Skid Plate + Undercarriage Damage?

Was looking everywhere for this, but couldn’t find any answers. My apologies if this is not the right section of forum to ask.

Went off-roading yesterday and gone through some rough ditches with some rocky friends underneath. Ended up scraping and bending a little my stock skid plates (which is normal, considering the low quality), but also got this part that seems to be attached to the front frame, but seems that is not used by anything. Is right after my skid plate.

Does anyone know the name of this? Anything to worry about? Also, is it worth getting it replaced by some body shop? Seems simple, but considering how low this metal part is compared to the skid plate, I doubt I was the only one that got hit there..ahahah

 

It is the jack point on the crossmember.

 

That is your front jack point, you're fine. No need to worry or replace! If the scuffs bother your clean it up and hit it with a rattle!

 

And then armor up. Steel skids are worth their weight in platinum

 

Thank you for letting me know. I was sooo worried i have damage my actual frame. I believe spraying some black anti-rust paint should help.

 

Yeah, definitely will do that.

Honestly, in between CBI and RCI. Any advice? Steel or Aluminum?

 

How often do you OR and how hard? Aluminum is nice for semi-protection, steel is king. Cost vs Weight vs Protection!

 

I have full RCI steel front to back of my truck. And I have beat the ever loving tar out of them and they still hold shape and still hold up really well.

also have RCI sliders, they have angled ends so they don't hang up on rocks the way I've seen a few others do.

as for steel versus aluminum, a scrape or two won't hurt an aluminum plate, but if you hit something hard with it and then try and bend or bash it back into shape you will weaken the skid. Aluminum is a lot lighter so there's that, but they're also more expensive from the get-go and they won't rust.


as a final note, RCI do have a small Tacoma World discount, and a larger discount if your order is large enough...

 

Awesome detailed explanation.

I think steel would be my choice, especially considering how hard they can hold damages. I would believe that More Wait = More Traction, but might be wrong...ahahah

 

+1 for steel. IIRC the 3 main skids steel vs aluminum is only 44 lbs from RCI. I have steel RCI everything on my truck and while it's a real bitch to touch them up I like the piece of mind.

 

I'm partial to Mobtown or BAMF for skids.

 

Both are high quality beastly armor mofos

 

I just use this brush on stuff. You can probably get matte to match the powder coat better but I just had this around and it’s on the bottom of the truck anyhow. Keeps it from rusting that’s all.

 

Id go cbi personally, the oil change hatches would be nice
My arb skids dont have them

 

Oh yeah I just went through with por15 and touched up my scuffs this weekend!

 

I am always afraid I am going to smack that rear most screw head for the oil change hatch and have to drill it out!! Not sure why they didn’t countersink it and use a flat head....

 

RCI has a nifty oil change hatch. Even the dealership can't screw it up

 

Throw a hex head on there. If you bash it, you'll still have a good chance that the head will be intact enough to get it out.

 

Ha yeah, you can see there are some hits close to those bolts. I figured if it ever gets crushed drilling it out isn't too difficult.

 

And with this kit really easy.....