Cross member delete: What is it, what are the benefits, why do I want it?

To begin we must first look at the frame of a 2005-23 Tacoma. Up front there is a cross member that drops below frame rail height, and has the front tow hook and front skid plate attachment locations on it. This cross member drops roughly 4” lower than the frame rails, and is also used commonly as a lower attachment point for bolt-on aftermarket offroad front bumpers. You’ll often see the left and right lower corners of these bumpers mangled from hitting rocks, ruts and other offroad obstacles. While most bumpers handle these hits with minimal damage, in some situations the contact can prevent forward travel and force new line choice around the obstacle, or winching past the obstacle. This is where a cross member delete bumper and skid plate come into play.

Quite simply a cross member delete bumper is a bumper and skid plate designed with an updated geometry allowing for this lower frame cross member to be removed (cut off) from the frame for increased approach clearance. 

One issue however is how to address the removal of this cross member and the deletion of the support that it provided to the frame. Some aftermarket manufacturers choose a basic bolt-in channel as a replacement for this welded factory cross member, but while installation is simple for a part like that, there are considerable strength drawbacks from this approach. And after all, when your goal is tackling more difficult obstacles, don’t you want to maintain or increase the strength in your frame and not lose it instead?

This is where our design differs. As a standard component of our cross member delete bumper packages we include a uniquely designed replacement weld-in cross member. But, our design also adds further benefits than just filling the gap of a deleted frame component. The frame end plates that most offroad bumpers solely rely on for attachment to the vehicle are thin (under ⅛” thick) and only offer a small cluster of 3 bolt locations per frame rail end plate. What we did was add more vertical and lateral support directly to the frame ends with our new cross member which is designed to overlay the factory frame end plates and also integrate farther up and back around the front body mounts on the frame utilizing them for added support. This added vertical area allows us to create 2 additional upper bolt locations per side and broadens the vertical mounting area for much better resistance against the leverages applied in both heavy winching and recovery situations plus those from impacts to the upper grille protection hoops. But we didn’t stop there. The cross member provides new attachment points for the front lip of the included engine/differential skid plate, plus we added 2 more bumper bolt locations to the cross member under the winch area for added strength as well. That's 12 bolt points for the bumper vs the common 6! Massive.

The additional benefit of the bumper and skid plate both attaching near one another and to the same frame member is that they can now share and transfer loads directly between one another so each component is adding to the ultimate strength and integrity of the next one. No other manufacturer has taken this unique approach! 

What this all adds up to is a huge benefit of added clearance over tough trail obstacles, while not sacrificing strength, and in fact adding strength over traditional simple bolt on bumpers and skids. This is what we mean when we state we created a comprehensive armor package with our Black Diamond cross member delete bumper/skid package.The whole thing is far more than single components designed individually to perform one task. They’re designed to support and enhance the function of the entire system, all while looking awesome on your truck. And because they share loads, each component can be made strong without excess weight so our armor package doesn’t dog down your truck! The Black diamond series front bumper is 38% lighter than our Hybrid series bumper while being made from the same material specs!

CMD Pros:

• 4” of clearance gain to tackle tougher obstacles

• Integrated weld-in cross member for enhanced strength

• Slimmer, tighter fitting bumper and skid plate.

• More aggressive, unique style.

CMD Cons:

• Requires permanent frame modification

• No longer allows for universal skids or direct bolt-on bumpers. 

• More complex installation