Exposed Oil Pan

[Aaron]

Hey All,

So, looking at the new JK, It has a lot of skids straight from the factory and they all seem pretty beefy. However, the one place that seems a bit exposed to me is the oil pan. On my TJ, I put an engine skid plate on to remedy that situation. I found one on CL for $150 and with some Brody persuasion, we got it on there.

So, upon looking around for something for the JK, I found this...

http://www.benchmark-designs.com/images/products_images/reop1Medium.jpg

So the question is, why not just buy an extra beefy oil pan rather than getting some steel to cover a wimpy one? Anyone ever done this or heard of anyone who has? This thing costs $160 (as opposed to 350 or better) and is made of 3/16 inch steel. In addition, there is no loss of ground clearance.

Thoughts?

[Chris]

3/16ths is pretty beefy, seems like the logical way to go to me Aaron!

[SubaCool]

I'd rather have the frame absorb the impact, instead of the engine. Just my 2 cents ;)

[Hypoid]

Looks pretty effective. If there is no bad press about the product, buy it.

FWIW, the few oil pans I've seen that were damaged on the bottom, had no damage on the sides.

[scout man]

yea, my concern would be that 1) the impact is redirected into your engine mounts, which could cause problems at some point, and 2) I would be concerned that if you really took a good hard hit to the pan, you would break the holes that the bolts mount into on the engine, as presumably it is an aluminum block, and aluminum bolt holes have always had an inherent weakness to them.

[Brody]

I'd rather have the frame absorb the impact, instead of the engine. Just my 2 cents ;)

And mine, too. Best to not have anything shock load the engine/engine mounts. Any loss of ground clearance from the skid isn't going to be noticeable primarily because the engine sits higher than the axle and the skid will be mounted to some frame cross piece which is also sitting higher than the axle. There is something to be said for losing some ground clearance due to the addition of some strong steel and that is the way I usually go. I would also see about some differential armor protection for the front diff.

[cfr]

Can't see the pics, but consider this,

As far as I've seen, nobody has reported a busted oil pan on the JK forums. That doesn't mean it can't happen though. The two standard solutions are the Rancho cover (which is probably what you linked to) and a beefy replacement pan sold by Benchmark Designs. If you're looking for skids, look at either protecting or re-locating the evap can instead. Lots of people bust that off. I chose to protect with the Poison Spyder skid plate.

If you can avoid the cross-site politics, look at both jk-forum.com and jkowners.com for more information. I personally prefer jk-forum.com. To each his own.

[gm4x4lover]

In all my years of years of wheeling i have only seen one person damage a oil pan and that was a v8 conversion fj40 and the diff hit it and not a rock.

[DaJudge]

In all my years of years of wheeling i have only seen one person damage a oil pan and that was a v8 conversion fj40 and the diff hit it and not a rock.

A friend of mine managed to poke a hole in his TJ's oil pan while fording a stream. Seems he kicked up a large tree branch that punctured the pan. I have heard second-hand stories of oil drain plugs being knocked off by rocks when a rig slides off an obstacle. I suspect just denting the pan can create its own problems with the oil pump pickup and by reducing the pan's capacity.

[cfr]

Here are some additional armor options. They end up being pricey.

http://tntcustoms.com/jkbellyarmor.aspx

http://www.skidplates.com/Engine_07_JK.asp

http://www.rockhard4x4parts.com/jk-skids.html