gek
Well-Known Member
Got to come at those motor mount bolts through the fender. I learned that the hard way too. Just easier to pop the fender off then struggle with it.Next project I got to hit was the Next Venture 7000 series skids for the JT and the Metalcloak flip step rock rails. Ran into some issues with both of these, so that was fun.
First up, the NV skids: they're pricey but it's a nice kit. Here it is kind of mocked up on my workshop floor:
So first thing that was kind of a pain in the ass was getting everything assembled prior to install - mainly in the instructions or lack thereof. Their instructions are in YouTube video format, but there are big differences between their pre-prod JLU unit they assemble and their full-prod JT unit - both in terms of rolling changes made to parts and just by virtue of my kit being for JT and their only video being for JLU.
Anyway, got it figured out, was slower going than I would have liked since I'm staring at pictures on their site and looking at their video for the pre-prod JLU SKU, but got it figured out. Then realized I was missing one of the fastener cap washers that protects the gas tank from the nuts and bolts that hold the skid together. Tyler at Next Venture got me sorted there and sent me one. After it arrived the next week (UPS is slow, not NV's fault), got to installing it.
Got the gas tank skid pulled:
Getting the strap at the front of the tank that holds the tank to the skid loose was a pain, really needed to reef on the "hook" end with a prybar, but it eventually popped off.
Everything from there on went smooth until I hit the engine skid. You gotta swap out the inner-most motor mount bolt that holds the motor mount bracket to the frame bracket and it's a royal pain to access on the 3.6. Ended up needing about 2 feet of extensions and a wobbly on a 3/8" ratchet (small 13mm bolt head with wicked thread locker, gotta do by hand to keep stuff from breaking) and needed to pull the dipstick tube off the engine and move it out the way.
Anyway, got that squared away eventually and then the last hurdle I had (no pics, too much rage) was that I had to put a nutsert in the frame to locate a bracket for the t-case skid and said nutsert is half hex and indexes into a hex-shaped hole in the frame. I had to call Next Venture again to figure out WTF with a part change for a crossmember tie in bracket (part in my kit was NOTHING like the pre-prod part in their video) and they sent me videos on both that part and the new nutsert for the t-case skid. Wish this was just in a PDF, but I digress. Anyway, damned hex body on the nutsert rounded off instead of grabbing the frame and had to wait on Amazon to send me some M10 hex body nutserts so I could get one in. Skids came out nice:
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