Been wheeling Rock hard skids for over 5 yrs and no complaints. Skids have been used on everything from sandstone to decompose granite and held up great. Highly recommend 'em. Great customer service as well.

 

I'm a little hard on my Jeep. More protection the better I think. Blew the spider heard this past weekend.

 

I forgot about JCR, TBH. Love their products. I run their EVAP skid.

If you wheel it that hard, don't skimp. It's worth it.

 

I had the opportunity to look at pretty much all of the skids available for the JK couple of weeks ago at the Pomona offroad show here in Southern Cali, and i was fairly impressed with Artec skids and the Hardrock ones, I ordered a set of oil/trans skids that day from Hardrock, i had my eyes on that set for a little while, but somehow i wanted to check what would i be missing by not checking other options out there. Artec and Hardrock hands down offered the most protection, at least visually, ultimately the trail will tell the tale, but if you're living in the rocks, you want at least a skid that hides the bolt heads from direct impact, i may not have direct experience with extreme trails with my Jeep yet, as i just got bough this thing in July, and i'm still missing parts i want to have before i get this puppy in the rocks, but, i have wheeled with other vehicles before under such conditions, you don't want your bolts exposed to rocks directly, otherwise you'll have to drill them out to take the skids off as its very easy to stripe the heads on those bolts when playing in the rocks.
The only thing i didn't like about the Artec ones is that their skids are actually aluminum and more likely why those cost more money, although they told me is fairly thick aluminum and aerospace grade, lol, whatever that means, the brackets that hold the skids in place are made of steel though

The full system from Hardrock (oil/trans/cat/transfer case/gas tank) is a little less than $1k, but they also do the same thin aluminum if you wanted to weight savings, EVO, JCR and the others offer complete protection as well, i just don't like the bolts being exposed they way they do with those skids, but i'm sure none of this setups will have any issues holding the weight of the JK and protecting the belly from hard hits.

 

I like TNT Customs Belly Skid. https://www.tntcustoms.com/products/...es/skid_plates
That said I have a Rockhard Transfer Case skid that is bowed in a bit and Poison Spyder Customs Heavy Duty transmission cross member.

 

I am assuming you meant Rock Hard, right?

I personally see a potential problem with those tapered washers for the Rock Hard bolts, although I have not seen it play out. If those washers ever deform around the bold head, it will be near impossible to get that bolt out without cutting it off.

The bolt heads (exposed) on my el-cheapo engine/trans skid have been deformed a bit, but I can use a 19mm socket instead of an 18mm socket to get those off. And if that doesn't work, a bolt extractor is easy enough. I worry that those tapered washers will deform and you won't be able to get a socket into it to remove the bolt.

I haven't seen this yet, so I could be worrying about nothing, but I haven't looked everywhere yet.

 

The washers that look like a volcano move and deform which prevent a socket from getting to the bolt. The bolts on my skid are trashed, need to weld nuts to them to get them out.

 

Went with JCR. They are beefy as hell and cover a lot. I did purchase some rock domes from Rockhard because the bolt heads are exposed. But they take a beating. Rockhard is also nice, but if you looking to hits and ledges stay away from the aluminum. A friend on the forum runs them and every run has to pull them off and press them back out so they don't rub. Helped a friend put in the Artec skids also. Very nice kit but requires time and modifications to fit. Honestly I am not impressed with aluminum skids seem to move too much. I did an install on the JCR if your interested.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-w...nstall-314787/

 

Lol, Yes, Rock Hard, i've had skids with the tapered washers, and the ones without them, the ones in the Rockhard skids are pretty thick, but if they ever get deformed, a little cut with a grinder and a couple of hits with a hammer and they're out, if you wheel hard enough, i'm sure you will damage the washers eventually, it's a lot easier to literally take the head out of the bolt without them, ask me how i know, even an aluminum tapered washer will be better than nothing depending on location, i used to take my FJcruiser to places the IFS was not exactly suited for, so i spent some coin on heavy armor cause those bitches can only get lifted so much before you hurt their offroad performance, and usually you want to protect the belly as much as possible give all the components that are going to hit first, this is a lot more forgiven in our Jeeps, and typically people with 3.5-4" lifts and 37's don't worry too much about it, me with 2-2.5" lift and 33's, i need to be able to slide around most obstacles as much as i can, and i can bet the house i'll take at least one bolt in my first run with the Jeep without those washers

 

In all my years of heavy wheeling across granite have I ever deformed one of those washers nor have I seen or heard of it being done. Can it, sure but they are good insurance against deforming bolt heads or the potential for shearing one off.