RUBBER Body Mounts - Compatibility?

[Captain Ledd]

Frame swapping my '97, having a HECK of a time finding new body mounts. Not the bracket part, the rubber doughnut parts and hardware. Both mine and the donor's are all cracked/exploded/too-hard/or missing. I've tried a polyurethane set and I immediately sent it back. Some of you have heard they're "harder than stock" you know, because performance.... Well FYI, it's not that far off from a chunk of ABS plastic hard.

I'm not spending all this effort converting my beloved to 4wd and completely mechanically rebuilding it to just trash my ride quality like that.

So where can I find these unicorns? Are there similar Ford mounts that will fit? I need all 6 and I'll need hardware too (rust belt ya know), I have the ability to fabricate any type of shim or spacer if necessary. At this point I'm honestly considering casting my own bushings out of much softer poly.

 

[tinman_72]

I got mine from LMC Truck. Rubber and hardware,

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

FWIW I have no complaints with poly mounts, James duff sells a kit with hardware.

 

[Captain Ledd]

When I checked LMC truck they only offered poly replacements.

85Ranger, did yours feel similar to what would be considered OEM rubber? Maybe it's just the ones I've looked at?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Maybe a little firmer... mine were a long ways from being fit to judge OEM from though...



I used an Energy Suspension kit. I drove it across four states almost to Pennsylvania last fall and it seemed ok.

My center cab mount hardware didn't survive so I basically made my own with big washers and steel tubing, here is a whole hardware kit:

Body Mount Hardware, Ranger | James Duff Inc.

After years of requests from customers, we've developed replacement hardware for body mounts. Impossible to get from dealers and nearly impossible to extract intact from a donor junk vehicle…

www.dufftuff.com

 

[tinman_72]

When I checked LMC truck they only offered poly replacements...

Now that you mention it I seem to recall having the same issue. (It has been 7 years since I did my frame-off resto.) I used poly bushings and hardware, all from LMC. As I recall, the bushings were Energy Suspension. I did new front and rear heavy-duty springs and all poly suspension bushings at the same time. Yes, it is very stiff and with 255/60-15's is quite possibly the best handling (as far as taking curves goes) vehicle I have ever owned.
I imagine if I had to drive it more than an hour or two it would be very tiring. If you are only doing body mounts in poly you will probably be okay.

 

[19Walt93]

I used the poly mounts that came with my truck. When I got it, the mounts under the core support were missing, the stock under floor mounts were still there but had 7/16 coarse thread bolts in them instead of 12x 1.75's so they wouldn't have held much, and the rear cab mounts were comprised of 1 hockey puck per side with 36 flat washers stacked up. I hope the poly mounts won't bee too noisy, the cab and box line up well.

 

[Captain Ledd]

2-3 hour trips are pretty much going to be the typical trip use for this truck. With several longer ones thrown in there too, 8-10 hours. Even my normal commute to/from work is 45 minutes.

With converting to 4x4, I'm not looking for a corner carver. Truthfully it sees almost all highway use, but obviously once the destination is reached... I already have a rear ARB too, and I've still needed more tractive effort.

I wonder if I can just get some rubber round stock (I suppose square would work for that matter), I'm thinking more and more about making my own softer mounts.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

2-3 hour trips are pretty much going to be the typical trip use for this truck. With several longer ones thrown in there too, 8-10 hours. Even my normal commute to/from work is 45 minutes.

Yeah, it was roughly 13 hours of driving each way IIRC to the roundup. No regrets on the cab mounts.

 

[Shran]

I have used the Prothane kit twice now and am fairly pleased with it... they are quite hard though. I'd rather go with rubber but they were outrageously expensive when I priced them out last, somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 IIRC.

 

[Captain Ledd]

Honestly, I'm perfectly ok with spending $300+, if that'll last another 10-15 years and another 150,000 miles this truck will be 33/38 years old with close to 400,000 on it. Assuming no catastrophic incidents it'll be time for a full rotisserie at that point.