Skid plate theory and practce

[Christopher Eveland <eveland@domain.elided>]

Hi-

	I took my scout ('67 800 w/ 350V8) out 4 wheeling for the first time a
couple of weekends ago with a few jeeps from the local 4x4 club (at
which Im the only Scout member...anyone in western NY / fingerlakes
region want to up that number?).  Considering it was my first time out,
I think my scout and I did pretty well, and the only place I didn't
follow the jeeps was a ridge where the lead jeep kinda did a belly flop
onto the top of it, and had to get pulled down because all his wheels
were in the air.  Anyway, I figured it might be a good idea to protect
the soft underbelly of my scout before I start balancing on top of rocks
too much.
	I get the impression that the scout was supposed to have a skid plate
stock, but the previous owner of my scout put in a 4 speed, and I think
it got lost with the crossmember modifications, so if there was supposed
to be one, its gone now.  At any rate that crossmember got ditched when
I put in the V8, so now I have a new crossmember that is made out of 2x4
1/4"wall square tubing, which is the lowest point under there, about 1
or 1.5" below the frame rails, and seems like it would be plenty sturdy
to mount a new skid plate to.
	So what I would like are some tips about making them.  Seems like a
simple enough part, but I'm new to off roading, so it seems wise to ask
a few questions.  How big do I want it to be? The most obvious thing to
me that needs protecting is the xfer case pan, what else?  How should it
mount?  I take it the smoother the bottom, the better, are bolt heads OK
to be down there, or should I weld mounting tabs on or something?  How
think should it be?  The jeep guys seemed to think 1/4" would be ok. 
Should I try to bend up the edges somehow, or is flat OK?
	Thanks for any tips...  Looking forword to spending more time with the
scout, so you'll probably hear more from me,

-Chris