Bashed crossmember on a rock. What should I do?

Someone dug out a rocky downhill section on a road in death valley with their tires and I sadly did not see it in time. Hitting the holes caused my truck to bounce and bottom out hard. Skid plates saved transmission, etc but this crossmember took some damage.


It drives fine and doesnt pull or show any signs of alignment issues. Top of crossmember seems mostly flat. There is a tiny bend but that could be normal? Bottom is rather bent in though. Welds all seem intact.

How much do I need to worry about this? Do I cover it with skid plates and do nothing or do I need to address it? I was thinking when I get around to buying a welder I could reenforce it. There is also the option of cutting it out and replacing it but hope that isnt necessary.

Thoughts?

 

Get the alignment checked. If it takes an alignment okay I would just leave it be.

 

Just do what @Rusty66 said it looks like you keep your rig off-road so no need to worry now.

 

‘Tis but a scratch…

Seriously though, if you made it home, it should be fine.

Short term - get an alignment. You may have tweaked things a bit.
Long term - start searching wrecking yards for a replacement.

That will definitely have an impact on trade-in or resale value, and structural integrity is anybody’s guess. Some will say “part it out”, some will say “I’ve had worse”. (I’ve had worse.) Keep an eye on the welds, and replace it as early as you can.

 

Top doesn't look like it deformed just the bottom. If it bothered me enough I might try to heat and pull from one of the holes and make it look less dented.

 

If it's not affecting anything, just don't look at it and forget it even happened. I'd also recommend considering real skids if you're going to be doing that kind of off-roading on a regular basis.

 

I wouldn't heat that, and if that is HSS of any type heating it is a no-no.

 

X2 if you dont quench it, it will be softer than original.

Check alignment #1

 

I would drive it as is. But then again, what the hell do I know?

 

Any bodyshop with frame machine can straighten that out, easily.

 

Curious - which skidplate did you have?

 

Full skids have always been the plan but money is tight so I only have a Talons Garage transmission skid to keep my catalytic converters from getting stolen. Without it my transmission pan definitely would have taken a rock. Sadly with the oem skid it doesn't cover much of the crossmember as talons mid skid does that. Luckily the rock didnt hit 6in further forward or it would have taken out my oil pan which is also exposed. The supports on the skid did a great job at keeping it from folding in and hitting the transmission though.

The oem "skids" also took a beating and held up admirably. The thin steel didnt break or puncture although it did bend enough to contact the mounting bolts on the front diff. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the support brackets for the front skid didn't bend at all.

This vehicle is my daily driver so weight is a serious concern but I am not loving how the rock dug into the aluminum skid and pulled at it instead of sliding off. I have been toying with making some multilayer skids to try to get the best of both worlds but not sure if I will go down that rabbit hole or just buy steel ones. I definitely want this truck to be bomb proof. For now I will be taking a hammer to my skids and putting them back on.

I honestly am not too worried about the crossmember but I do wonder if I should weld on a bottom reenforcement piece at some point to restore the intended boxed nature of it. This is my daily driver and I also have intentions of wheeling it hard so I don't want it to become an issue latar and bend more of the frame.

The crazy thing is I wasnt really intending on wheeling hard at the time. I was on more of a dirt and gravel road not even classified as a 4wd road and a damaged section snuck up on me. I had a bit too much momentum going downhill and the bouncy nature of the TRD off-road suspension and my unlifted height and stock tire size did me no favors.

 

Seems to me that that would make it weaker though instead of stronger. I don't really care about the looks and plan to keep the truck forever so resale value isn't a concern.

 

yup

 

This is the answer to the problem:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/finally-a-tacoma-flat-belly-kit.852600/#post-30454397

 

I wish that was the crossmember that got bashed but it is the one in front of it. I was eyeing that the other day but I feel like my 3rd gen transfer case may hang too low to make it really worthwhile......

 

ah damn, my bad didn't notice it was the front one

 

By the appearance of those skids I would venture to say it wasn’t “light” off-roading. You do as you want to your truck but my advice is not to subject your daily driver to that type of off road use.
Thankfully the skids did their job!

 

I am not averse to heavier offroading but this happened during what should have been light offroading. Hit a set of tire holes and it caused the truck to bounce slamming the belly against the gravel road 3 times. My theory is that someone before me completely locked up their brakes in the downhill gravel section then spun their tires getting out. Created 4 nice deep holes next to nice gravel ridges. Couldnt see it until it was too late and no way to stear around. Think I lightly applied the brakes before hitting it then let off although I probably would have been better off gunning it to get the front end up more. Of course probably should have been going a bit slower but really wasnt even going that fast. Its a county maintained road in death valley national park that I have seen box trucks and 2wd pickups with campers on.

 

X2