Georgia Trail Riders Forum
MEMBERS DISCUSSION AREA => General Discussion => Topic started by: Krawler00 on April 10, 2008, 09:57:56 AM
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Okay, deal of a century I have found. Guy has a teraflex bellyup skid for sale for $75!!! I am buying it but does anyone have one or know anything about them. I heard about the exhaust mods etc. I have all the needed hardware to make it work. SYE kit, ML, BL, and adjustable upper control arms in the rear. I am thinking for now till I can get a trans shifter adapter and exhaust work done that I can use my trans lower kit and use it ok without any problems. Anything is better than what is on there now.
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They sux, your going to hav nothing but trouble. When it shows up at your house have the ups guy ship it to my house and I will send you your money back. :)
Wish I had some more usefull first hand experience to tell you about it but I do not.
IF you decide that you do not want to deal with it, I will buy it from you at a reasonable price.
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It shouldn't be that bad. You've got everything you need besides the t-case linkage. I bought SKyjacker's for like $60. You could get lucky and your linkage won't bind up, but if it does you can manual shift the t-case pretty easily from underneath if you need to wait before you buy new linkage.
The problems I've seen with exhaust is that they will hang lower than the new skid so you gotta address the exhaust hangers or buy a new, low profile muffler. :)
EDIT: The guy who just joined from Florida, camper, as done the Teraflex Belly-up. He has a write-up on the install on Jeep Forum. I'll see if I can find it for ya.
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For $75 I can't even replace my beat to crap skid now. I figure 3/16 steel will out do my whimpy skid anyday. Plus I can still gain an 1" or more even with the drop hardware on it.
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For $75 I can't even replace my beat to crap skid now. I figure 3/16 steel will out do my whimpy skid anyday. Plus I can still gain an 1" or more even with the drop hardware on it.
man... run it flush with the frame rails first and see what you have. Check the tailpipe and make sure your clearance is good, and check if your t-case still shifts good. Heck, 2 more inches of clearance is worth manually shifting the t-case from under the Jeep (at least to me) and you can get your convenience back by getting the new linkage set-up. AA sells one too. Check theres out.
If you don't wanna do that, you can lower it an inch and your linkage should be fine.
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Yeah, I am thinking I will have to drop it till I get the trans linkage bracket on. I think skyjackers is the cheapest. But until I get the goods I will just run it with the drop unless it works by some crazy act of God. I never have luck when it comes to these things. Either works or doesn't. Did you find the writeup?
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Sorry I had to go to class. Give me a second. I'll find it. Great find by the way! :)
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http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=495065
I knowI 've seen more pictures of the skid in one of his threads. Maybe he'll chime in soon and give you a better link.
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Cool. I can't wait to work on this thing.
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Nice! If you have everything you need, go ahead and spring for the Skyjacker TC linkage relocation. It gets the mount off the body. Thats what Slippery has in his TJ. ;D
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hey fellas...I just noticed the topic and figured I'd lurk. Will was good enough to mention he read something I posted on jeepforum.com. I found this georgia site a while back while following a discussion on some other board. I signed up a few days ago. I'm Steve.
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/3/tran11.jpg)
This is my teraflex belly-up when I was trying to get it to fit. The problem I had was when I finally had the body lift and motor mount lift squared away and then lifted the skid with my floor jack....there was unwanted contact. The red arrows point to a reinforced lateral ridge in the skid that runs from one frame rail to the other. It contacts the transmission bracket that you bolt the rubber transmission mount to. Also, the back corner of the transfer case would rest on the belly-up skid.
I ended up making some spacers out of scrap bar stock to get more lift from the transmission mount. The topic link that Will posted above tells the whole story. The skid works fine since then, but it was a lot of "little things" to get it to fit. You have to remember, the skid will raise the transmission and transfer case a couple inches. This will have a big impact on the rear drive-shaft angle to the rear end. You will have to be able to dial up the rear pinion.
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/3/tran4.jpg)
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/3/tran6.jpg)
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/3/tran7.jpg)
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/3/tran8.jpg)
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/3/tran14.jpg)
I later ordered a teraflex oil pan skid and transmission skid to "compliment" this belly-up. It was a disappointing effort. I eventually made the parts work, but I had to drill and grind and improvise.
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/oilpan/oilpan1.jpg)
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/oilpan/oilpan2.jpg)
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/wilks2/tj/oilpan/oilpan5.jpg)
regarding the skid that "krawler" is looking at....I think there's a difference in a YJ skid and TJ skid. I don't know what the difference is. And I read somewhere that the TJ skid was improved at some point. I also read it was easy to bend, but I think you have to recognize the weight and cost vs. a thicker skid. So you need to know if this used $75 skid will fit your jeep. And the skid may be bent from use. Still, that's a good price.
When you purchase it new, it comes with two motor mount spacers to give your factory motor mounts about 3/4 inch lift. I ended up installing MORE 1" mounts. You have to have a short shaft SYE so your rear drive shaft will clear the back of the skid. I also purchased a Advance Adapters shifter bracket for about $35 from "offroadtoystore.com".
Also, I only recently started messing with a jeep. So I've been reading a lot of internet chatter. Apparently, many veterans don't like teraflex as a company. I don't know the story behind this. You pick up on this by reading between the lines.
I'll stop for a minute here. Before I go, I just noticed that I now can see a few more topic sections here. I guess I was accepted. Thanks for that.
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Thanks for the heads up. I have heard the same about teraflex. I figure I need a new skid anyway and for $75 I can't go wrong. I can make it work for sure.
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I also purchased a Advance Adapters shifter bracket for about $35
I had been looking at the $65 brackets and been putting off buying one. After reading this I squeezed in the bracket with my front shock order this morning. Shocks in 2-4 days, bracket in 7-10 days (long ride from Cali).
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I gotta get a shift bracket for my 4x. Should have kept my Hurst short throw shifter too.
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Thanks to you Krawler, I am going to have to pickup and install a TFBU this weekend on my TJ.
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Thanks to you Krawler, I am going to have to pickup and install a TFBU this weekend on my TJ.
Wutt Dat Be?
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Thanks to you Krawler, I am going to have to pickup and install a TFBU this weekend on my TJ.
Wutt Dat Be?
Teraflex Belly-up. I noticed that he picked one up off Southern Jeeps.
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The guy I was dealin with has dropped out of communication. >:( I can't stand dealing with people like that. Hey I want it... ok... hello??? Where did you go dude? Oh well, I have now moved on to the 33 engineering skid setup. A bit pricey but I think this is the route I am going now. I like the design the best and the easy way you can access your trans etc. Anybody got a hook up??? Hope to have enough $ before our Tellico trip in June. No more hang ups for me.
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I'm gonna buy their trans mount and make a completely flat skid out of 1/4". I wanted to buy their skid, but that's just way too much moneys for me. They unnecessarily lose clearance by having that extra cross member too.
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Yeah, I think if you could just get a sheet of 3/16 steel and have a cut out for the front drive shaft then you would be fine. I may go this route since I have a great fab guy. Just use the crossmember and mount then make a flat plate. Good call!
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Yeah, I think if you could just get a sheet of 3/16 steel and have a cut out for the front drive shaft then you would be fine. I may go this route since I have a great fab guy. Just use the crossmember and mount then make a flat plate. Good call!
Wait, can you buy the cross member separately from the skid? I thought they came together.....
I was talking about buying this:
http://www.offroadtoystore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=33-1650
and then using a piece of flat 1/4" as the skid and it will hang only 1/4" below the rails (depending on when the t-case contacts the body with 1.25" bl and the 33 mount.) The 33 crossmember is what makes it hang lower than it potentially could. Don't get me wrong, the angles on that thing are awesome. It looks like you would slide over anything, but I think I can make a pretty darn nice skid for almost nothing (except my time)
[attachment deleted by admin]
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from this angle it looks like that guy should notch the back of his plate for the DS
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I thought I saw somewhere that you could buy the crossmember seperately. I am looking. As for the mount you mention. What exactly does that do. Just eliminate the rubber isolator mount? Not sure. If I could see one of those 33 crossmembers and how they mount etc. I know I could make one.
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The stock tranny mount has all that dang stuff (mostly rubber) between the transmission and where it actually bolts to the skid. The 33 engineering mount gives you another 1 1/2" of clearance to push your belly pan up further. So if you simply removed the stock mount and replaced it with this one, you could leave your drivetrain in the same place but be able to raise your skid another 1 1/2" .... This is what allows you to go higher than skids that use the stock mount (Teraflex, Skyjacker, ext.) I guess you could use it with those, but you'd have to drill new mounting holes. And also, to get the maximum clearance out of 33 engineering's skid (1.25" below frame rail), you have to buy the skid and crossmember, 33 engineering's mount, and have a 2" body lift.
With their setup, the drivetrain will mount just above the frame rails and then that crossmember and skid will leave 1.25" hanging down. Not that much, but why pay all that money for less clearance? I guess the crossmember is kinda cool so you don't have to support th drivetrain when you drop the skid. My plan is this: 1.25" body lift (corresponding MM lift), sye and shaft (already got those), 33 Engineering trans mount, and a piece of 1/4" to go to town on. From the other guys who have done this set-up, they just clear the body with the completely flat skid. Only one guy as having contact, and he was fine with a couple of washers.
Check out the chart at the bottom of this page that shows the different set-ups with 33's skid.
http://www.offroadtoystore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=33-1650