Gas Tank Skid Plate is Here

[Ralph]

Just got that skid plate from J&W Jeeps. Pretty clean, no rust. If the vehicles on their junkyard are in this kind of shape, I might just go there for my next FSJ.

[Ralph]

Just came in from cleaning and priming the skid plate. I also drilled 33 holes to improve drainage. Determined to make this skid plate last, so it'll get rustproof paint on the inside and truck bedliner paint on the outside. In comparison, I'm pretty sure I could just rip my old one out with a pair of pliers, and may have to resort to that if those bolts are too rusted.

[Treadted2]

What did you pay for the skidplate?

Ted

[Ralph]

$160, including shipping. And all the hardware came with it: straps, corner pieces, gas tank matting, and bolts.

I've just completed the paint: two coats of primer and a coat of black paint. I'll put another coat of black paint over it tomorrow. And the exterior only will get a nice covering with black Plasti-Kote truck bedliner.

[FSJNut]

I don't know if you've ripped your old tank/plate out yet, but if you haven't the tech section has several excellent articles.
I would do one thing different from when I did mine this spring. I would try to save the fuel filler/large vent hoses. None of my parts stores had this hose available and I ended up getting the factory molded hoses from the dealer ($85, ouch!).
My old hoses looked fine on my 87.
I successfully cleaned all the rust and dirt (est 5-10 lbs) from my frame rail, etc. and managed to get most of it on me. An air needle scaler works great on that rail.
One more thing - the reason I was doing mine wasn't because the skid plate had rusted out (it had some rust, but not as bad as a couple of my others). I had to do mine because my brake line going to the rear brakes rusted thru. It was weird that the two fuel lines running inside the frame rail right next to it looked great, but this line was very rusty and I bent a new one to replace it.
Be sure to check your brake and fuel lines for rust. There will never be a better time to replace them if the're bad.
Good luck.

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87 GW
88 GW
85 GW (on its way back from being a parts car)

[Ralph]

Thanks for the advice. I've got the skid plate ready to go, and the set of rear leaf springs that has been sitting on a shelf for several months. But I spent last weekend working on Narnian's Jeep, so this weekend I have work to catch up with before I get involved with mine. As it usually goes, my afternoon projects turn into all-nighters...