Moparx, I understand about wanting thicker metal in an area that may see more abuse, been there myself.

My 54 Dodge pickup sat pretty low, and I had running boards on it as well. I built the running boards, and they were mounted to the frame with 3 braces, 1/4" thick x 1 1/2" angle with an angle brace. I built the running boards with 16 gauge steel, formed with a 1/2" wide bottom lip, bent up 90 degrees for 2" then another 90 degree bend for the full width. The 1/2" flange sort of formed a "C" channel.

One time I went into a driveway that had a pretty big hump in it. Driving ever so slowly, about the center in the length of the driver side board scrapped the ground. I was going slow, and the running board was pretty thick steel with the channel, so I thought I would be OK. I was wrong.

That nice channel bowed up in the center before it bent in, and wrinkled to top surface of the running board for about a foot. Because it was 16 gauge, I couldn't straighten it out and finally ended up making a new running board. The new running board was made out of 18 gauge without the bottom lip. I bent it once and was able to straighten it back out.

Sometimes brute strength isn't what you want. That 16 gauge will fold up just as quickly as 18G or 20G under the weight of the truck, but will be a lot tougher to straighten. Gene