rolled the axle out from under the truck and I am done with the teardown of the frame. had my buddy who is painting the bed look over the frame and he suggested just plating the inside of the C channel with 3/16 plate and adding gussets instead of splicing in a new frame section and then building my own cross member out of rectangular tubing since I don't care about the spare tire mechanism. he let me borrow his mig welder to do all the work, I just need to order the materials. I am going to measure out what I need tonight and order the metal. once the metal comes in I will get to making some sparks and get this thing finished up.