Changing of Cross Member on Peugeot (1 Viewer)

[ronald4874]

Well here we are getting ready for the MOT due at the end of July.
Looking over my van I found the front cross member would not pass an MOT. About 18months ago I found the cross member somewhat worse for wear and only just passed its MOT at that time. Knowing I would need to do something with the cross member if I was to retain the van I advertise through one of those autospares internet sections for a second hand cross member and obtained one at about £35 delivered. This was kept in 'stock' for about 12 months until this July when I was forced, by its condition, to change the member for the MOT. This has now been completed with not too much difficulty, below, for others that are in a similar situation, I will discribe the events.
Firstly you will need to check your cross member for excessive corrosion, in my case a small hole appeared at the nearside end of the member and put the 'kiss of death' on the unit. I then took out of 'stock' the unit purchased about 18mths ago and coated the edges with 'Hammerite' where some surface rust was evident.Then I lifted the front of the van with levelling blocks, about 4", so I'm now on my way.
Firstly one needs to gather all the gear necessary to carry out the operation.
1. Blocks to catch each end of the member
2. 18mm and 17mm sockets with a large socket bar to undo 6 bolts holding the member in place plus the one single bolt holding the plastic cover on the off side, no need to take off the cover, just move it to one side slightly to get at the member bolt.
3. Remove cables from clips on top of the member
4. Fit a support, in my case a 2" wooden pole, across the the 2 wings, with cushion under to allow support for the radiator.
5. I used a 1" strap with ratchet, to cradle the radiator for support, once the member had been removed.
6. Remove the 17mm bolt from the plastic cover on the off side.
7. Remove 2 bolts each side holding the cross member, the remaining 2 loosen down to almost a couple of threads, make sure above the member there are no cables attached, take out final single bolt and lay member on blocks at that end, remove final bolt and remove member out of chassis.
8. You may find that the rubber bushes at the bottom of the radiator may come out with the old member, don't worry they can be installed with new unit. Having removed the old member look how the clips fasten and do a little practicing to ease re cabling when new member has been fitted.
9. Check radiator rubber bushes are in place, smear a little 'shower gel' around holes that takes the bushes to ease fitting and generally check all pipes in that area for wear, in my case I found a rad hose with some wear on the outside, I taped that area to reduce any problems in the future.
10. Slide new member in place and sit one end on blocks, the other end insert one bolt, make sure you have oiled the threads to aid tightening. Insert another bolt at the other end and remove blocks. Insert all bolts and gently tighten making sure rad rubber bushers are in place and no wiring above the member is trapped. Finally tighten up all bolts very tightly and then fit all cables etc into clips above the member. Remove radiator supporting strap. Spin the fan blades by hand to ensure nothing is trapping the movement.

For normal operation to complete its approx 3 hours, in a garage with pit obviously a lot less, say 2 hours.

This is not a difficult job even for the faint hearted as long as you are between 18 and 80 years old.

Savings are in the order of £300 which will buy you a ferry crossing and more.

Good luck Ron W

 

[pappajohn]

very good and detailed write-up for the capable DIYers out there.

cheers Ron:thumb:

 

[estcres]

i replaced mine on a 1999 Fiat on Remembrance Sunday last year in the afternoon.

My wife held the radiators in place whilst i fitted the member, once fitted she slowly lowered the rads into their respective mounting holes.

I painted the outside of the cross member with hammerite and wax oiled the inside as best I could, this, hopefully will prolong the life span.

These cross members are very prone to rusting out and it surprising how quickly they will go. Mine was OK on 1 MOT and had completely rusted out within 4 months.

Remember to check the front cross member when purchasing a pre owned fiat ducato or peugeot boxer, especially if buying privately as you have good grounds to get the price reduced considerably. these can cost up to £500 to be fitted at a Fiat/Peugeot dealer.

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[Steptoe]

Many thanks to Ronald for the 'link' to this write-up from the protecting the chassis thread.

I've been watching my member deteriorate for a few years now but have been finally prompted into action by these posts.

In fact I bought a new pattern part off t'internet for about £78, not wanting to risk a secondhand bit and, as Ronald says, the job was a walk in the park.

My greatest concern was that the 18mm bolts would be seized but they came out as if they'd been fitted last week. As my wife worked last night I didn't want to keep her up and my ratchet straps were too clean to use so, rightly or wrongly, I judged that the top radiator mountings would be able to support these while I effected the change, and so it proved (obviously trusting this method would depend on the condition of the top mountings)

The job took about 2 hours, about half of this time making sure the new bit was full of waxolyle and the outside well undersealed.

As a 'bonus' I have discovered a fine set of airhorns lurking behind the bumper which I had never noticed before, so next job on a fine day is to persuade these to start working again.

 

[Douglas]

Does any one know if there is any difference beteen the Peugeot and the Fiat Ducato 2002 version?

From what I have seen in friends vehicals the the life span of the cross member seems to be about 8 years I wonder if a couple of hole in the bottom of the member would allow any water to escape?

Doug...

 

[Steptoe]

Hi Doug,

the new pattern part I fitted had several small holes in the bottom pressing which otherwise have no function, so I guess if yours doesn't have these it would be a good idea to drill them.

Unfortunately the condition of my old one was so bad that it wasn't worth trying to preserve but if it hadn't already been rusted through I would have temporarily blocked any drain holes with paper tissue and squirted some old oil in through the holes between the three fixing bolts (waxolye would be even better) and allowed this to slosh around for a week.

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[ronald4874]

Cross Member Repacement

Great to hear members are interested in changing their cross members themselves. Not too diificult with the correct sockets and patience.
While a number of members are trying to 'make do and mend' with their original member surely at a price of say £35 its worth putting 'one in stock' obtained via the internet or local breakers and fitting as required.
I am told the bodies of the Peugeot and Fiat are the same so it could be my member came from a Fiat.
.
PS its B hot here in Spain, about 20 miles south of Tarragona, so don't ask me to fit a cross member in these conditions.

Regards Ron W

 

[champbob]

crossbar member

Highly impressed with Rons instructions on changing above so expect me busy for next 3 days ha ha ...... I have become a member with such impressive instructions from Ron. Many Thanks

 

[barrywi]

Me too

After buying a 1998 Autotrail Cheyenne with very recent MOT I did my usual grovel underneath to check on corrosion and was appalled to find a huge chunk of the top of the front cross member reduced to flakes of rust. I found this very useful series of posts on the subject and proceeded to order a second hand part which cost around £50 with delivery. I called in a few favours and the best was from a new neighbour who came round to have a look at the job and decided it was easy enough to do in the dark with the floodlight in my car port and a couple of torches helping out. I supervised!!!! and lifted up the radiator when fitting the new cross member. I had previously painted it over the factory finish and squirted engine oil inside it through the large holes. It had soaked for about a week before fitting. It took him about 90 minutes and the biggest problem seemed to be getting the right type of socket for the six 19mm main attachment bolts. If I can find a way of reducing the size of the picture of the old cross member I will post it in the future as it was in such a bad state that the next day I was able to bend it in half! I was so lucky to find the problem and it seems strange that it was not found on the MOT. I hate to think of what would have happened if an attempt had been made to tow the vehicle using the tow hitch attached to the cross member.
If anyone owns one of these vans do get the member checked soon!!

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[barrywi]

Fair enough but if I was a MOT tester I may have given an advisory notice. It seems a bit hefty just to support the radiator and is pretty awful considering the rest of the van is not rusty at all.
New to this forum so apologies for a repeat post

 

[simbadog]

New crossmember £69.35 incl. vat & delivery
http://www.crashrepairparts.com/parts/partid/CT187AEACN/Crossmember_Front/citroen/relay/fiat/ducato/peugeot/boxer?_ts=4160
I'm about to go out & fit it

 

[chrisgreen]

New crossmember £69.35 incl. vat & delivery
http://www.crashrepairparts.com/parts/partid/CT187AEACN/Crossmember_Front/citroen/relay/fiat/ducato/peugeot/boxer?_ts=4160
I'm about to go out & fit it

give it a good dose of old engine oil after fitting,if you have use of one use a oil spray gun to get up inside cross member,they rot from the inside outwards:thumb:

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[simbadog]

give it a good dose of old engine oil after fitting,if you have use of one use a oil spray gun to get up inside cross member,they rot from the inside outwards:thumb:

Yep, done that Took me 1hr 45mins from start to finish & cleaned up, fiddliest bit was the plastic wiring clips.

 

[hollieminuet]

Hello anybody who can help! Peugeot Boxer front cross member. How do you remove the plastic wiring clips attached to top of member? without breaking clips? Is there a tool? as everyone has said the remainder looks easy. Thank you in anticipation of your advice

 

[pappajohn]

Dunno....but new ones will only be pennies.

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[55071]

Great Helpful post Thanks
Whilst jacking up the front of a fiat ducato, i saw the cross member condition
Did a search on tinternet & came across this thread, which was really helpful,

Although Ronald4870 - you missed of the part of removing turbo pipe from the cross member, & unbolting the inter cooler from the top of the crossmember......!

Bloody thing wouldnt drop down & then i realized there was the fixing from the intercooler

I read about removing the grommits & spraying some wd40 onto the 6 bolts / nuts in the chasis box which i did the day before undoing them (they came out a treat)

Ordered a new one from here for a brilliant price (not sure what the quality will be like ?)
Any way thanks for the great thread & all the pointers

 

[Geo]

I would be tempted to take some biscuits around for your Testers Guide Dog

 

[55071]

I would be tempted to take some biscuits around for your Testers Guide Dog

NO way, i think the crate of beer is enough.....!

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[Figaro]

Whilst jacking up the front of a fiat ducato, i saw the cross member condition

That's some serious corrosion you had there !

 

[DJ Rory]

I could have given you my one it was way better condition than that cross member. It was the amount of rust that fell out of my one that prompted me to buy a new one from main dealers. One of the hints given by Chris Green of using burned oil to lubricate the internal structure sounds like a good idea but burned oil contains acid after it's end of life drainage. New oil will be way better to let it soak in to the inner surface. My late Uncle would everytime he used his fertilizer spreader which he had bought from new and only used it himself on his farm would coat it with burned oil 3 or 4 times every year. It eventually fell asunder with rust helped on by the use of burned oil.
When I removed my cross member I used two large galvanised angle brackets purchased in Lidl (2022) and using two slightly longer metric bolts I secured the radiator so that the top mounting brackets held the undrained radiator while cross member was removed. I have ordered two new rad top mounting brackets as both rubber mountings were shot. I have coated the underneath of campervan with a paint called Galvafroid (E100 per tin ) which after 3 days gives excellent protection to my 97 Peugeot which thankfully the cross member was the worst area of rust.

 

[Bjorn Toulose]

Can you get to the intercooler fixing bolt and intercooler bolt without removing the bumper?

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[sonar]

Been there done that our x member was in the same condition.
took about 1 1/2 hours but this time it was wax oiled inside and out.