110 SW Mid Crossmember (Front Tub Support) Replacement

LostChord

Well-known member
Anyone ever done this in-situ?

With the YRM replacement (https://yrmit.co.uk/product/110-mid-crossmember-hdg-pre-2007-lr-defender/) , seems it can be done without lifting the body up or off.

Thinking something along the lines of:

- Remove middle row floor
- Cut and remove old crossmember vertical tabs and slide out
- Watch out for fuel lines
- Slide in YRM replacement and install

Thoughts ??

Midcrossmember.jpg
 
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Tomaco1

Well-known member
I think you could do it with the removable tabs, if you put them on after it was under the truck
 

dcg

Well-known member
How did your mid-crossmember replacement go? I’m in the same situation. Not sure how to slide it in.
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
I've done it on a 2 door truck . Had to remove the trim sills/rock sliders . Went straight through without issues.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
This is the 5 door front tub support- not the center crossmember.

The removable tabs are what makes it so it slides in, simple remedy to a 50+ yr old problem. On the original rover one, the tabs are welded on making it necessary to lift the tub off to replace (only other way is to cut the brand new factory part in half, install the halves, and then weld the part back together from underneath), a huge design flaw LR stubornly stuck with for 5 decades.

You do need to remove the small triangle shaped body panel in front of the rear tire on one side or the other. in order to be able to slide the new one in. Your old one will likely crumble in your hands or you can cut it out. Do your truck a favor and isolate/ don't bolt steel directly to aluminum, use rubber or nylon washers when installing the new one.
 

LostChord

Well-known member
How did your mid-crossmember replacement go? I’m in the same situation. Not sure how to slide it in.

LOL, a year-and-a-half later, I'm only just now getting around to this. All I've done so far is unbolt it.

2 of the bolts are directly under the lip of the 2nd-row-footwell-to-rear-floor-up-stand (heel board)...was getting ready to cut those bolt heads off and then ran out of time. So that's how it sits at the moment.

How did your replacement go, what did you end up doing ?
 
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CDN38

Well-known member
Here's couple photos of when I did mine. I was doing a Puma rear seat conversion and adding galv. side frames so my method was much more evasive. You can see the original with the 2 tabs in place in the first photo. (The Puma version had substantial welded tabs for the seats so it's not a slide in option). You can see that just bolting seats to the floor isn't how it's done, those vertical tabs hold the seats in place. As Doug mentioned, remove the triangular "dog leg" panel for access, removing the second row floor helps access too. Unbolt and slide through (sounds so easy, just add a few F bombs in there!). I also powder coated mine, just another layer of protection. My only word of caution is once you start peeling back the layers, it's sometimes difficult to know when to stop.

IMG_4144.jpeg
IMG_4145.jpeg
IMG_4271.jpeg
 

LostChord

Well-known member
Here's couple photos of when I did mine. I was doing a Puma rear seat conversion and adding galv. side frames so my method was much more evasive. You can see the original with the 2 tabs in place in the first photo. (The Puma version had substantial welded tabs for the seats so it's not a slide in option). You can see that just bolting seats to the floor isn't how it's done, those vertical tabs hold the seats in place. As Doug mentioned, remove the triangular "dog leg" panel for access, removing the second row floor helps access too. Unbolt and slide through (sounds so easy, just add a few F bombs in there!). I also powder coated mine, just another layer of protection. My only word of caution is once you start peeling back the layers, it's sometimes difficult to know when to stop.

Amazing work! Thanks for the tips!
 

SimonDewing

Well-known member
Long time since I had this done on mine (at a UK independent) but they fitted the LR part with tabs in place without cutting it and without removing any of the external panels.
They did drill all the spot welds on the tub floor and remove that to gain access.
Mechanical fasteners used to replace it are hidden by the rubber floor mat.
Don't recollect anything else being removed.
 

LostChord

Well-known member
Probably just me, but I couldn't get it through either side panel. So took the second row floor out and the new support is finally off the garage floor.


IMG_0392.jpg


IMG_0394.jpg


Good times, all came apart and went back in without too much trouble.
 

dcg

Well-known member
I finally did mine. I finished the thread on the "other" site I started a few years ago. YRM gave me two options for installation. I could not get it through the side either, so I jacked the floor support up 5-10mm (per YRM's guidance) and it slide right in (after removing the 2nd row floor). I wish I had tried that first.
 
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