Frame damage

I was backing out of a sketchy parking spot and heard a bang. Didnt think anything of it because I have a scratch plate. After I got home I went ahead and checked and it was much worse than anticipated. It came close to the oil pan but didnt hit it. Im not really sure if I should even be driving with it in this condition. I could really use some advice on this !

 

You are so lucky you missed the pan(s). Take it in for an alignment check and a general look over if it worries you. How fast were you going? That’s a major piece of steel you mangled.

 

Holy hells. What exactly did you hit/drop down onto? That takes some serious weight/speed to mangle that piece.

 

It was a sunken in curb. I was parking at a restaurant and it was the only place available. Other trucks were there as well so I didnt think anything of it . I got in there fine but as I was backing out I caught it as I got my front wheels over.

 

From what I can tell in the parts catalog, Toyota doesn't sell that crossmember separately. Your best bet is to find an off-road fabrication shop that can cut out the damaged section, and sleeve/splice in a rectangular tube.

The dealer will likely quote a frame replacement, which is a 5-figure job if paying out of pocket.

 

That's from scraping over a curb?

I agree with this. Get an alignment and maybe have a Toyota dealership look it over but I'm thinking they're gonna consider it serious frame damage...

 

I couldnt have been going that fast I was just backing out. It wasnt the smoothest of terrain so it was pretty bouncy

 

If you plan on driving it into the ground it may not matter that much but if you're planning on selling it you may have a hard time.

 

Would you consider it drivable? Or should I get a rental until I can get it looked at?

 

It's most likely fine but personally I like to err on the side of caution. I'd get it looked at asap. Rental may be a good idea. There are people on here with way more knowledge than me though. I'm hoping they chime in

 

Get your alignment checked, if it's still alignable within specs and drives fine then don't worry about it. That's a strong piece of steel, the fact that you dented it doesn't mean it's now weak or unsafe.

 

Get an alignment. Do a detailed visual inspection for cracks. If no cracks found, it's driveable on pavement. Don't go 4-wheeling until it's repaired.

 

If it doesn’t work out. Trade it in. Mayhap they won’t notice it.

 

There has to be more to the story, find it hard to believe from backing out but maybe I’m wrong. Good luck though!

 

No joke. That's a hell of a lot of damage for slowly backing out of a parking stall and over a curb.

 

I had to go off the concrete so there was a ledge. While backing out I had to gas it to get the rear wheel back over and I didnt account for the angle and made contact with the ledge

 

Pics of area? lol

 

The truth starts to seep out.



We all know that much damage is not done gently backing out of a parking space, with a curb hidden in grass.

 

On further inspection of the picture, get an alignment and send it. You’ll be ok with that IMO

 

Years ago I bent the same cross member on my old 4th gen 4Runner. I hit a rock a grader had dug up doing maintenance on a gravel road. The rock was about the size of a watermelon. I wasn't going fast but I couldn't avoid it by the time I had seen it. It didn't look as bad as yours but I could see a small bend in the cross member. After a few weeks my front tires started to feather so I got an inspection done by the body shop. It was $8000 damage by the time they cut the cross member out and replaced with a new one. The bend had pulled all the geometry out of alignment in the front end. Sadly the 4Runner was never the same again, they could never get the alignment right after that.