2004 LJ In Flux
- Thread starter Fluxor
- Start date
Ouch. It doesn’t take much to tweak the sheet metal unfortunately. Time for some corners and a tailgate plate.
Is there any interest in designing a transmission crossmember and/or belly skid plate?
That's a difficult task. I designed my own for my early TJ because no brand offered completely flat and Savvy stopped making the early TJ ones. There's 3 differences in TJ's for a skid: early/late, and Rubicon. The mounting holes in the frame are different size and position between early/late. Then with the Rubicons you have the NP241 which is a fat transfer case, and I'm not sure you could even get completely flat with it.
Each transmission has its own mount, totalling 7 potential variants. Or a couple fewer if the ax15 and nv3550 are the same. None of the Savvy skids where completely flat.
I'm thinking of the idea of a universal crossmember kit similar to the one Genright, Motobilt, TMR, and others have offered, paired with belly skids.
One could easily simplify or enhance the kits on the market. As Blaine has noted the trans mount bracket on them can be a tad longer, Smaller DOM tubing can be used since most have 1.75" when 1.25-1.5" should suffice.
They also all feature poly mounts. Folks on the forum have suggested using the OEM trans mount in tandem with the poly mounts so that you have better rubber isolation for vibes, this could also be incorporated or the poly mounts could be swapped for rubber themselves.
One could easily simplify or enhance the kits on the market. As Blaine has noted the trans mount bracket on them can be a tad longer, Smaller DOM tubing can be used since most have 1.75" when 1.25-1.5" should suffice.
They also all feature poly mounts. Folks on the forum have suggested using the OEM trans mount in tandem with the poly mounts so that you have better rubber isolation for vibes, this could also be incorporated or the poly mounts could be swapped for rubber themselves.
Did they not use the same universal bracket? You'll also note I said skid and not trans mount
I'm aware
I've not had mine long but I used poly mounts and can't tell a noticeable difference in vibes compared to stock.
No idea. All I know from stuff we have done is that the 03-06 cross members seem to be the same, but the mounts between the NV3550, NSG370 and 42rle are all different. I also know that the reason Savvy never produced a 32rh skid is because everything about the crossmember and mount was different from all other options. It would have been it's own specific design. I do not know if a 97-02 crossmember can be installed on a late TJ.
I know trying to figure a spot for the crossmember on mine was an interesting beast. There is not one good location I could find for it besides under the double cardan joint on the front driveshaft. Anywhere else and it would have negated the effects of running a crossmember to sturdy the middle of the skid, and/or would have been virtually impossible to place the mounts besides running them almost all the way to the frame rails.
i’m just trying to find the time to get in the garage. actually start putting these things on the jeep
This is reassuring, as I have a TMR kit in the mail! Did you retain the factory trans mount or is your trans mounted directly to the crossmember with poly isolation at the frame?
I think the effort may be fruitful for a belly skid and/or crossmember design. There is a DIY thread on the forum from @B00mb00m that can be found here.
This setup ought be formalized, with permissions of course lol
Don't mind the horrible welds. Lost my good welder in the flood. No stock trans mount besides the plate the mount bolts to. Reason I kept that plate was 4 smaller nuts to cover the surface area of my mount compared to the 2 bigger nuts in the middle. Seemed to help space it above the crossmember enough too.
I just went through the design and build of a completely custom transmission mount and cross-member (using the stock rubber mount) and 1" drop skid with a 4 speed Atlas behind an NSG370 in and LJ with a lot of help from the forum, especially @mrblaine. You can see it starting here in my build thread. It was a lot more work than I anticipated. I'm a design engineer with decades of experience, and I would not want to tackle trying to make a mounting system to work for all the different combinations of model year, transmission, and transfer case. I know I was pushing the limits of packaging with my combination of components (the Atlas's length and height tested my patience), but there's way too much variation of stock components out there, and then you add the production tolerance issues. No thanks...
Can't wait to see the finished product on these. Count me in for a set of these once you've got them complete and ready for production. Love your work!
Gives perspective to how good a job Blaine did for Savvy when they used to offer the various combinations.
I was asked about stainless I while back and did not have the capacity to determine if the rash guards could be counter sink with out eating bits and becoming a nightmare. I had a customer that was willing to pay and wait for me to try and it worked out. My TJ rock slider kits would increase by $100 (LJ would be similar) to upgrade the rash guard to stainless. Seems like a no brainer but I’m curious to what you gents may think.
The brake press tonage was almost double to bend it. Crazy.
Pic of the stainless LJ rash guard.
The brake press tonage was almost double to bend it. Crazy.
Pic of the stainless LJ rash guard.
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