Skid plate on '89 YJ

I just had mine off and they go into the frame or some threaded inserts/nuts attached to the inside of the frame.

Thanks, I was hoping that was the case. Joe

They are nutserts sort of welded to the inside of the frame.

If you live in the rust belt, I would advise finding another way to fix the cat....

Mike

Sure, it will snap the bolts off or spin the nutserts out really well....

I just see too many of the old ones up here in the rust belt and they are very hard to get apart and hard to fix when things snap and spin out.

Hopefully you won't have those issues.

Mike

Joe C wrote:

Two things:

1. Buy stock in PB Blaster if you live in the rust belt.

1. Don't forget that the skid plate holds the trans and tansfer case up..

Carl

"the skid plate holds the trans and transfer case up"...and is bolted the transmission mount. I would recommend doing the exhaust work without dropping the belly pan like Mike said. Meineke (and every other shop in my town) wouldn't drop it.

It's not that hard to drop it. I had to drop mine several times in my 89 YJ. Put a jack with a block on the trans, remove the nuts in the middle that secure the mount to the skidplate, remove the bolts that secure the skidplate to the frame. Be careful, it's heavy.

HTH

Carl

The Cat is easy to deal with without any dropping of the transfer case skid plate. Exhaust bolts and clamps are easy, they snap and you replace them with fresh ones :) Seriously the whole exhaust is mindlessly easy... 4 bolts on the Cat/Down tube bracket right at the front of the skidplate, this has a sort of metal "hanger" that slips into a long rubber bushing, lube this and the cat/downpipe slides right apart. There is an inspection hole for getting your wrench through to get on the nuts. then theirs 2 nuts where the downtube meets the manifold/header, and finally a set of clamps for the front and back of the muffler. unfasten all those and everything comes off. (grease the rubber holder/metal hanger near the cat before you but it back together).

If you mess with the six bolts holding the belly pan up, then have a welder on hand... I recomend welding a new nut on the outside of the frame where the weld nut used to be (they are inside the frame in an area that gets rusty) then grind it down as needed to fit into the depressions on the skid plate. It holds but I'd still rather have the nut on the inside of the frame.

One last time, there's zero need to drop the pan :)

They're supposed to have nutplates in the frame.

Don't forget to use a floor jack to hold the trans/tcase up when you take the skid plate down.

Since I just helped a freind with an 89 YJ use a cum-a-long to hoist his skid plate/tranny up to get him out of trail, have you got any ideas as to how to fix the two bolts snapped off flush with frame and the 3rd one that pulled through skid plate and is now just spinning nut in frame?

Ouch!

The spinner will likely need to be cut off so the nut can be pushed out of the way.

If I had two snapped ones, I think I would be inclined to weld either a couple deep nuts or a couple bolt heads to the frame and use either short bolts for the welded nut or nuts for the welded on bolts. This would give me about a 3/8" skid plate drop that I could live with. In my case the drop might even be a good thing...

I would do this for the cut and spun one too and then just use a spacer on the one bolt left.

They do sell replacement 'nutserts' that require a hole to be fitted into. This could be a problem with the snapped off ones. The frame is likely too soft to punch out the old ones without bending something... 'My' frame would be too soft for that anyway.

Mike

Greg wrote:

The owner said he was ok with welding on nuts, or even welding on bolts and using them like studs, I told him I would try what I did on my CJ frame, front spring hanger bolts snapped off, so I welded on a couple nuts, ( to the busted off bolts ) and that gave me something to unbolt and the heat from welding nut on freed up bolt stub, it's worth a try, but since his are busted off clean, it may not work. I don't like the idea of hanging skid/tranny/transfer off nuts welded onto exterior of frame, but as I said, he's ok with it. Will post the results and what we ended up doing, wont be for a week or so, he just receiveed his RE 4" lift, so will do all at same time.

Yep, semi tractors make excellent off-road vehicles after all...

If I was welding the nuts onto a soft frame, I would first weld the nuts onto a 1"x2"x1/8" plate, then weld the plate onto the frame.

I think you will fine the nuts are in too deep so you can't weld a nut onto the snapped bolt.

Mike

Greg wrote:

Joe, You've been told how the nuts are mounted and hopefully the plate has been lowered in the past 15 years. The problem of spinning has been covered but also is the problem if they come out 'to easy'. If the bolts turn to easy that would tell me they are twisting and will snap with more wenching - ouch. Drilling those scuckers out is really a problem because they rarely snap off flat allowing for a 'centered' drilling position if they snap inside the 'nut'. I dropped my 97 TJ plate and it's REALLY heavy and I lowered mine solo (I had no idea of what I was getting into) but was lucky. As others told you be sure to support the drive train at each end. I used blocking and a four wheel ball bearing dolly with 2x4's to move it out of the way. While down there I'd reccomend replacing any bushings or stabalizers. If you have a transmission oil sump I'd open that up, clean, and replace filter. I cleaned out gunk, removed rust, primed and painted. It would also be a good time to inspect seals, bolts, or possible cotter pins. I obviously do not have knowledge of your model but what I am trying to say is check out everything you can think of while you are under there and I hope you have a good work space (warm) to do your work. Good Luck Steve in Michigan