Belly Pan Skid Building Materials

Seen a lot of creative ideas on the threads out here but I have been wondering based from experience what belly pan skid material would be the best for a 3.5" lifted jeep? I am swapping in a ax15 next summer and there is a good chance the tcases will be stacked. So I am planning on a longer skid than normal. Most likely 231 doubler since I have both cases sitting in my garage. I do all rock crawling and utilize my rocker replacement sliders a lot(dragging and sliding). Keep into consideration I have not done any frame rail stiffeners and have kept the factory cross member(looks like a flattened soda can).

I try to build all of my parts and am not shy with a plasma cutter and building with sheets of metal and square tube. Drilling and tapping bolts is no big deal. However I have never touched a tube bender. That covers a lot of the metal materials but what about thick polymer plastic sheets?

TIA Nick:eeks1:

Here's the crossmember I built for my old daily driver with an AX15/242 so the t-case was a lower then a 231. The hoops protect the tranny and t-case nicely. I tapped the factory spot on the XJ framerails were the 4cly crossmembers mount to pick up an extra mounting point easily.






My trail rig is a little more complex with tucked crossmembers and a true flat belly setup with nothing hanging below the framerails. Multiple crossmembers and supports between them. 1/8" steel plate with 1/2" UHMW -similar plastic skinned over it with countersunk bolts.