The 3/16" (.188" thick) top plate and bottom plate provide far superior protection against dents and bends than the stock cross member, which is made of a piece of 1/8" (.125" thick) and 14-gauge (.083" thick) stamped sheet metal. Incredibly, the Chrysler engineers decided to put the much thinner 14-gauge piece along the bottom, making it crumple at the mere sight of rocks. The steel used in the Poison Spyder cross member is 33% thicker on the top plate, and 21/2 times thicker on the bottom plate. And the 3/16" steel plate of the Poison Spyder Extreme Duty Cross member has brake-formed corners all the way around-there are no welds on the box corners. Inside the cross member, Poison Spyder fabricators have welded in four DOM tubing spacers to provide crush-proof strength at the cross member mounting bolt locations. These are made of .120" wall DOM tubing. Compare that to the stock cross member, which uses stamped sheet metal spacers. The Poison Spyder Extreme Duty Cross member matches the external dimensions and bolt locations of the stock cross member. All stock skid plates that were attached to the stock cross member attach to the Poison Spyder Extreme Duty cross member. Any other manufacturer's aftermarket skid plate system that attached to the stock cross member should still attach to the Poison Spyder Extreme Duty Crossmember. The Poison Spyder Extreme Duty Crossmember is shipped as bare steel, ready for you to paint or powder coat in the color of your choice. This part number is for year model 2012-2015 JK's, both 2-door and 4-door, with either manual or automatic transmission.