Brace that goes under the driveshaft
#21
Talking about the A4 brace that they sell as a
replacement for the "X" stamping. Only 3 of the
4 holes on mine could be made to line up and
it interfered with both of the exhaust setups I
had. Threw it in the trash after spending good
money.
Not the SLP driveshaft loop, never had one of
those.
#22
That brace is actually there to prevent the driveshaft from falling and and causing serious problems in case of a U joint or other failure at the front of the shaft. Removing it is fine as long as you replace it with something - BMR brace, DS safetly loop, torque arm mount, etc.
#23
Not an expert here but I would say those spot welds are craking from a dynamics issue (i.e. vibration transmitted from the transmission or something else spinning). I would consider a doubler plate on the inside with some solid rivets shot through it. By the looks of of the design that is not the primarly load path....I would say those cracks are developing and propagating from sustained vibration.