Nice write-up wecwbe. Thanks for adding to our "how-to" section.

If you think your's is going to take that kind of beating then you should probably look for a heavier duty aftermarket one because neither of these will probably stand up to that kind of punishment.

Another option that I thought of after installing my skid plate is that you could take the standard support off and add some thick armor plating to it if you are handy with a welder (obviously you wouldn't do this in place ) and then reinstall it. That would probably be a lot cheaper than $200 and it could possibly be even stronger depending on the plating you added. If you do that, make sure you put some drainage holes in the added armor plating.