Bashed crossmember on a rock. What should I do?

If you do (and you're not averse to heavier offroading, as you said), seems like this would open up a perfect opportunity to put an actual suspension lift on there that has the brackets to maintain your suspension's geometry after the lift.
Good clearance that can help keep you better away from those rocks while also keeping your suspension's downtravel is always a good thing (just sayin'... )
lol

But yes, I did see you said $$$ was an issue (and such lifts done right do cost $$$)... In the meantime, no there should be no harm at all driving that like it is. Do have the alignment checked though, small chance the alignment could've been affected from that member now being bowed slightly.

 

" I've had worse"
"Part it out"

 

Current plan is only a small lift (1-1.5in in the front, 1in in the back) and some 33s. Trying to keep center of gravity low, still be able to fit in parking garages and keep decent fuel economy. So no real need for chopping cross members. Although if I ever run into alignment issues I could just reenforce the cross member then install something along the lines of JD fabs lower arm pivots.......

 

OP, what year and how many miles you got on your truck?

 

The JD Fab pivot kit still needs the OEM crossmember to be in good shape. I suggest cutting out the crossmember from a salvage yard truck. Reinforce the diff mount while you have it out. Then match cut the bent crossmember from you truck. Make the gaps as small as possible to minimize distortion while you weld it in.

 

Just FYI, Tires are what affect fuel economy more than anything else (by far).
I drove on the stock tires for a good few months after putting on a 4" lift, there was no perceivable change at all in mileage around town, and maybe 1 MPG on the highway (handling was surprisingly little changed as well since I also went 1" wider per side at the wheels). It was only after I put on a set of LT tires that the mileage tanked.

The parking garage clearance issue is a very valid one though. Get some good skids and you should be fine.

 

2022 about 35k. It is but a baby.

 

At the moment I think I am doing nothing. Alignment seems good and this actually happened at the very beginning of a road trip about 2000 miles ago so things seem fine. My thought with the JD fab kit was that it would already be holding the tabs in the proper placement and alignment so I wouldn't have to worry as much about getting everything aligned perfectly. The top C section of the crossmember seems good so if I was going to reenforce it my thought would be to basically overlap the bottom C of the box with new steel to prevent further bending and also make it even more bash proof. Seems simpler than cutting out and replacing but maybe not.

 

Dang OP, forgive me for being critical but you have gave that truck hell from the looks of the underside and that beat up skid plate. I don’t know what you paid originally but you are running your daily driver that “was” still worth probably 35K up and down the trails so money must not be an issue like you say.

To be honest your truck needs a new frame to be repaired correctly. I guess if you intend to keep it forever as you say it doesn’t matter but at the rate you are going you will be lucky if you get another year out of it maybe less. JMHO

 

Maybe I should add a roof skid so I can just send it through the parking garages ;-) I am actually thinking of chopping my shark fin antenna at some point to increase clearance. I keep running into shorter and shorter parking garages. Recently was in a big one that was 6ft2in

 

No offense taken. I bought this truck to use it and intend to fix and upgrade whatever I need to along the way myself. I don't tend to baby my things but instead try to build them to be the proper tool for the job. That said I currently have basically no money in my bank account and no real income but that is kind of the nature of the ebb and flow of my freelance work. I saved up and bought the truck with just about every dime I had in my bank account so it is paid off and I for sure intend to use it for its intended purposes.

All that said other than a few scratches the damage to the skid plates and the crossmember was all from one incident on a county maintained dirt and gravel road where I was going downhill in 4lo so I could engine brake and was going about 15mph. I hit the holes someone else dug in the gravel with their tires and it caused the suspension to bounce slamming my undercarriage onto the hill of rock that their braking had built in front of the holes. It wasn't even dramatic enough to stop for, I knew my skids had hit the gravel but didn't think too much of it until the next day when I crawled under the truck to take a peak at things. You will probably bash me for that too but the sun was going down and I was trying to avoid driving on those roads in the dark. Obviously slower would have been better but the nature of the road and the downhill loose gravel didn't give a lot of warning or ability to safely slow down. Shit happens. Trying not to dwell on it and move forward.

 

No bashing here OP it’s your truck and you can do as you please. I just wish sometimes that I could have your attitude cause that would make me sick if it were my truck. But I understand it being paid for and you intend to keep it so enjoy it life is to short too worry.

 

Fill the dent with bondo, paint it, and call it a day!

But seriously, if it drives ok, and your alignment is still within spec after the damage, then it should be driveable and I guess you should just ask yourself what is important to you. You probably weakened the integrity of the truck a bit, which may be an issue in another large offroading incident or any highway collisions. The value of your truck also took a hit with that dent, but if you are planning to keep it long term, then that shouldn't be a big issue and you shouldn't lose sleep over it. New skids will protect the damaged area and give you some of the frame strength integrity that was lost, so that would probably be my route if I were you once the money was available.

 

Those OEM plates are splash guards, not skid plates. Money may be short and real engine skip plate may be too expensive, but if money is that short you need to baby that truck a while until you have more than "skid plate" money in the bank. Even the TRD Pro aluminum engine skid plate would be better than those pie tins from Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Find another rock to smash the other side on so it's symmetrical.

 

Your wife used that logic on your head ... how did that work out for you?

 

I was serious.

 

Could be true. An alignment will help verify frame integrity, though.

That and at least a TRD Pro aluminum skid to firm up protection.

 

I will address what hasn't been said yet. Those black skid plates are really splash shields, they offer no protection from road/trail rash. The aluminum will just grab rocks and not slide. Purchase steel in the future.

I'm with you on not doing anything with the cross member. I would be personally curious just what a frame straightener could do and cost in the future.

Thank you for sharing this, it will impact what I fabricate for the underbelly of my truck. Previously I regarded that cross member as pretty sturdy - not now.

You can do 33" skinny tires without a lift. Just a good alignment.

Watch the shark fin; it has four antennas in it:
AM/FM
Cellular
Satellite
GPS
also has power running to it.

 

It does make me sick and my heart sank when I saw the damage. Just trying to move forward the best way I can. This happened at the beginning of the road trip then on our way back I ran an actual offroading trail in Sand Hollow so obviously I am not very bright and learned nothing so I think that helps. Didn't do any damage to my truck on the trail, apparently it is dirt roads that I should avoid.