Ok.. I had this made right befor the pre- big bear run. It was a tough deciding wether to us aluminum or steel. But with the amount of rocks I like to hit I went with steel. 1/4" steel that is. As you see in the pics of the lift and here the front diff now sits about an inch below the front cross members. So that needed to be protected bad. So we boxed it to keep as much ground clearance as possible. These pics are after the run. It held up great and took alot of hits at the boxed diff. I know I would have ripped open a diff cover seal with out it. And yes it need to be painted. I was just thinking plain rattle can black.