Most important under armor?

[Mx5red]

Has anyone actually damaged a rear Diff? The cover can peel back, so I understand the rear diff cover, but in 20+ years off-roading I've never seen a damaged differential that would require one of the many diaper options now on the market. If anything I would take the additional ground clearance over the protection. Is it for the u-joint protection?

Oil Pan, Tranny/X-fer case, Diff covers would be the first skids I'd recommend. Keep your Jeep as light as possible while protecting the most important items.

That’s what I’m saying, I never see people with broken diff covers… having said that, I’ve left so much diff skid paint on boulders, I sure feel better knowing it’s not slowly grinding away the metal on my pumpkin

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[bd100]

For my JT I got Quadratech aluminum skids for the engine, exhaust crossover, and transfer case, trying to keep the weight down, although they come with heavy steel cross beams. A stronger steel replacement for the FAD. And the usual control arm and shock skids, in steel. And for the diffs I put on some differential guards, the bar style from Purple Cranium, which have no problem clearing the stock steering components. Steering stabilizer skid just to replace the floppy plastic thing which will be torn off some day.

Had some troubles with the 1/4" thick steel skids for the front control arms. They resist compression and cannot clamp down enough to prevent squeaking, even at 190 ft-lbs torque. I may try the 3/16" Metalcloak ones. Really they need to have a floating steel bushing on one side to allow the bolt to clamp down while still providing some support for the skid. May look into drilling and adding that myself, although that's a big hole to drill through 1/4" steel.

No matter what you get, prime and paint them before install. Aftermarket powder coating usually isn't very good. Mine were rusting and flaking off after one season. Snow zone. (Purple Cranium and Metalcloak seem to be pretty good, but I'd still paint the Metalcloak before install.)

My truck came from the dealer with the upgraded Mopar rock rails. Haven't hit them yet. The finish has survived several years of weather so far.

Edit: If you have a differential drain on the front diff then it'd be good to get a skid over that too.

 

[AnnDee4444]

Does anyone know what budget skids are available for the oil pan? So far the only one I've found for a 24 2.0 is the m.o.r.e. also, needing lca skids compatible with teraflex shock extensions.

Asfir
Rusty's
Artec
Next Venture Not budged friendly

M.O.R.E vs. Asfir comparison

FWIW: My Asfir skid bent near the transmission crossmember... still functioned, but kind of a pain to reinstall. I also didn't like how the oil drain hole was about 1/4" too far rearwards (solved with a Fumoto valve), and the oil filter was a pain to remove (due to it's great coverage). Fine for general protection but didn't work for me, as I was concerned with deflection + Fumoto valve. I ended up ordering a Next Venture during their Labor Day sale.

 

[AnnDee4444]

That’s what I’m saying, I never see people with broken diff covers… having said that, I’ve left so much diff skid paint on boulders, I sure feel better knowing it’s not slowly grinding away the metal on my pumpkin

After a few trips I decided I wasn't comfortable with where the rear differential was rubbing. I could see how this could eventually lead to a leak. I didn't like the size/color of the golden diaper, and ended up with Next Venture's skid. It's hardly noticeable (in black) and has held-up well. I see no reason at this time to change from the stock cover either.

I realized that I was much better at avoiding scraping on the front differential, so I only use the Maximus-3 drain plug skid (not a problem on newer Jeeps). Since the majority of the differential cover is behind the tie-rod, I've decided to leave this stock also.

 

[ColonelSanders]

After a trip down the Rubicon on 35s I was very grateful I had good sliders as I hit them hard a number of times off ledges, slid sideways into boulders that would have crushed my doors, and used a high lift jack on one. Both my diffs had no armor and the lower bolts were half chewed away. I bought an Metalcloak front diff slider and a Rough Country rear.. the MC was a well designed thing of beauty and the RC diff slider was a poorly welded chunk of steel that roughly fit. They will both do the job. My rear LCA lower mounts were getting beat so I cheaped out and bought the RC armor for them, and one side didn’t fit, the other side needed a lot of torque to squish it to fit. Again my opinion is Rough Country will roughly fit, or not. If your time is money, don’t waste it with the cheapest stuff.

 

[BobW]

Yeah I was just climbing around underneath doing some cleaning and checking things out. I'd agree seems like the rear lcas are also pretty low on the back side. Protecting that area and the shocks back there seems like a pretty good investment as well. Which skids did you go with? I was looking at metalcloak because tbh they look badarse but the diff skids appear to be only for rubis?

I''m happy w RH4x4 LCA skids

 

[AnnDee4444]

It won't be the most popular, but I like how Artec LCA skids are the most minimalistic. They're more like a mount reinforcement than an add-on ski. I think that LCA skids become more important as wheel offset is further away, but for stock-ish offsets these should be able to prevent some damage without additional weight or loss of clearance.

Rancho's red snow skis for reference

And I don't understand why Metalckoak would put their logo on the part of the skid plate that does the skidding... especially when Next Venture goes to the effort of putting UHMW in the same spot.

 

[KCSgtMaj]

Just in case the trail is way worse than you thought...

Based on some advice I got from a trusted forum member, I went with diff skids and skids for the rear LCAs. Part of my decision was based on how much lift I have and my intent to choose my lines carefully vs doing a full send on every obstacle.

You stole my thunder!

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