Body mount issues !!!!!

[treeguy]

I assumed it was just a simple thing to unscrew a few nuts, jack up one side of the body and spread the frame . . . I find that the body nut underneath the front door just spins in place . . . I looked around and not too much specifics on how to remove these . . . any ideas would be awesome! The trucks I am working on are a 1988 and 1990 ext cab . . . Thanks

 

[adsm08]

You gotta find the bolt head on the other side and hold it still while turning that nut. Pull up your carpet.

 

[Dusty_Ranger]

pull up the carpet on the hump along the back wall of the truck cab, there will be rubber plugs on either side above the cab mounts, inside the hump there is the top of the body mount bolt i belive its a 18mm or 3/4" socket, i cant quite remember the size so dont qoute me on it

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yea, you gotta get to the bolt head. There are the two mounts up by the Radiator. Two are under the carpet/vinyl floor (one on each side in the floor pan, you'll probably have to pop some rubber drain caps to get to the bolt head). On a regular cab the back two are behind the seat and sometimes under a metal cap held on by screws. On an extended cab it'll be under the flooring behind the front seats and a pair on the back ledge, IIRC.

Sometimes even having access to both sides doesn't help. I've encountered that before. And after a couple weeks of soaking 'em in penetrating oil with no improvement, I got out the cutting tools and removed 'em.

 

[treeguy]

Yeah I banged on the radiator support after removing the top nut and nothing !! I did end up pulling up on the carpet and saw a beautiful bolt head staring back at me . . . what is the best way to torch them off with out screwing up everything . . .?? Thanks for the info BTW you all are so very helpful . . .

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I employed a hacksaw and a sawzall with a metal blade where I could to try to avoid damaging the bushings. The ones that I was having too much trouble with I used a grinder or torch. Tried to get the rubber off before using a torch though. Most of the work was done with a sawzall and grinder to prevent the chance of turning the truck into a candle. Almost none of the bushings I had left were salvageable, but that's ok, a couple of them were badly deteriorated and I had bought new bushings.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've just gone thru this on a '91 reg. cab ranger. There are 6 bolts, 2 on the sides of the rad support, 2 under the carpet/sound deadener where your feet go, and 2 behind the seat under the carpet/sound deadener. I ended up breaking 4 of 6 bolts, the top halves. I used a 4.5" grinder with a zip disc to cut the [what looks like but is integral with the nut] washer from under neath. I found that cutting beside the flat of the 'nut' and removing the pieces the easiest/safest. Be very careful; USE a FULL face mask, leather gloves, and long sleeve shirt!!! Then you can remove the rubber 'washer' with a screwdriver and pop the rest thru the top of the frame mount [ with the cab lifted up]. It seems like the metal parts are made so you can't over tighten them, but they rust/weld together over time.
Hope this helps.
Richard

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

just heat up the nut on the bottom with a small flame from a MAPP torch, soon as you start to see just a little smoke from the bushing, put a wrench on the nut and hit it with an impact gun from the top. Works every time for me.

I'm an installer at a truck accessory shop, some step and nerf bar companies use brackets that bolt on under that nut. So I do this quite often.

 

[erocka1982]

i heated mine till i saw a little smoke from the bushing too, thats when i knew it was ready. the only thing is that the nut underneath was still spinning. i had to get creative and jamb a hunk of metal in between the mounting bracket and the flat side of the nut to keep it from spinning...lol...good ol' back yard engineering..lol

 

[treeguy]

Where would I find new bushings ??

 

[trail B2]

LMC has them, man did I ever burn myself doing that job.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fr/full.aspx?Page=43

 

[treeguy]

Thanks for the input guys employing these suggestions really made the job much easier than I anticipated thanks again !!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I got my bushings from James Duff, that is if you haven't already ordered 'em.