Frame Dropped belly skid (yuck)

[Black Thumb]

Braced the Transmission , and dropped the skid plate (only one bold had to be cut), but I was not prepared for how heavy it was. This is not because of how thick it is, but because there was fifty years of caked on dirt, sand, and congealed gear oil. It's not an exaggeration to say it was almost an inch thick in the valleys. A pressure washer wouldn't even cut through it. I had to use a piece of angle iron to forcefully scrap off the crud. Then pressure on 0 deg head to blast it out, and then several cycles of degreaser and pressure washing before it was clean enough for the acid. There was surprisingly very little rust. That congealed layer of oil and dirt acted like cosmoline, and the steel under it was shiny where the paint had worn off. Very surprising. I should have taken pictures of the initial mess, but it cleaned up nicely. It is not severely lifted, but there is an inch or two of lift for the 31" tires. There were also almost an inch of spacers on either side of the plate to get a better angle on the axles (which I need to keep). Someone had used thin, mild steel, bar stock and stacked it and then drilled it as a spacer. I don't know if this is typical, but it's not a thoughtful design. Obviously water had gotten between the pieces for years and years, and there was very little metal left. When I removed the spacers they fell apart and one side mostly crumbled... The side that didn't was about a 1/4" less after hitting them with an angle grinder. Not worth saving.


I bought a $10 plastic cutting board at Ace, cut it into strips, epoxied them together, and I'm going to drill the holes for a spacer that will not rust, and will probably outlast me. Once painted black you won't even notice it. That cutting board plastic is tough and very heat resistant. It should make the perfect spacer to keep my drive shaft angles.

That said, the Transfer Case was caked with grease and dirt. Looks like it's leaking from multiple places. I expect it will need all the seals replaced. The shift linkage isn't acting up at all, but my guess is that it's also disgustingly caked. If I take it out I may was well do the whole thing...
I do have pictures, but for some reason I can't post them...