Xantia rear bumper

[DaveW]

Decided today would be a good day to fit the towbar to my '95 Xantia 1.9TD so set to work removing the bumper.
All went fine until I came to the last fixing (isn't it always the case), the off-side bolt - "side securing screw" - the one that lives in a recess in the wheel arch.

This just turns and turns and turns and ..........................
I assume that this bolt mates with a nut which should be held captive in the plastic bumper and the two have rusted solid.

At the moment I can't see any way of getting to the nut to clamp it - any suggestions please ??



Dave.

[citroen7]

why do you need to remove the bumper?The towbar should fit easily

[AndersDK]

why do you need to remove the bumper?The towbar should fit easily

Agree - why ?

If you insist on solving the problem with the rusty captive nut :
block the front wheels
raise and jack up the car safely at the rear
remove offended rear wheel

now you have access to further remove any splash screen blocking your way to the captive nut. Its then a matter of counter holding the captive nut using any tools - or cut the thingy.

[DaveW]

Thanks for the replies.

I am removing the bumper because (1) this is what Witter recommend and (2) it looks like an awkward job to do without removing it.

The car is a hatchback - is it possible to fit the towbar without taking off the bumper ?

Anders,

RE:

block the front wheels
raise and jack up the car safely at the rear
remove offended rear wheel

now you have access to further remove any splash screen blocking your way to the captive nut.

I had done all of that but still cannot see/feel the nut. There is a small, black plastic moulding attached to the bumper that is hiding/blocking access.



Dave

[RichardW]

I've fitted a towbar to a Xantia hatch - no I don't think it's possible without removing the bumper. Ours was only 1 year old, so no difficulty in removing the bumper - which is not much help to you! You might just have to chop the plastic out round the bolt, or drill the bolt out, or, or....

[AndersDK]

Must be the screw reaching directly rearwards into the bumper end piece then.
Since this screw is fitted in a recess you dont have a chance accessing it with a hacksaw or similar

You then got 2 options :
1) use violence and tools enlarging the hole to pass through the screw head freeing the bumper off the chassis
2) heating the screw until the plastic bumper melts off around the screw/captive nut.

Unfortunately that is a rather common scenario ...
A garage would go straight into one of these options, as its your bill ticking up, up, up as time passes by messing too much with such a nuisance of a problem.

[DaveW]

OK, I have undone the 'twirly' nut - the bumper is off so I thought I would report back on how it can be done.

The nut can be reached, but only by feel, through a slot in the bottom of the black plastic housing. The housing is actually the piece that should hold the nut captive and is 'welded' onto the bumper.

Although the bolts are undone with a 13mm, the nut requires an 11mm spanner but the only one that will fit easily (I use that word loosely) is a longish fine ring type - however, because of the angles involved, a standard cranked spanner will not slide onto the nut.
I found an old double ended one, heated and bent the shaft slightly so that the head would be parallel to the nut hex and this did the job.

I rejected the solution of melting the plastic as this would involve fabricating a new section in order to re-fit the bumper. The same with cutting or tearing plus the fact that, due to the location, this would be very difficult to do anyway.



Dave.

[AndersDK]

You did great Dave

Its not un-common completely busting a plastic bumper because of such problems !

[Stempy]

I've just got a towbar to fit, another easy job to look forward to then

[jgra1]

me too