GMT400 Rear Crossmember / Tire Carrier replacement?

[mnewxcv]

I am looking at a truck to buy and while the frame is overall clean, the rear crossmember is falling apart. It seems the part number is GM 15529438, which is discontinued. Has anyone had to replace theirs, and how was the process? I understand the factory rivets this piece in, and a replacement will have to be bolted. As I understand it, the bed will need to come off for this process. Can one person remove the bed with an engine hoist, ie, at a junk yard? Do the rivets require torching or is it something a sawzall can handle? Lastly, it seems the crossmember is the same for c/k 1500/2500/3500 pickups, at least looking at the applications tab on most part listings. That sound correct?

Pic for reference:

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frame looks otherwise solid, but feel free to comment your thoughts.

 

[mnewxcv]

I've been thinking, since it might prove difficult to remove a bed at a junk yard to get to this, can this piece be removed by lifting one side of the bed at a time? If anyone has a photo of this section of the frame with the bed removed I'd appreciate it.

 

[Caman96]

I see surface rust, although it’s definitely not the clearest photo.

 

[packer0440]

I assume the left side of the crossmember has a rust crack in it? That's what it looks like, but picture is dark. If it's not actually rotted through there the rest isn't bad to be honest. I've taken this off before, IIRC at least one side has a bolt for the bed between two of the rivets. Whatever the case seems just about impossible to cut out all of the rivets with the bed on the truck; maybe see if there is a yard that has a truck that someone bought the bed off of.

 

[mnewxcv]

thanks for the replies. I didn't look at it in person, but from the photo it seems signifcantly eaten away. I rescaled the photo to show the area I am referencing:

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[Caman96]

It’s still tough to tell(that could just be rust “scaling”), definitely a concern. Your going to have to personally check it out or maybe seller can send you better quality photos.

 

[Caman96]

Whenever I see photos of a car/truck for sale and the photos are bad, burry or when they add something stupid like their pet, that’s the first red flag for me.

 

[Illbedipped]

A few lengths of galvanized Channel and a left over bolts and a guy could cobble something together in an hour or two .

 

[Supercharged111]

I pulled one of those cross members in the junkyard. It was easy, I just went up to a truck that someone else yanked the bed off of and chopped it out with a sawzall with frame chunks intact. I dealt with the rivets at home with an angle grinder. Pulled the member from a 1500 and installed in my crew cab dually, big difference in frame thickness between the 2 but it went right in no problem.

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