Those pesky body mounts

[e21pilot]

I've dreaded having to replace the body mounts on my LB Ranger because they are so hard to get out. I've cut them out before, burned them out before, hammered out from the top before, drilled them out...

I did it enough times that I finally came up with a good idea. The pic below is simply a way of using the bottom nut and the original bolt to pull the nut and lower bushing down and off of the upper mount. It just takes three pieces of scrap angle iron, and one drilled hole for the bolt to thread up through the bottom. Spin the bolt in through the hole in the bottom angle iron until it is snug. Then a couple of dozen turns with a ratchet and the bottom nut and bushing simply fall off. Simple.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Thanks for posting. I'll have to try that out.

Richard

 

[4x4junkie]

My solution was to simply stick a ¾ inch drill down into the bushing from above and drill the flared end off the inner sleeve inside the middle. With the flare removed the lower retainer essentially just falls out.

 

[SenorNoob]

Any reason that wouldn't work from below as well?

Also, could they just be replaced with a steel sleeve and washers, or does the fact that it fits together provide a significant amount of strength?

 

[4x4junkie]

Any reason that wouldn't work from below as well?

Also, could they just be replaced with a steel sleeve and washers, or does the fact that it fits together provide a significant amount of strength?

The flare is at the top end of the lower retainer tube.

As for replacing the whole thing with a sleeve (piece of tubing) & washers, I can't think of a reason why that wouldn't work as long as the sleeve is the proper length so that the bushing doesn't get crushed down by more than 0.2 inch or so (you may have to enlarge the hole in the lower bushing half if your piece of tubing isn't tapered). You'll probably want to weld the tube to your upper washer though just to keep things from being able to slip around as much and the bolt loosening.

 

[4x4junkie]

Any reason that wouldn't work from below as well?

Also, could they just be replaced with a steel sleeve and washers, or does the fact that it fits together provide a significant amount of strength?

The flare is at the top of the lower retainer tube.

As for replacing the whole thing with a sleeve (piece of tubing) & washers, I can't think of a reason why that wouldn't work as long as the sleeve is the proper length so that the bushing doesn't get crushed down excessively (you may have to enlarge the hole in the lower bushing half if your piece of tubing isn't tapered). You'll probably want to weld the tube to your upper washer though just to keep things from being able to slip around as much and the bolt loosening.