steel plate thickness for skid plates

[RatLabGuy]

What's a reasonable thickness guage for doing a front skid plate? The BudBilts are 3/16 (7 ga), and clearly inistructable but I really wonder if this is overkill. What about say 9-10 ga?

 

[catfishblues]

Depends on how much protection you need and how much engineered rigidity you're willing to add in. Bends and dimpled holes add strength, but are beyond the scope of your typical home builder. Going with thicker steel and simple gussets is usually the answer for somebody who doesn't have access to a forming press.

 

[GubNi]

3/16 is not overkill!

 

[MarsFab]

For a front skid plate on a truck with IFS 3/16" should be enough, but I would build a frame out of 1.25 or 1.5 DOM that it bolts into. If you don't frame it then you probably run a good risk of one good hit on a big rock and its tweaked pretty bad. If you go with thinner material like 9 or 10 ga. you can always make ribs in it. Like strips stood on end and welded to the inside to act as a spine or gusset like "catfishblues" said.

 

[jeepinmatt]

The underbelly skid on my TJ is 1/4" steel, with a brace across the center (right to left) and the framerails on the sides, and I have still managed to dent the front and rear edges into a nice curve. There are also a few focused dents. I know the application isn't the same, but it should at least give you an idea.

 

[Black Bear]

Really depends on how its built. I used 14ga (or 16, i cant recall), braced with c channel, and skinned with UHMW. So far its not bent, or dented. My front skid is unbraced 3/16's and it is slightly bent.