THESE ARE NOW SOLD THROUGH TRAIL TAILOR! YOU CAN FIND THEM HERE: Creeper Skidplate 80 Series - https://trail-tailor.com/store/p102/80_Series_Creeper_Skidplate.html
As most of you guys know, I’m kinda hard on my FZJ… The last time that I had it up I managed to loose my t/c skid plate along with bending up my rear driveshaft. By “loose” I mean I looked under the truck to inspect the driveshaft and it was missing. No idea where or when it came off, but it was there when I was airing down at the beginning of the day. Needless to say, something needed to be done before I went wheeling again!
My original plan was to buy an IPOR skid plate… Until I found out it would be $410 shipped to me (!!!). I honestly think it is worth it, but if you don’t have the money… You know what I mean. I looked at the one Slee has (I didn’t see the full belly one on his website, nor could I find a price.) and wasn’t really thrilled. It was just like the one that I lost! MAF has one that looks just like IPORs (to the point where they may be buying them from IPOR and selling them), but I have given MAF two chances with ordering stuff from them and both times were an epic pain in the butt. No thanks.
I pondered this for a couple months. Then it hit me… Nothing on the market is exactly what I want. I like the clearance and protection of IPOR, but I don’t like the trans mount bolts hanging down. (I will destroy those!) And everything else that I have seen has even more drawbacks. So I enlisted my dad to help me build one… We ended up building three!
We ended up using my 80 and the factory cross member as jigs and used the thickest metal we could justify. Well, you have listened to me long enough! On to the pics!
Main cross member box tube:
Slowly gathering parts to tack together:
My dad getting the holes punched for the hardware and the drain plugs:
Mocking up the pieces under my 80 (Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic…)
The T/C skid before the bracing was tacked on:
The Trans skid after the bracing was tacked on:
Pulling it out from under the 80 to finish weld:
All welded up and ready for paint!
The top side painted:
How she looks on the truck:
So the first one is on my truck and I’m so happy with the way it turned out. I ended up with roughly the same amount of clearance I had with the original T/C skid on there. (We left enough room so the skids could deflect and not hit the T/C or the trans pan, but tucked it up as tight as we could.) The second one is welded up and is going on Jerry’s (RedSoxCruiser) rig. The third one will be used to make a jig for duplication and then sold. I’m more than pleased with the Redneck Enginuitive Belly Pan!
As most of you guys know, I’m kinda hard on my FZJ… The last time that I had it up I managed to loose my t/c skid plate along with bending up my rear driveshaft. By “loose” I mean I looked under the truck to inspect the driveshaft and it was missing. No idea where or when it came off, but it was there when I was airing down at the beginning of the day. Needless to say, something needed to be done before I went wheeling again!
My original plan was to buy an IPOR skid plate… Until I found out it would be $410 shipped to me (!!!). I honestly think it is worth it, but if you don’t have the money… You know what I mean. I looked at the one Slee has (I didn’t see the full belly one on his website, nor could I find a price.) and wasn’t really thrilled. It was just like the one that I lost! MAF has one that looks just like IPORs (to the point where they may be buying them from IPOR and selling them), but I have given MAF two chances with ordering stuff from them and both times were an epic pain in the butt. No thanks.
I pondered this for a couple months. Then it hit me… Nothing on the market is exactly what I want. I like the clearance and protection of IPOR, but I don’t like the trans mount bolts hanging down. (I will destroy those!) And everything else that I have seen has even more drawbacks. So I enlisted my dad to help me build one… We ended up building three!
We ended up using my 80 and the factory cross member as jigs and used the thickest metal we could justify. Well, you have listened to me long enough! On to the pics!
Main cross member box tube:
Slowly gathering parts to tack together:
My dad getting the holes punched for the hardware and the drain plugs:
Mocking up the pieces under my 80 (Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic…)
The T/C skid before the bracing was tacked on:
The Trans skid after the bracing was tacked on:
Pulling it out from under the 80 to finish weld:
All welded up and ready for paint!
The top side painted:
How she looks on the truck:
So the first one is on my truck and I’m so happy with the way it turned out. I ended up with roughly the same amount of clearance I had with the original T/C skid on there. (We left enough room so the skids could deflect and not hit the T/C or the trans pan, but tucked it up as tight as we could.) The second one is welded up and is going on Jerry’s (RedSoxCruiser) rig. The third one will be used to make a jig for duplication and then sold. I’m more than pleased with the Redneck Enginuitive Belly Pan!
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NICE JOB! That looks great. Now go break it 
