Has anyone ever tried to repair their front crossmember in an 87? Mine has ovaled out the hole for the upper control arms, and i was thinking about cutting off the old tubes and welding in a new set. Has anyone ever tried this? I know I can buy a refurbed crossmember from the fiero store, but i fear that I will have a hell of a time pulling it out, and break more stuff than i want to. Any suggestions?
Has anyone ever tried to repair their front crossmember in an 87? Mine has ovaled out the hole for the upper control arms, and i was thinking about cutting off the old tubes and welding in a new set. Has anyone ever tried this? I know I can buy a refurbed crossmember from the fiero store, but i fear that I will have a hell of a time pulling it out, and break more stuff than i want to. Any suggestions?
-thanks
You mean pulling the crossmember off the car? Its actually really easy (unless you have rusted in bolts to the frame- PITA). I don't think I've ever seen that done before, but if you're confident in your welding skills- why not?
Man those were some good times when I was doing my suspension
BTW- If you do decide to try and remove it to replace it, make sure you remove the springs beforehand. I stupidly removed the entire assembly, only to realize that no possible spring compressors would fit- and had to bolt it back up to remove them.
[This message has been edited by nitroheadz28 (edited 04-23-2012).]
I scrapped an '87 front crossmember because of badly "egged" out upper sleeves.
The sleeves are too short, they act like a very small hinge on a heavy door, I thought about best way to resolve that issue would be to brace the long upper crossmember bolt at the outer ends to reduce the oscillation, the bolt is hardened steel inside mild steel sleeve, even the bolt had visible wear, I even scrapped the bolts when I rebuilt my front end.
The upper mount that bolts to the frame could be modified to brace the bolt at the outer ends, to carry the bolt in place of the washers. I haven't done this modification yet, but the problem is not unique.
I have this exact same issue. Did you ever have any success? My idea is to drill out the ovaled hole to a nice over-sized circle and insert/weld in a sleeve inside the old sleeve to get it back down to a properly sized circle. Some sort of reinforcement would be a good idea but i'd be happy with it just not being ultra wobbly like it is now. Anybody else have any input?
I'll need to have a look at my front crossmember, have a clunking noise when braking/accelerating (one single clunk when coming off the brakes and hitting the throttle) which is slightly alarming. Does anyone other than Held offer a front suspension upgrade for the 84-87? Depending on the cost (which I suspect will be a bit of a problem with shipping, taxes and VAT) swapping it all out is tempting.
Also, is there a guide to removing the front crossmember?
The upper spindle on the drivers side of my front cross-member tore loose several months ago. I was able to weld it back in place and reinforced both sides of each spindle end with grade 8 washers formed (Beat with a hammer) to the x-member and then welded to the x-member and spindle end. It is very strong and should never be a problem again. I did have to have a wheel alignment after the repair, however.
I have this exact same issue. Did you ever have any success? My idea is to drill out the ovaled hole to a nice over-sized circle and insert/weld in a sleeve inside the old sleeve to get it back down to a properly sized circle. Some sort of reinforcement would be a good idea but i'd be happy with it just not being ultra wobbly like it is now. Anybody else have any input?
I was thinking of the same thing. Why not weld in or bolt in or whatever some inserts?
