Okay, y'all, I have plenty of tips for installing the Engine and Transfer Skid plates based upon issues I encountered (and conquered!) - some more useful than others. Let's first start with some things that made the install easier for me.
6,500 lb. rated ramps plus rubber chocks from Harbor Freight
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Next up - my helping hands - two 4 ton Heavy Duty Bottle Jacks (from Harbor Freight) plus (from Amazon) two
1" Quad Heavy Duty Rubber Cane Tips (fit perfectly snug):
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And now for something that did not make the install easier, but was something I just wanted to do, because it did not appear that the supplied hardware (nuts, bolts, etc.) was particularly corrosion resistant:
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I painted the threads of every bolt used with this stuff.
Now, on to the install. I started with the Transfer Case Skid Plate because I'm a goddam masochist. I looked over the parts, part list, and instructions and just knew Step 1 (Deez Nutserts) was going to be a barrel of laughs. I figured I might as well tackle this while I'm fresh. The fun started by realizing the wire had snapped off one of my wired nutserts. Some superglue gel and a clamp restored that, and I added a square of duct tape right on top of the bond to hold it true. I also added a small piece of duct tape to the wired nutsert still in one piece. Getting this going, I carefully straightened out the wire, crawled underneath and gently threaded the wire down the beam - only to find out in short order that the wire is too DAMN SHORT to feed the nutsert to the hole. So, I carefully withdrew it, went and found a wired coat hanger, cut six or so inches off and duct taped it to the end of the nutsert wire (I did this to both wired nutserts). Now we were cooking with gas:
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You can see by comparing the length of coat hanger wire in the beam (which is in all the way to the end of the duct tape wrap) to the nutsert peeking through the hole that the supplied wire was just too short:
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Now, the next fun part is threading the bolt into the nutsert when you have no back pressure on it. I tried pushing up to find something to press against - no dice. You have to be really patient and careful here. It's a delicate dance. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. After some trial and error and cussing, I learned that not all bolts play well with all nuts. As a result, it helps to test fit the nuts and bolts to find matches you know work before you are on your back trying to carefully get the threads lined up correctly in the hole without cross threading. I also found that with some of the fits, the bolt would screw in easily a few turns and then just come to a screeching halt, which made you think you were cross threaded. In one such situation, I tried screwing the bolt in from the back side of the nutsert and that seemed to improve things slightly when I tried the front again. Even with all of that work and after many tries, I still hit a wall with one of the nutserts and, I'm not proud to say I ended up just powering through that one with the torque wrench and *fingers crossed* everything appeared to turn out all right.
Also - in the pic above - see that small hole right above the nutsert peeking through? I figured out that's where you will want to stick the pointy end of a Phillips screwdriver when you tighten the bolt so that the bar of the nutsert will hit against it as you turn the bolt and give you the leverage you need to screw it down tight (when it's time to do so!). I told you this was fun! One more thing, when the dumb instructions say, such as in Step 2, "Loosen bolts M10x30 with washers 10 (item B, C) into insert nuts M10 from step 1" they mean to just insert the bolts (with washers fixed) enough rotations to get them going but don't tighten them all the way down.
Step 3, attaching the beam, was a piece of cake. Below is a pic right before Step 4 - installing the skid plate. You can see Permatex on the threads on the nutsert bolts. After I secured the plate, it was easy to just pull the wires off the nutserts, which reinforces how careful you have to be threading them through in the first place.
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Step 5 is another legit pain in the ass. Finding the rubber plug you need to remove is easy. I used a flathead screwdriver to start to pop it out and it was easy to pull out. Inserting the flanged nutsert (F in the Installation manual) was a ton of fun.
You have to fold out the flanges around the nutsert so that they are poking out of the hole while you try to insert it. Lots of fiddling here and make damn sure you do not insert the nutsert and the flanges all the way in the hole. I accidentally did that once and had to use some needle nose pliers to grab the flange and pull it back out. After you get it positioned, you have to hold onto a flange poking out of the hole and the mounting plate you are trying to affix while you attempt the again delicate maneuver of slowly and carefully docking the bolt with the nose of the cone like some damn Apollo 13 astronaut. The flange gives you the ability to exert a little back pressure, but not much and the damn thing is constantly at an angle, so you have to carefully angle the bolt to match it as you try to thread it in. After that is done, you can clip the exposed flanges off the nutsert with a wire cutter and shove the clipped ends in the hole with a flathead screwdriver. I took no pics of this process. Like a colonoscopy, it's just something you have to experience for yourself.
Everything else went on pretty easily - though here are a few more tips. When the instructions say don't tighten, they mean it. I learned that pretty quickly when I got to step 7 to install the additional skid plate and could not get anything to line up, because I had tightened bolts in earlier steps too much. Even loosened, I had to do some fiddling to make everything line up just right. Also, the instructions don't tell you clearly, but the bolts in Step 7 go from the top down through the holes. I could not use the torque wrench to tighten both of these because the space was too tight, and had to purchase an angled M10 wrench to screw them home and just tightened by hand to what I felt was around 34.7 lb./ft.
DONE!!!
Next up, the Engine Skid Plate. This one was easier, but there were still some surprises. First off, I'm embarrassed to say it took me longer than it should have to figure out where the hell the arrows were pointing to in Figure 1 Step 1.
Like 74CampySuperRecord said, the spacers are too big to use when installing the beam in Step 3. The helping hands worked a treat with this step:
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After a lot of screwing around trying to face the open end of the beam towards the front and then towards the back to see if the spacers would fit in any orientation, I gave up on that idea. However, because I could see there was still a gap between the beam and whatever the hell I was bolting it to, I figured I needed to fill that gap. So, I went to Lowe's and picked up two 5-packs of Hilman M10 washers that looked like they would fit the space perfectly (for size comparison, the washer fit perfectly within the spacers provided):
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I ended up using six - three per side - and this seemed to fit and work great (the three washers are out of focus but you get the idea):
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Everything else was pretty straightforward, though remember to be mindful not to overly tighten anything down until the instructions tell you to do so.
FINIS!
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Bonus Pic! While I was under there, I took a pic of the Transfer Case Cable clamp, and it seemed fairly stout and secure? Maybe an upgrade from prior models?
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Have fun, y'all!
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