Hello folks,
Just came to find out that the lower support where the crossmember bolts up to is pretty rotted on my 2002 maxima. Looks like a piece of cheese with holes right by where the crossmember holes are.
Has anyone ever replaced this lower beam? Are there many welds to be undone? will replacement support fit as good as OEM? I'd like to know what it entails if anyone has replaced it that can shed some light.

Thanks.

 

Hundreds have been replaced on here.

Here my thread were i do it. And other things.

https://maxima.org/forums/5th-genera...-clean-up.html

 

Thanks for the info! I'll read up on it. I guess what sucks is I don't weld. Everything else seems ok to take off except welding.

 

If its anything like the 4th gens you dont need to weld anything. Just bolt it in and itll be fine, speaking from my own experience. From what i understand the spot welds are there due to the order in which different parts were installed and the car assembled.

 

I need to replace mine as well, but i am going to get some thick sheet metal from Lowes , and hammer it into shape and instead of welding i will rivet it to the existing radiator support

 

I wouldn't trust rivets and cold worked sheet metal for a load bearing beam.. A hard reverse would rip that out.

If I wasn't going to weld and wasn't going to use an OEM support, I would snake bar stock in there and bolt it in.

 

Is this actually accurate that you can bolt it in and go?

 

You can bolt it in and go.. To the bodyshop and have them throw a couple welds on it. If for nothing else, the welds keep it from shifting. There are three significant appox. 12mm bolts on each side of the bottom, and three smaller bolts at the top. The ones at the top just hold the bumper on and offer little support. It's solid with just bolts but unfortunately, it will probably shift around. I say it needs welded, but it doesn't have to be a lot of welds. When I did mine I welded along the top corners and put like six plug welds on each side, nothing on the bottom by the bolts.

 

Thanks for the detailed post with pictures. Very informative. I do not like things to shift around specially when going over speeds of 30 mph So I'm gonna either do this right or patch the rotted area.

 

Here's a 4th gen replacement. It's virtually the same for a 5th.

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...ment-pics.html

 

I'm sure glad I have a garage to keep my cars in... f*** that sh**.

 

Thanks for that. So I can just go get a lower support bracket.

 

True, I have a garage but I have 2 other cars that fight for the spot. But I do love my maxima and I'll drive this car till the engine dies. Right now it's at 158K miles. And it's a stick. Fun to drive and nothing ever went wrong with the engine or trans.

 

I replaced it on my first max and never welded it, just bolted. Drove that way quite ungentlely for a couple of years, and eventually that max got totalled in a front-end collision. I checked the lower rad support specifically before I sent the car off to the scrapyard, and it never moved at all. You 100% do NOT have to weld. Think of all of the critical parts on the car that see far more force applied (ie; motor mounts, anything suspension related, etc) that are held together with bolts. The lower mount has 3 bolts on each side and a few in the center, that sucker is not going to budge. But if it makes you feel better having it welded, go ahead and knock yourself out lol. I know that if for some god forsaken reason I had to do this job again, I would absolutely not waste time welding.

Also dont know if its already been stated, but ill say it again because it is definitely the most important thing to note with this job:

BUY OEM LOWER RAD SUPPORT ONLY!
DO NOT BUY AFTERMARKET!!!
DO NOT BUY AFTERMARKET!!!
DO NOT BUY AFTERMARKET!!!
DO NOT BUY AFTERMARKET!!!

 

i have had this issue. A body shop is recommended. With could cost you 800 dollars or more. I found a auto shop THAT fixed it a lil over 5 hunder. I cought a break. Then the cam shaft sensors went out. From the adjustment of the motor. So replace them also.

 

Thanks for the advice. In the future I will take your advice to go OEM on the the lower rad support.
I did get it fixed. My neighbor is a season welder/car builder so he welded it for me for nothing. Came out really good. When I got home I put the car on my lift and I primed it and spray painted it. Then I sprayed fluid filmed inside the frame. the Base where the bolt holes were was also rusted but it still had some strength to them so he just welded a plate. Will this ever rust again? probably from the inside but by then my car will hopefully have 300K