Anyone Else Have Contact Between Savvy Skid and Rubicon Transfer Case?

Hi Gang

I have an issue that's probably been there since I installed a Savvy TT on my '05 LJR 6 spd around 6 years ago. I recently had the skid off and while reinstalling verified what I suspected but never looked that closely at before. The driver side of the TC is resting on the aluminum skid. Or at least it was until I cut a hole in it to temporarily attempt to get everything suspended by the mounts instead of the skid.

I also have 1-1/4" BL and 1" MML installed.

Take a look at the pictures. IDK if Savvy may have altered the design after I bought mine or is this kit not correct for a Rubicon? The black rubber (or whatever material) mounts appear to be in good condition and the mounting bolts appear to be centered in the bushings. I could make a spacer plate to go between the transmission mount and the transmission but that seems like it shouldn't be necessary.

Anyone else run into this? @mrblaine, have you seen any similar issues or have a good solution.

I already sent Savvy a question but don't necessarily expect a prompt response.

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Anyone Else Have Contact Between Savvy Skid and Rubicon Transfer Case?​


I only wish, my Rubicon has been waiting for a Savvy Skid to be in stock since the beginning of last summer 😢
 
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It does have small cracks, but isn't bent like yours.

Thank you for confirming what was obvious to me from the pictures.

It is somewhat bent though, correct? Like if you lay a straight edge front to back on the bottom plate, no way it is flat.
 
Thank you for confirming what was obvious to me from the pictures.

It is somewhat bent though, correct? Like if you lay a straight edge front to back on the bottom plate, no way it is flat.

Once you bolt the flat part of the mount up to the bottom of the transmission, it effectively can NOT flex between the fore and aft bolts unless the bolts come loose. It essentially becomes part of the transmission. The cracks are showing that there is flexing of the flat plate happening between the fore and aft pairs of holes which means something is going on that is allowing that like the bolts up into the trans not being tight.
 
isn't bent like yours

I believe mine wasn't bent nearly as bad as it is now before I cut the ill-advised hole in the skid. With the TC no longer resting on the skid, the cracks got more obvious and the bend more visible.

I definitely noticed the TC dropped further after driving a bit with the hole in the skid. In fact, it is now resting on the skid again on the edge of the hole where there was some clearance before.

So basically, as the mount fails, the TC starts to rest on the skid which takes some weight off the mount, limiting how far it bends and how bad it cracks. When I cut the hole, it allowed the failure to progress a bit further than it could without the hole. That's my theory anyway.
 
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I'm planning to swap out the failed mount today.

I'll be checking for loose bolts and such and will report what I find.

I'll also take a few more pics of the brand new mount I just received from Savvy. It is not identical to the pictures of the mount posted by Blaine.
 
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Once you bolt the flat part of the mount up to the bottom of the transmission, it effectively can NOT flex between the fore and aft bolts unless the bolts come loose. It essentially becomes part of the transmission. The cracks are showing that there is flexing of the flat plate happening between the fore and aft pairs of holes which means something is going on that is allowing that like the bolts up into the trans not being tight.

The old mount is off. Before removing the bolts into the transmission, I checked them for looseness as follows. I set my torque wrench to the factory spec of 35 ft lbs and applied tightening force. Of the 4 bolts, only 1 moved but only just slightly. None felt loose when I removed them.

I couldn't find a torque spec for the 3/8" bolts that attach the mount to the crossmember but they were not the least bit loose.

There are no signs that anything was moving around.

In response to the statement that the plate can't bend "between the fore and aft bolts" if the bolts are tight, I totally agree but that is only part of the story and applies only to the relatively small area where the bolts are. The mounting area on the transmission where it bolts to the mount measures pretty close to 3"x6". That is all that rests on the mount. That small area looks to have remained almost perfectly flat as you assert it must. But that small area is within the larger, 3-1/2"x9" trans mounting portion of the mount. The bottom portion of the mount is supported only by a 1" tab on either side that insert into and are welded to the side plates. Deformation can occur in the 3/16" plate between that 3x6 trans mount area and the side plates. In other words it's most bent closer to the side plates which is 1 reason why the cracks start there. If those cracks got to the bolt holes, bad shit would probably happen even if the bolts are tight.

My advice, FWIW, is anybody running this mount with an NSG370 (and maybe other transmissions?) should take a close look for any deformation or cracks in the mount. And also check for the TC resting on the skid. If the mount is starting to fail, it might be fixable but mine is toast. It has cracks all over the place. Fortunately, Savvy sent me a new one that I added some weld to per Mr. Blaine's advice.

The welding you showed seems like a good idea on any new install. Is that something you've been doing routinely?

I'll upload pictures later but I need to get some more work done before I run out of gas.
 
Here is what my failed mount looks like. The white lines are highlighting visible cracks.

Note that all the cracks are outside the rectangle defined by the bolt holes where the transmission mounts. And all start at stress points, the corner of the tab and the transmission corner.

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Here is what my failed mount looks like. The white lines are highlighting visible cracks.

Note that all the cracks are outside the rectangle defined by the bolt holes where the transmission mounts. And all start at stress points, the corner of the tab and the transmission corner.

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What motor mount lift are you running?
 
What motor mount lift are you running?

I think It's the JKS MML. It's just the simple 1" blocks sitting under almost new OEM mounts.

If you're thinking the lateral twist may be excessive, I would expect that would cause the fan to hit the shroud or have some other symptoms with it which I didn't have.

I really think some of the cracking probably happened after cutting the hole in the skid. That put the weight back on the compromised mount and caused additional failure. Just a theory but that's my best guess.

Rasband's mount has 2 cracks in exactly the same place as 2 of mine, starting at the tabs. His TC might have been resting on the skid at that point limiting further failure. Apparently, nobody even noticed his mount was cracked until I saw it in the pictures posted by jjvw.
 
With the brand new mount I just got that has never been installed the bottom plate is only 0.5 degree off from parallel with the bottom edge of the side plates.

It seems that some mounts seem to have more of an angle in relation to the side plate edge but I have to wonder if there might already be some deformity in those.

I ran (not pretty) weld along the bottom on both sides to hopefully provide some reinforcement.

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