High clearance skid

[The_Dealer]

has anyone made a "belly up" flat style skid for a ranger or b2. im talking about the t-case skid. measuring mine if i go with a 1" or 2" body lift i can raise my motor and trans up to run a flat skid, just wanting to know if anyone has done it

 

[BONES]

Well I did the tcase raise, made the bottom of the case flat to the bottom of the frame, however, I still have the stock skids (X2) under there as I haven't got around to making a flat belly skid yet.

I had the trans cross member that mounts to the rubbers on the outside of the frame rails. I cut the cross member to the length of the frame width and drilled and bolted it directly to the bottom of the frame.

Here's the cut and the stock rubber mounts.

Here's how far the case hangs down stock.

Here it is tucked up between the rails.

Here's the 2 skids and raised trans cross member.

 

[The_Dealer]

my tranny x member is the bolt inside the frame job, so nice and tucked up for me, although i can move it up totally flat with some sqaure tube with no problems. what exactly did u do to rasie the t-case? or is cutting the xmember and moving it up how u lifted it? i have plenty of threads on my trans mount so maybe a few good size washers will get me tucked up. any ideas on how to do it with the other style xmember? also did u have to rasie the motor up any?

 

[MUDDING B-3000]

i have a 3 " body lift on my truck an when i went SAS, we shoved tranny up as high as possible an made it so the t case only hangs down 3/4" below the frame. so its almost a true flat belly. put the carrier bearing up inside the frame rail.

 

[BONES]

I don't see why you couldn't just space up the trans mount on top of the cross member or space up the cross member inside the frame, both will give the same basic result.

Actually if you look at tcase drops that are sometimes required after lifting a vehicle, jeeps in particular, they are just tube shaped spacers with longer bolts. That's the way I would do yours.

The bottom of my tcase is flush with the bottom of the frame, I lifted it by bolting the trans cross member to the bottom of the frame after the cut, raised it 1 1/4" if I remember correctly. Did not move the engine at all. This also DID NOT require longer drive shafts.

I too have a 3" body lift and with that much room I could have went further with the tcase but flat to the bottom of the frame is all I really wanted. Like I said above, all I need to do now is get around to building the flat skid plate and she will be tummy tucked completely.

Pictured is the 1" spacers that came with a 6" lift for a full size blazer I lifted years ago. Designed for a tcase drop, but would work either way you want to go.

 

[The_Dealer]

i actually have a rubicon express tcase drop for a yj, might use them. wierd thing about my x-member is it mounts flat on the frame on the drivers side, and curves up and goes back down on the pass, then the bolts go through that part. guess its time to break out the grinder and welder

 

[The_Dealer]

ok i took some pics of my tranny xmember so u guys can get an idea of things.

i was looking at some of 4x4 junkies pics and it looks like he has the same xmember as me, but he has it mounted different. on the driversside his is under the frame and the xmember is flipped.

this is how it is on the drivers side

pass side...kinda hard to see i know but on junkies this part is flipped and bolts to the outside of the frame. could i have put it on wrong when i changed my t/c out?

you can see from the pics my tcase is barely hanging down under the frame. on my trans mount studs going into the xmember i can put about 1/2" of washers under it and have a nuts length left. but that will be too close for my flat skid. i could prolly get another 1/2" of wahers between the mount and the tranny(the bolts are penty long). is this a good idea to do or should i raise it another way?

btw i know that im missing a bolt in the xmember. and im not worried bout the exhaust its getting redone and tucked up as high as i can get

 

[4x4junkie]

I think that's the old style factory crossmember that went above the cat?

FWIW, I've changed how mine's setup, I have a full skid under the t-case extending partway under the trans mounted on custom-built crossmembers. The whole thing is maybe 1-3/16" lower than the bottom edge of the framerail.