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Body Lift Removal?

dave is right. the body wants to flex all over the place. start tightening them down in an order that makes sense to pull the body into a position where everything closes up as good as possible. once you have it where you want it, you may find you need to add some spacers in a few spots to get the rest tight without pulling the body back out of whack.
 
Are you sure you're not hung up on a rear hitch or fuel filler hose? If the mounts are ALL not touching it sounds like interference somewhere.

A lot of weird stuff gets modified to get a 3" BL installed (spacers, etc)... so there's a chance something was overlooked now that you're trying to pull it all back down to earth.

:usaflag:
 
It does look like something could be in the way though, I want to say that although some spots had maybe an 1/8" gap, They were all pretty much sitting on the mounts.

The fuel fill tube could be it, a tool left somewhere maybe, a block of wood that you used, who knows. If there is absolutely nothing then I suggest slowly tightening the mounts down evenly to see how it settles.
 
You guys were right!

Man the PO was looney...

There was a maze of welded crap between the bumper and the frame that was keeping it hoisted up. I cut more crap welds and viola, down she came!

Thanks for everyones help! I'm very glad that I did it myself ;)

619b8a4e-19f9-9767.jpg

619b8a4e-1a30-a467.jpg

619b8a4e-1a6a-538b.jpg

619b8a4e-1a7f-3b52.jpg

619b8a4e-1ab5-83ec.jpg
 
Did you remove that rear crossmember? Was that the thing causing the interference? It looks like it was bent way up. If you took it out, make sure to straighten it out and bolt it back in.


-Brian
 
Yea that was the rear cross member...it was not even connected on one side, just a mangled mess. I'm gonna have some steel cut to replace it and then bolt it in.
 
cameronsaddress said:
You guys were right!

Man the PO was looney...

There was a maze of welded crap between the bumper and the frame that was keeping it hoisted up. I cut more crap welds and viola, down she came!

Thanks for everyones help! I'm very glad that I did it myself ;)
Click to expand...


There's a reason why I knew to tell you about the fuel filler and possible interferences around the rear hitch area...... :whistle:

I swear the POs seem to do more damage to these trucks than rust does. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen photos of "improvements" on a 1st Gen.... or heard a story about a guy with a new "cherry" K5 and finds out the entire thing is filled with ghetto-fabulous hacks and mods.

The best thing you can do is learn from this site and study photos to see how things are "supposed" to look on an original truck. Usually there are dozens of things that have been butchered over the years, so it will take time to locate and fix them all.

Keep at it, take more photos than you think you really need every time to disassemble something. You'll be amazed at how helpful they will be when you totally forget how something is supposed to look, or need to post something here to solicit advice.


:usaflag:
 
Hey guys,
So after tightening the new mounts up, the body is still a bit tweaked. The passenger door barely opens and the driver door will not.

There was a bunch of extra hardware that I removed form the old lift, so I assume that this was there to help straighten things out.

Should I just get some washers and stack them up where I assume that they are needed to see if it makes the body straighten out? (I have the pics of the old hardware so I should be able to guess where they should go)

What would you recommend?
 
Yep, shim up the same spots that the old shims came out of. Those original shims were from the factory. I just got done helping my friend do this last weekend, he needed a ton on the passenger side in spots 1, 2 and three for the door to even open. He still has a rust problem though, I'm sure when we get after that on his rig, it shouldn't need as many after.
 
The originals that came out of both of the ones that I have done were just some rusty washers. Maybe 3 1/2 to 4" IIRC.
 
just use as big a fender washer as you can find...


technically a body shim looks like this...


6016.jpg
 
body mount shims are real big compared to panel shims like that one in the pic. but same idea. and yes the shims are safe to use.
 
I used washers in the 2 and 3 positions and it worked like a charm!

Thanks again
 
Look at you go man...Got the body lift replaced, the crankshaft wobble fixed. And you did it all yourself.


Sure feel's good huh...
 
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