For years, I have wanted to have a better skid plate than the one provided by the OEM for the 20 gallon plastic tank. I did not want to go with the Aero type of gas tank because of some trouble with rust that will develop in the steel tank. And, I was getting tired of having to pull my tank down after every Hammer trip to get my 20 gallons back. So, along came an almost brand new OEM tank and skid plate for me to measure and design this new plate. My idea was to make this plate strong enough that, if required, I could place a jack under the tank and lift the rig.
I decided that I would replace the OEM thin metal plate completely. So, I made the new skid plate to fit the OEM tank snuggly. The OEM rubber mat is discarded. I used 3/16 steel plate, one piece from the front to the back. Making the bends match pretty close to the OEM tank. The sides are ..070 thick sheet metal. I fitted the sides to the plate and welded them completely. I drilled some holes in the bottom for drains.
One neat feature of this skid plate is that I was able to space the tank about 1" back to the rear of the Jeep. Thus providing more clearance to the pumpkin cover on the rear end. I was able to do this because the OEM tooling required a 1" taper towards the front of the rig. With my design being bent as one piece, I was able to make the rear bend at 90°. This design has been installed on about 10 rigs that I know of. I had to make a couple of changes to the departing angle from the first ones that I built.
This gas tank skid plate probably will become available in the near future commercially. I know that it will fit CJ years from '76.