Anyone using Rough Country Diff Skid Plate?

[JeepinJason33]

I have the front one and have hit it a couple of times already. Just scuffed the paint a bit. Really works nicely. Just wish it would work with an ARB front cover.

On a side note, I ended up with two of these and have a brand new RC front diff skid cover for the Rubicon axle. Shipping would make it crazy, but if anyone is the Denver area let me know. I travel down to Co Springs weekly as well.

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[Reabob]

Yes, it will work if you have the M220. The D44 housings are the same between Sahara and Rubicon.

Rough Country and their website details have always been off a bit. If you read the notes on their site for this part, it also says it will protect the front diff from off-road hazards.

Hi, finally not fitting directly. Need to add spacers for Sahara for the bracket to fit. Maybe due to LSD axle?

 

[RubiRed]

Hey Man,

Any suggestions would be appreciated. My clamp for the RC rear diff skid plate is very far off from lining up (see picture below). I was going to call quadratec and return it, but maybe there’s an easy, simple solution.

Thanks so much,
Andrew

Just installed mine this morning. Mine looks like that front and rear where the bracket doesn't reach down far enough. All other fitment of these skids seem great including the alignment of the diff bolts. Mine's a Rubicon M210 front M220 rear.

I don't believe there's anything structurally wrong. Despite the visual appearance it's more than enough to hold the skid right up against the diff. The job of this bracket seems hold up the other side of the skid (away from the diff bolts), which it's doing just fine.

Curious what others' look like too. Mine has enough of a gap that could use a 1/4" spacer in between.

 

[a23persaud]

Just installed mine this morning. Mine looks like that front and rear where the bracket doesn't reach down far enough. All other fitment of these skids seem great including the alignment of the diff bolts. Mine's a Rubicon M210 front M220 rear.

I don't believe there's anything structurally wrong. Despite the visual appearance it's more than enough to hold the skid right up against the diff. The job of this bracket seems hold up the other side of the skid (away from the diff bolts), which it's doing just fine.

Curious what others' look like too. Mine has enough of a gap that could use a 1/4" spacer in between.

What did you torque the clamp bolts down to? Or did you just get them hand tight?

from my picture on page 3, what size spacer would you suggest? Or should I just leave it alone? Seems like it’s holding it in place, it just looks funny

 

[a23persaud]

Same here on Sahara. Just add 3 thick washers on each side. That is what I did.

What size washers? I believe the 0.375in bolt would be a 9.525mm washer but not sure where I could get those — don’t have them at Lowe’s. Any tips?

Thanks

 

[a23persaud]

FWIW, I reached out to RC and the R&D team said the following:

“Yes the plate sits at an angle on the diff skids as shown it the instruction/ your install looks correct as is.”

And they said the following about the torque for the clamp:

“38ft.lbs is the torq spec on the 2 bracket bolts”

 

[MadDog27]

Just installed a front RC diff skid and I too had a similar issue with the clamps not meeting together. I did the washer idea snd it worked well. Not sure it there’s a huge deal if you left a gap, I guess the only purpose is to keep the back up so not a lot of pressure for the back but I didn’t want to worry about sequeezing the diff case too much.

 

[JJsJL]

Just installed a front RC diff skid and I too had a similar issue with the clamps not meeting together. I did the washer idea snd it worked well. Not sure it there’s a huge deal if you left a gap, I guess the only purpose is to keep the back up so not a lot of pressure for the back but I didn’t want to worry about sequeezing the diff case too much.

Thanks for the post. I’m considering doing the same and appreciate you showing the use of washers. These RC covers sure seemed to be priced right and look pretty strong.

 

[JeepJim]

I agree that would make sense, I am just hung up on what they say on their website. Anyone out their already try the m220 one on a sport?

I just called RC and the Willys w LSD requires the m220 skid and will fit.

 

[JimBob]

Has anyone installed the RC rear differential skid on an M200 diff? I have a 2021 Sport S with the 2.0 and the RC website says that their skid for this differential will not fit a 2 door model with the 2.0 engine. Have asked RC this question on their website, but haven't heard back, yet. If it is just a matter of making a minor modification to the skid, such as cutting or grinding off some metal, I'm willing to do that, but just wondering what prevents this skid from fitting on the 2 door model. I'm hoping that someone has tried (successfully) to make it fit and knows what is involved.

 

[blnewt]

Has anyone installed the RC rear differential skid on an M200 diff? I have a 2021 Sport S with the 2.0 and the RC website says that their skid for this differential will not fit a 2 door model with the 2.0 engine. Have asked RC this question on their website, but haven't heard back, yet. If it is just a matter of making a minor modification to the skid, such as cutting or grinding off some metal, I'm willing to do that, but just wondering what prevents this skid from fitting on the 2 door model. I'm hoping that someone has tried (successfully) to make it fit and knows what is involved.

I have the M200 and the RC diff skid works just fine on my 2dr!
Here's a couple posts I made earlier in this thread
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...try-diff-skid-plate.64930/page-2#post-1411370
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...try-diff-skid-plate.64930/page-2#post-1413051

 

[JimBob]

I have the M200 and the RC diff skid works just fine on my 2dr!
Here's a couple posts I made earlier in this thread
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...try-diff-skid-plate.64930/page-2#post-1411370
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...try-diff-skid-plate.64930/page-2#post-1413051

Thank you! Will order it today.

 

[JimBob]

Thank you! Will order it today.

Installed the Rough Country rear differential skid today. Once I figured out how to balance that heavy sucker in place to get the bolts lined up, the install went smoothly. Really appreciate Brad's assurance that Rough Country's skid fits the 2 door since RCs website says it won't.

 

[omnitonic]

I have the RC up front, M186 front axle. It seems solidly mounted, and unlikely to deform in a way that causes driveline problems. It has survived a couple of good hits that made me glad I installed it. Strong, light, simple, cheap.

While the RC is a winner up front, I did not like the diff skid for the M220. It was this giant turtle shell thing with one corner cut out, and it looked like it would be pretty easy to hit it and bend it into interfering with the driveline. There were some product reviews confirming my suspicion, so I took a pass on that one, and went with a Rancho instead.

Also, if somebody wants a project, I ordered the RC diff skid for the M210 out of ignorance, and out of stubbornness and stupidity, I started hacking it up with a cutoff wheel to try to figure out why it wasn't fitting my rear axle. (Because I had an M220 axle. Duhhhhhhh. Total dumbass moment.)

I ended up getting enough store credit for different things that I more than broke even on the $75 or whatever I lost on that diff skid. The remains are just sitting around, and could be welded back together into something that would still be pretty strong. I decided to keep it for project metal, but I could be convinced to weld it back together and part with it.

 

[Fastmover]

I have the front and rear differential skids, the Jeep is a 2-door, 2.0t w/etorque. The rear skid hit the LiOn battery underneath and needed to be ground down to clear.

the notch in the upper left.
The front one couldn’t be installed with my engine skid plate (rustys).

pretty sure the back will fit now, but it got too cold and snowy to paint and install. The front will need more work.

My Rancho front diff skid fits with the Asfir. Perhaps from this pic you can judge the remaining space for a Rusty's to fit.

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