So after purchasing the Atlas and knowing I would need to get driveshafts I decided I was going to use the stock skid plate. So the first thing I did was remove the stock transfercase and support everything with this pretty trick tool
@DrDmoney built
I had searched the Internet on the atlas install and there were so many different option but the majority of them used aftermarket skids. I decided I would just throw the Atlas in and start measuring on what will and won’t fit.
I started with it clocked at 7 degrees and without a body lift I knew I would need to clearance the tub
I was happy with how it sat but when I checked the front driveshaft angle It looked a little steep so instead of fighting caster issues later I reclocked it to 13 degrees and everything seemed happy. After some measuring I figured out where I needed to cut the crossmember on the skid
next up was trying to figure out how to make a transmission mount work. The stock setup bolts onto the bottom of the transmission and then steps back a rubber mount that mounts right below the stock transfer case. the extra girth of a Atlas makes that mount useless. I moved the rubber mount forward to mount on the bottom of the transmission and also added the exhaust hanger from the stock mount
At this point I test fit the skid and found that I would need to trim the bottom of the skid for bolt clearance, I also made a plate for the mount to bolt to and measured for the angle of the plate. Then I pulled everything back out and welded it and plated it .
Everything was fitting good at this point but it was raised up about a inch and a half because the new mount location was higher so I had to trim the exhaust to get it to sit higher without rubbing the skid. During this I ordered new driveshafts from Tom Woods and they showed up in 2 days. With
@Alex01 help we got the shifters figured out and I got everything installed the next day and set the new pinion angles
I took It for a test drive and ran it up to 80mph, it has a small vibration at 70 but I will play with the pinion angles and see if it gets better. The low is definitely low I can’t wait to get it out on a trail and play with it.