Went bow huntin' in the woods last weekend and decided to go wheelin'. Was having a blast driving my '04 STX SCAB 4X4 over some pretty messed up logging roads, blasting though mud holes and climbing over rocks and ruts when...

Blasted through one hole too many, bottomed out bad and got stuck. Dropped her in 4-low, (barely) pulled out of that hole and was able to make it home. The next morning when under the truck changing the oil I saw not one but 2 completely mangled cross members + a dented oil pan. It actually pushed my tranny up 1/4"!!

It's in the shop right now and initial estimates are over $1500 in damage to the undercairrage of my beloved 4x4. I knew I should have put skid plates on it though I'm not sure they would have helped in this case. Next time I'm checking out the depth of that hole before blasting though.

But, I must say my truck was not to blame, it was the driver + it got me unstuck and made it home.

 

IMO, 2004 FX4 stock skid plates are too thin to help in that type of situation. You would be replacing the skid plate in addition to your existing damage.

 

I agree with edman, the stock skids are for looks....I bent the front one up to the diff. last week. The plate is now concave. I think I'll try to make my own.

Check out the last couple of pics in my gallery. The truck performed very well in some prety deep mud...and on stock BFG's.

I'm also going to try to make some new step rails....I'll post a pic of the pass. side one I bent almost to the door. (Told ya the mud was deep, bounced off a rut.)

 

I got my truck out of shop a couple of days ago. In addition to mangling 2 crossmembers, I bowed the frame a ch. (4/1000)

 

WOW! Sorry about your luck. You should consider going with a serious off road set-up: Heavy duty skid plates, 4" - 6" (or +) lift kit and 35" (or +) tires. You are the person they make the after market stuff for. You would avoid any future damage and save money in the long run. Not to mention how cool it would look (lol). Just don't flip it over on the trails (lol).