As sacrilegious as this may sound even to me, Cindy and I finally swapped out Moby's factory skid plate and for a complete, aftermarket replacement one made by Synergy. After over 11 years of abuse at the mall, the gas tank apparently got pushed up enough that the main fuel line became squeezed in between it and the bottom of the tub. Being that the gas tank is mounted to the frame, movement between it and the tub eventually wore a hole in the nylon line. Of course, it took Moby having a real hard time starting followed by the pungent smell of gas to realize this but I suppose, that was a better way to find out than to do so after he was in flames.
To be fair, I initially wanted to just replace his original factory skid with another OE skid and I was even going to replace his gas tank, sending unit and all the fuel lines just because. At least, the idea was that if I was going to do all this work, I might as well install all new stuff that would last at least another 10 years. Well, that was the thought anyway. As I would come to find, all this stuff has either been discontinued or on indefinite back order. So, I started looking into repairing the "not repairable" nylon fuel line and while I was able to come up with a solution for that, I still wanted to replace the skid with something new or at the very least, something that would actually bolt up back up again. And, after doing a bit of searching, I found that Synergy made heavy duty gas tank skid plate and unlike most everything else out there, it was one that completely replaced the factory skid. Needless to say, that's what I ended up getting. The following are a few pics that show you the before, during and after of it all.
Here's a shot of Moby's original factory skid after over 11 years of abuse. As you can see, the middle section is completely caved in and that's where our problem was occuring.
An initial examination revealed the source of smell.
Using the arms on my lift to hold the factory gas tank in place, I disconnected whatever hoses I could and unbolted everything and removed the gas tank skid bolts.
After lowering everything down a bit, I was able to disconnect the remaining hoses and sending unit wiring harness.
You can see here where the fuel line had been rubbing on top of the gas tank which ultimately resulted in its failure.
Looking on the bottom of the tub, you can see where it was rubbing there too.
And there's Moby's gas tank - complete with wet mud still left from our last trip to the mall.
Here you can see where the nylon fuel line had worn down to the point of failure.
While it does cost about $300 more than a factory skid, you can only save on something you can actually buy. If only I had just ordered this Synergy skid plate right from the get go, I would have been able to get Moby up and running weeks ago. Oh well, better late than never.
After unwrapping everything, you can see that some assembly is required.
Loosely installing all the parts and leaving me some room for adjustments. Fortunately, all the nuts are serrated and so they're easier to work with.
Not sure what happened here but I'm pretty sure even the instructions showed this bracket as having tapered holes for the tapered bolts.
Maybe not the prettiest fix but as luck would have it, I had a tapered bit and was able to address this problem. With a little paint, it doesn't look too bad.
Moby's gas tank was pretty warped and so dropping it into his new skid plate did take a little coaxing but I was able to get it in.
Getting everything ready to go back in again.
And here's the fix! While 3/8" fuel lines and connectors can be found just about anywhere, JK's use metric parts and so I had to special order this 10mm Dorman Press Fit Union online. For those of you who are in need of one, you'll need part #800-194.
https://amzn.to/2Q0kzM8
Cutting out the wounded area and getting it ready for repair.
Good as fixed - Pay no attention to the warning clearly stated on the OE fuel line. :crazyeyes:
Attempting to reconnect the repaired fuel line onto its holder on the gas tank.
Reconnecting all the fuel lines and wiring harness.
I don't know if it had something to do with Moby's gas tank or tolerances in the manufacturing of the skid plate but there were 2 bolts that were near impossible to install. Everything else went it fine and for a time, I thought I'd be done in minutes but ended up wrestling with this thing for a couple of hours. Anyway, when all was said and done, this is what the Synergy skid plate looks like installed.
And there you have it - an episode of out with the old and in with the new for Moby. Not exactly something I had planned to do but happy that I did. For those of you who still have your old JK's, I hope this can be of help to you someday.
To be fair, I initially wanted to just replace his original factory skid with another OE skid and I was even going to replace his gas tank, sending unit and all the fuel lines just because. At least, the idea was that if I was going to do all this work, I might as well install all new stuff that would last at least another 10 years. Well, that was the thought anyway. As I would come to find, all this stuff has either been discontinued or on indefinite back order. So, I started looking into repairing the "not repairable" nylon fuel line and while I was able to come up with a solution for that, I still wanted to replace the skid with something new or at the very least, something that would actually bolt up back up again. And, after doing a bit of searching, I found that Synergy made heavy duty gas tank skid plate and unlike most everything else out there, it was one that completely replaced the factory skid. Needless to say, that's what I ended up getting. The following are a few pics that show you the before, during and after of it all.
Here's a shot of Moby's original factory skid after over 11 years of abuse. As you can see, the middle section is completely caved in and that's where our problem was occuring.
An initial examination revealed the source of smell.
Using the arms on my lift to hold the factory gas tank in place, I disconnected whatever hoses I could and unbolted everything and removed the gas tank skid bolts.
After lowering everything down a bit, I was able to disconnect the remaining hoses and sending unit wiring harness.
You can see here where the fuel line had been rubbing on top of the gas tank which ultimately resulted in its failure.
Looking on the bottom of the tub, you can see where it was rubbing there too.
And there's Moby's gas tank - complete with wet mud still left from our last trip to the mall.
Here you can see where the nylon fuel line had worn down to the point of failure.
While it does cost about $300 more than a factory skid, you can only save on something you can actually buy. If only I had just ordered this Synergy skid plate right from the get go, I would have been able to get Moby up and running weeks ago. Oh well, better late than never.
After unwrapping everything, you can see that some assembly is required.
Loosely installing all the parts and leaving me some room for adjustments. Fortunately, all the nuts are serrated and so they're easier to work with.
Not sure what happened here but I'm pretty sure even the instructions showed this bracket as having tapered holes for the tapered bolts.
Maybe not the prettiest fix but as luck would have it, I had a tapered bit and was able to address this problem. With a little paint, it doesn't look too bad.
Moby's gas tank was pretty warped and so dropping it into his new skid plate did take a little coaxing but I was able to get it in.
Getting everything ready to go back in again.
And here's the fix! While 3/8" fuel lines and connectors can be found just about anywhere, JK's use metric parts and so I had to special order this 10mm Dorman Press Fit Union online. For those of you who are in need of one, you'll need part #800-194.
https://amzn.to/2Q0kzM8
Cutting out the wounded area and getting it ready for repair.
Good as fixed - Pay no attention to the warning clearly stated on the OE fuel line. :crazyeyes:
Attempting to reconnect the repaired fuel line onto its holder on the gas tank.
Reconnecting all the fuel lines and wiring harness.
I don't know if it had something to do with Moby's gas tank or tolerances in the manufacturing of the skid plate but there were 2 bolts that were near impossible to install. Everything else went it fine and for a time, I thought I'd be done in minutes but ended up wrestling with this thing for a couple of hours. Anyway, when all was said and done, this is what the Synergy skid plate looks like installed.
And there you have it - an episode of out with the old and in with the new for Moby. Not exactly something I had planned to do but happy that I did. For those of you who still have your old JK's, I hope this can be of help to you someday.
