What Type Steel For Skid

My searching hasn't turned up anything useful really. I am going to build a 3/16" steel skid for the '74 CJ trans/txfr case using the factory crossmember as the main support.

My local supplier has A36, hot rolled steel plate. They won't tell me if that is a good steel to use or not. Can anyone educate me on steel type please?

This is for mild wheeling, but where I go in Tennessee there are some large basketball size rocks that get up under the Jeep occasionally so I don't need the top-o-the-line stuff, just something that will hold up with very little maintenance. I have a friend who has a large bender, and I'm not planning on any welding, but I guess I can't rule it out either.

 

Mild steel is perfectly fine, but if you can find a shop that carries/uses it, ask around for AR400 or equivalent. It’s abrasion resistant steel used in plow blades, trash trucks, etc... My local shop has piles of it in their remnants rack. It is extremely hard to gouge and is more slippery across rocks as a result. A downside is, it’s very hard to drill. I usually punch through with a torch, then clean up the hole with a carbide burr in a die grinder.

 

Thanks. That's what I was thinking after I did a little research. It's not like I'm in a rock bouncer. I'll stick with the mild steel. Seems easier to work with and give me the protection that I need for what I do with the Jeep.

 

Mild steel will be totally fine and lots easier to work with if you're a novice.