So what So is a Crossmember? well according to Wikipedia it’s a structural section that is transverse to the main structure. In the automotive industry, the term typically refers to a component, usually of steel, usually boxed, that is bolted across the underside of a monocoque / unibody motor vehicle, to support the internal combustion engine and / or transmission. For the suspension of any car to operate as it should, for proper handling, and to keep the body panels in alignment, the frame has to be strong enough to cope with the loads applied to it. It must not deflect, and it has to have enough torsional strength to resist twisting.
On the 90 we have been patching up the original factory crossmember for the last six years, so we got approximately 15 years out of the original one, which is not great really but I guess the 90 has spend a fair bit of its life driving up and down beaches, tackling muddy tracks do doing what it was built for, so all these combined have taken their toll on the rear end. So why are they known to deteriorate on Defenders, well guessing that the design of them lends to the accumulation of mud, sand and water with poor drainage etc and over the years it is a recipe for deterioration. It had gotten to the stage on our 90 that we could no longer keep patching up the crossmember and it just was not safe for towing and recoveries etc and so it was time to replace it with the Bearmach offering. We went with the Bearmach Crossmember that has the short extensions as the rest of the chassis was thankfully in pretty good shape.
Learn more in this article from TURAS Camping and 4WD Magazine:
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