear]

I`m with you mate! whenever lining up for tracks, its not, "where are my wheels, and stuff like that" its more "ok... my transfer x-member is gunna hit here, and here, um and here so if i go ... here it`ll hit less the goin there"!
Especially on ya rocky courses, done the see-saw thing a few times lol!

[ARB87U]

i am looking down this path at the moment. The thing is i am sick of buying something and then selling it later because of something i have replaced it with. So at the moment i and thinking about getting the belly skid for a longarm kit, as i understand it most of them (i know the re one for sure) can be used without the arms. If i go this way then all i need to do it buy the longarms down the track.

If you are considering long arms at any point you are going to need to get rid of the tummy tucker kit in the process. So i guess it depends on what your future upgrade plans are, but i know that i will end up with a longarm kit so with that in mind i am going to get the longarm belly skid.

If you know that you will stay on short arm kits then in my personnel opinion is you can't go past the kit from 33 engineering http://www.offroadtoystore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=33-1600&Category_Code=33Eng awsome thing about this one is that it has a cross member to support the transmission so that you can pop off the belly plate and work on driveshafts, the transfer case and transmission all without jacking it up.

[MR EXTREME JEEP]

http://www.offroadtoystore.com/pictures/brianschoonmaker/plentyofdriveshaftclearance.jpg
Its not a bad unit but it acts more like a crossmember than a bash plate. It is so small it offers hardly any protection. Useless for an auto. But I do love the theory behind it.

[zzzz]

You have to take into consideration that if you raise your transfer case it is exactly the' same as raising the lift with springs.
A 3" spring lift with a 3" transfer case raise due to a belly up creates the same driveline angles as a 6" spring lift.

You will need quite a lot of modifications to make a truly flat bellyup work.
Upper and lower adjustable control arms and an SYE and double cardan driveshafts.

I have a custom made skid that keeps the rear of the transfer case at basically the same place as a stocker.
The rest of the skid is formed to make it smooth and provide as much clearance as possible everywhere else.
It extends a long way forward and has a cutout for the front driveshaft.

I would be looking for something similar or making one yourself.
An improvement in mine would be to create a transfer case mount that was seperate so that the skid could be dropped easily for maintenance.

This is the best pic I have of it at the moment.
http://www.teamfiretruck.com/gallery/albums/userpics/jbitz_%281%29.JPG