Cage bolts on cross-brace

[JamesO]

Having read various threads on removing and re-coating the well-known corroding cross-braces, I spoke to my local indie Jaguar specialist about getting them to do this for me. His reaction was two-fold: i) the retaining bolts apparently go into inaccessible captive bolts below the floor pan and, if they start to turn, it becomes a major problem to rectify; and ii) the corrosion is cosmetic only so why worry about it? He's agreed to take a look next week to assess whether the corrosion is problematic, but I'd be interested to know others' opinions on this verdict. Several owners appear to have removed the brace themselves; have others had difficulty in re-bolting? Thanks

[Kevlcat]

Hi JamesO,

I did this job myself about three months ago. It did turn out to be a bigger job than I had planned due to exhaust (see below), but I opted to powder coat, fill the x-brace cavities with Dynax wax and replaced all bolts with new genuine JLR items.

Regarding your captive nut question, i believe this is true for the two long bolts (M12x165mm I think) that fit through the main x-brace, up through the subframe and into the body. If these let go then yes that would be a pig to resolve.

Anyway, here is my experience….

Problems - the main x-brace large outer “wings” that sit just forward of the rear wheels have 3 large flange hex bolts each side. M12 I recall. I was torquing these up evenly in slow increments. But as I approached the torque specification for one…BANG!, bloody bolt shaft snapped. After 10 mins of panic and I had calmed down, I very carefully backed off the bolt and luckily the bolt and threaded shaft were still attached, just!, and I was able to get the whole bolt out…a brand new bolt!. I know my torque wrench was ok as tested it on other bolts on my old Landy that I knew had been tightened to certain torques. Out of the 6 M12 bolts only one failed. I had ordered 2 bolts too many in error so started again with another new bolt and all was ok this time. For my own piece of mind though I have marked each bolt head with red nail varnish which I check each time I am under there to make sure nothing has moved. Overkill I know but that bolt shearing freaked me out!

Everything else was very straightforward.

The two very long bolts that fit through the x-brace and subframe to the body, you will need a torque degree guage. As the specification is a torque value + deg. Simple to use though.

Bag the old bolts and write down exactly where they came from. Reason is that the JLR parts diagram for the rear x-brace bolts is incorrect, use your old bolts and check the new JLR ones match your old ones.

I then waxed all the bolt heads to keep in nice condition.

Exhaust Backbox - Far easier to unbolt the hangars from the body than to remove the rubbers. My delay was that upon removal of the back box I discovered one exhaust butterfly valve spindles was snapped so opted to get both valves replaced.

Job done.

I will be tackling the front brace later in the year, but for now I have wire brushed anything loose off, red oxide, and waxed over to protect until I can to a proper job.

Hope this helps.

[JamesO]

Many thanks Kevlcat, that's very helpful.
I'm in West Dorset - what part of Somerset are you? The independent I spoke to was Brittons Ash at Taunton; do you have any knowledge of them?
Cheers