Replacing a front cross member on a 03 liberty sport

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Craigo

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Hi every one, I just brought this Libby and it had front end damage (price was cheap) it drove good and every thing worked, frame rails looked OK and coolers in front were OK, so I thought I would do a 'HOW TO' to replace the front cross member and hopefully it will help others who have the same problem as this seems to be a common damage area.......also there is not much out there on tutorials on how to do it.

Here it is before the dismantling.

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After dismantling.

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I then started the process of cutting away the cross member, I used a spot weld bit and a cutting wheel on a 4'' grinder, it was easier to cut off pieces as you go to get at all the spot welds. There are 42 spot welds and 6 slotted welds.

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There are 2 spot welds on the top of the frame rails, 5 on the top of the end piece, 3 on the end and 5 under the frame rails plus 1 slotted weld on top, 2 slotted welds in front of the frame plus 3 spot welds there.........same again on the other side lol it is easier if you can start off with pop eye arms as there is a ton load of drilling coming your way.

This 'L' bracket was a annoying, had to open it up to get at it.

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Progress

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Craigo

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All there was left at this stage was the bottom of the frame rails which I left last because I was not looking forward to drilling them out lying on my back.

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And the after math.

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Test fitting the new cross member after grinding all the spot welds and slotted welds with a flapper disc on the 4'' grinder. It fitted real snug and tight, after taking whatever measurements I could IE:from hood edge,ground height and end plates it was all within 1/8'' or less of being in the right place.

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The good news my hood dropped down and sat where it should, I was thinking the top radiator support might have got twisted but all is good. I then proceeded to mark all the holes for drilling in the cross member for the new spot welds.

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Don't drill these 5 though.


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Do not forget to drill the hole for the water bottle self tapping bolt. I got 2 holes there because one I measured off the old frame rail...wrong!!! just push the bottle up to it and mark it.

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Ready to weld, I used a Hobart 125 Handler with C25 gas to do all the welding.

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All welded up, push the washer bottle as far away as you can, jam it place and cover it to do the welds near it. The ones inside on the 'L' bracket I did through the tow hook holes but it still was not easy, I did as much I could get at which was 2 on one side and 1 on the other...it was close enough and will not hurt not doing them all.

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Craigo

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Time to wire brush all the welds and put some paint on them, there was no need to grind the welds as it is all hidden behind the bumper and left them way they were for extra strength.

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I thought the hard part was all done and just need to reinstall all the new parts on...HA! it was not a walk in the park and you still have to figure out how every thing goes together, you gotta love after market parts lol

The parts.

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I went with a chrome grill cause I did not want to screw around with painting one.

The original head light that survived the fender bender, I gave it a clean,cut and polish as good as I could but still have the faintest of haze on it but still better then what it was like.

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Next I tackled the header panel or grill reinforcement and installed the lights and wiring loom. Make sure you measure and drill out the slotted hole in the cross member for the bottom middle tab locating pin. Don't forget to bolt up the washer bottle.

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Next it was the bumper assembly.

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Remove the turn signal wiring loom from the old bumper and put it aside for now.
 
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Craigo

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Remove all the pop rivets holding on the spoiler/air dam on the old bumper, they are not plastic, they were aluminum and you have to drill them out. Also if you don't have fog lights like me then drill out the rivets holding the fog light/air vent grills.

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I then pop rivet the bumper energy absorber on and spoiler, I used the plastic rivets that are common on these and seemed OK but later I may revisit it and use nut and bolts because everything on the front bumper is plastic and flimsy....no wonder these bumpers get damage and full off by just being hit by shopping carts being pushed by little old ladies in Walmart parking lot. I did put a bolt through the middle of the license plate (at least that was a Mopar part) holder and and bumper to stop the absorber from moving up and down.

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Install the turn signal loom and fog light/grill, I used a screw here instead cause I will put fog lights in later.
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This is it all just sitting in place with no bolts holding it just to see how it all fits, not too bad I thought considering flares are not even clipped in. I also put on some wheel skins/covers to hide those dreadful looking rims until I can get some better rims and tires which may not happen till later towards Winter.

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The grill insert is not in which needs some work and the top two bolts for the bumper are missing plus the 'J' nuts which bolt on to the plastic header panel which seems nuts to me. Tomorrow is another day and should see this project finished and the end results probably will not look too much different to the top 2 pics except for the grill insert.
 

DadOSix

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Fantastic job @Craigo

could i suggest, if you did not already, make an album in media and copy these great photos over there?

after a few years, the forum seems to lose some of the links for embedded photos. It’d be a shame to lose this great how-to
 

Craigo

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Today I went ahead to finish the bumper install. I took it back off and thought I would get some pics of the finer details I did. I put 2 nut and bolts in the little spoiler for added strength plus a screw in the fog light /grill instead of a rivet. Pic also of that screw and nut I did in the license plate holder which helps to holder the bumper reinforcement from moving.

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I also got the bumper stop/caps hammered out and put on.

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Then I put all new clips in the flares that were missing or broken.

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Craigo

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After pushing on the flares I fitted the bumper, I thought I needed 'J' nuts and bolts for the top mount but I was wrong. After looking at my wifes 04 the top of the bumper is held in place by 6 push in plugs, I went with a bit bigger size then factory but had to drill out the holes slightly, they fitted nice and snug.

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I then pop rivet the sides of the bumper in the wheel well, I did not have the tool for doing it but you don't need one, just use a wrench and a pair of pliers to pull the rivet, it's not hard to pull., then cut them off flush.

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LibertyTC

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That is some amazing restoration work you completed there. Probably better than new ! :)
 

Craigo

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Thank you, it was a learning curve for sure but the results was good. I still have one more bit to add to this 'HOW TO" to finish it off which I will do right now.

The last item is the grill, it and the insert did not fit with out a fight. The grill had tabs all over it that is not factory and have to be removed to make the insert mate and the insert needed some filing on the slots to get it to click into the insert tabs.

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And the final result all fitted and finished.....yay!!!

Before

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After

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Thank you all for reading.....cheers.
 

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