Should I replace rear crossmember before I sell?

Selling my td5csw in the autumn, on the rear crossmember, there's surface rust and one small area where the rust is a little deeper, not a hole though. Is it better to leave it original (she's a 2001, with 72000k), or change it? Opinions please? Thanks in advance.

It will need doing at some point & the first place a buyer is going to look at is the chassis, I would
say if it was replaced & the rest of the chassis treated it would be a better selling point.
By the sounds of it, its not that bad & could be cleaned/patched up but would look a lot nicer with a
new crossmember, or just adjust the price accordingly & be honest with any buyer that a future
repair will be needed.

Bung it full of filler.
Seems to be standard practice these days

I’d price it as perfect then offer the new crossmember or price reduction to each prospective buyer.

Clive jones said:

Selling my td5csw in the autumn, on the rear crossmember, there's surface rust and one small area where the rust is a little deeper, not a hole though. Is it better to leave it original (she's a 2001, with 72000k), or change it? Opinions please? Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Td5 always get surface rust on the rear crossmember, I don't know why, possibly to do with metal quality.

The rust doesn't go that deep for a long time, you might well be able to rub down, possibly weld a small plate into the area where the rust is worst, and then give it a couple of coats of good rust resist primer, and a topcoat.
Should last for years, and look reasonable for sale.

Mmmm, but if the externals look iffy, the legs are prob worse.....?? As buyer (if they know what they are doing) will prod further in, best to check now and bite the bullet if necessary? You'd see most of the outlay back on a better selling price I'd say, and look like a caring owner.... ;-) maybe....... Good luck, A