Body Mounts

[daleearnhardt01]

Body mounts are going in soon and I need some "What to Do Ifs"

- If the bolt snaps what is the best way to approach it?
- Welded nut comes undone, what to do?
- On a slightly rusty truck what are the chances of this going
smoothly?
- Anything other than some Blaster to prepare the truck for
job?
- Any other pointers I should be aware of are appreciated.

 

[84gmcjimmy]

have you already gotten the old bolts out?

 

[daleearnhardt01]

Nope havent started yet...

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Well, if your truck is as rusty as camok5, I doubt it will go smoothly... I still cant get the body mounts off.

I dont think the welded nut will come off, and I think you couldn't break a body bolt unless your bending it, or its really stuck and you yank on it and it snaps...
AllI can say is good luck /forums/images/graemlins/peace.gif

 

[cybrfire]

I've seen the body mount bolts brake. Kinda common actually. Best way I've found to deal with the broken bolt in the cab mounts are to drill a hole above the welded nut. Use a hole saw to gain access to the nut. Then you can remove the nut via torch or whatever you can come up with. Put your new bolts in and a plug in the hole that you made to gain access. If your truck is rusty they can be a PITA. Maybe to prep for it you can drill a small hole to get some PB blaster on top of the nut. Like say 1/4" hole and stick a straw down in there and hose it down a week or so ahead of time. PB Blaster works great but its nice to have gravity helping it get to all the threads. I've tried warming the bolts with a torch but never had much luck with that.

Good luck.

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

Yep, I broke one of mine too. I ended up sawzalling it off, cutting a hole in the floor, removing the weld nut completely, and putting a hex nut inside there.

Cut an "X" pattern in the floor and you can easily pound it back flat and weld it up.

 

[wasted wages]

On my 79 I took a hole saw and drilled the top side of the floor board after measuring from the door sill to the center of the body mount bolt.
Just cut thru the sheetmetal and you will find the square nut plate that is hiding in there.I replaced mine with bolts and nuts and fabbed a small cover to hide the hole saw hole.
Make any sense????
/forums/images/graemlins/hack.gif /forums/images/graemlins/hack.gif /forums/images/graemlins/hack.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grind.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grind.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grind.gif /forums/images/graemlins/weld.gif /forums/images/graemlins/weld.gif /forums/images/graemlins/weld.gif

 

[daleearnhardt01]

Makes good sense yall..Thanks

 

[nvrenuf]

Seems like I've heard of people putting anti-seize on the bushings so keep them from squeaking after installation. That's probably what the Blaster is for but I doubt it would last as long.

 

[spearchucker]

I'm in the process of doing mine. Luckily mines a rust-free truck so I don't know about those broken bolt issues. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif But I did find that the cups and retainers were pretty rusted with deep pits. I cleaned some of them up, but then just decided to order new ones along with new bolts from LMC. The ones you have on there now may look ok but once you get them off you'll see how much they're rusted and eaten away. Also when you jack the body up you need to keep the springs from unloading or you'll never be able to lift the body up. I've heard of some people using a chain from the axle to the frame. I used a tow strap tied to the frame and put the other end under the jack. Then just put a 2x4 going from the jack to a sturdy part of the body.
Just an FYI: I noticed that there's threadlocker on all the bolts I removed. So you're not just fighting rust, but a yellowish threadlocker.