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Removing Front Air Dam For Off-road

12K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  BobT 
#1 ·
I have a MY14 Laredo and the manual recommends removing the front air dam prior to going off-road. Plan on doing a trip to Fraser Island soon and was wondering if people are removing or keeping it on?
 
#3 ·
Haven't been to Fraser island but I'm not sure if I would agree with off.

Some had them off, others didn't at Stockton. Photos should identify them.

Don't recall anyone having it on having any issues at Stockton and one who had removed it suffered damage as it exposed other areas.
 
#6 ·
I've been to Fraser 3 times a week at a time and never took it off. On the last trip I suffered damage to the air inlet baffle. http://www.jeepgarage.org/f190/front-skid-plate-for-wk2-52330-5.html a $60 part. I only broke it because I got distracted and hit a hidden bump. I'd much prefer to break that than something expensive. If you are careful and don't race around like the tv ads, my advice would be to leave it on. Ps I have qlift and normally cruise around in OR1.
 
#7 ·
I've done a couple of trips to Fraser and a couple to Moreton in my GC without removing the air dam. I cracked the piece shown here: http://www.jeepgarage.org/f190/front-skid-plate-for-wk2-52330.html#post731382 and also dislodged the ACC sensor.

However I sustained the damage on the first day of arriving on Fraser, and in retrospect I was just driving way too aggressively. I also have quadra lift and used either ORI and ORII.

It looks like it's a pain in the arse to remove the air dam...
 
#10 ·
It looks like it's a pain in the arse to remove the air dam...
Brett, if you do it once, it's actually really easy.
Took me 40mins to figure it out the first time, but now I know how to do it, it takes less than 10mins.

Tip: much easier having two people putting it back on. The clips are a little tricky to align if just yourself.
 
#8 ·
Thanks you'll for your replies. Seems like the best scenario is to install under body skid plates and the Chief skid plate when it comes out and to take the front air dam off.
I have removed the front air dam a couple of times on the MY14 model and is fairly quick once you know where the 7 x plastic plugs are.

Has anyone installed the Mopar skid plates (x 3) on the new MY14 model? Wondering whether I could get away just with a Chief Sump Protection plate.
 
#9 ·
I was one of the guys at Stockton leaving the air dam on. I dont have QL either. I have though removed the little wing things that sit in front of the tyres, to give some extra clearance. In numerous trips off road (rocky, difficult trails) and on sand, i have not had an issue with the air dam. Scraped it a few times for sure, but driving with some care I have not had any damage.

I think taking it off exposes too much stuff that i dont want exposed.
 
#11 ·
Also, I noticed when going through the really soft stuff, the two front bottom scoops were dragging.
I've since taken them off permanently and it's helped a lot.
 
#13 ·
2 questions:

First, anyone have photos of the air dam removed. I'd love to see a video of someone removing it.

Second, what do you do with it when you remove it? Toss it in the back? Do you wrap anything around it? Seems rather large, awkward, ungainly, and, naturally, dirty.

Seems that the premise is that you should do this on site, as you're getting ready to go off road vs just doing it at home before your trip. The consensus seems to be that the air dam is required for highway travel, so removing it on site and replacing it after the trail seems to be the proper technique.
 
#14 · (Edited)
We just spent 4 days in the Victorian high country doing Blue rag track and many trails around Dargo, I left the front air dam on and only bottomed it out slightly once, approach and departure angles are great. I did however have my home made front skid plate (and all the Mopar skids) and I am glad I did as the plastic one would have been toast. I did remove the small wing bits of the front dam as well as the mud flaps.

Cheers
 

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#15 ·
Dudes. Ok, Finally heading to Fraser Is in 2 days time. Very excited - 1st time the beast has been off road . Managed to get the Mopar underbody skid plates installed and getting the Murchison lift done tomorrow. Still undecided whether to take off the air dam. I'm inclined to leave it on but the thing that would annoy the bejesus out of me would be having to strap to to the roof the whole trip if it fell off. Because I have had the lift I think I will leave it on. Will give a report on my return on how it went.
 
#16 ·
I'm heading off to Fraser for the 3rd time in my GC soon. We always do lot's of driving on the inland tracks when we go, so the vehicle gets a real workout. Have also done a couple of similar trips to Moreton. I've not taken the air dam off yet and do not intend to for my upcoming trip either...
 
#17 ·
OK. Have come back from Fraser. Had all the skid plates installed and the lift done. I left the front air dam on and had no problems. In some of the deeper ruts on softer drier sand I heard some flapping/rattling noises which I assume were those funny front mud guard thingo's. So overall the JGP performed really well - got through every inland track/soft sand without any problems.
G
 
#19 ·
With the air dam on I went over an unseen sand berm a bit too fast. The front dug in and suffered some damage to the air dam but shattered the air inlet duct behind it. The next time, with the air dam off, the front dug in again. The front lip of the plastic belly pan dug into the sand and ripped out the plugs. The belly pan folded back under the car pushing the wheel arch liners onto the wheels, very expensive. Moral of the story, dive slow (i.e. no fun) and get a lift kit or ORII in QL. The shocks easily top out in ORII so can't drive fast anyway. With QL, after stopping to take in the view, it's easy to hop back in the car and drive off forgetting to lift it.
 
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