Crew Cab Body Mount Bolt Lengths

[LNielson]

I'm installing new poly mounts and a home brew 1" bodylift on my '86 crew cab this weekend. I searched and never could find definitive answers for the bolt lengths required, so I pulled and measured my existing hardware and figured out what I needed. I was able to source all new Grade 5 bolts locally. I am making my own lift pucks from 3" aluminum round bar. My factory steel hardware (washers and such) are all in good shape. I bought hardware 1" longer than factory lengths shown below to accommodate the body lift

The stock length bolts on my 1986 crew cab are as follows from front to back:

Cab Mounts:
Radiator Support: 5" (same for all square bodies)
Position 1: 3.5"
Position 2: 3.5"
Position 3: 3.5"

Bed Mounts: (Front to Back all carriage bolts, I'm replacing with hex bolts)
Position 1: 4.25"
Position 2: 12"
Position 3: 4.25"
Position 4: 4.25"

In hindsight, for anyone considering doing this, I highly recommend that you just buy the complete kit with bolts from Offroad Design. I'm not saving that much $ and none at all if I had to pay myself for the machine work, that I will do myself, and all of the leg work it took to track down all those bolts.

 

[LNielson]

Here's a pic of the body mount bolts.

 

[1-ton]

When I did an ORD 1" body mount lift, I just removed all the bolts on one side. Then I went out and bought 8-grade bolts that where 1" longer for each of the bolts in the cab area, and carriage bolts that where 1" longer for each of the bolts in the bed. The long carriage bolts for the center of the bed was a different story. Since there are no carriage bolts that are longer than 12" easily available, I used all-thread. I then cut the all-thread down to the needed length, and used a nut washer on both sides.

 

[mrk5]

Thanks for the info. I'd like to replace my body mounts.

 

[LNielson]

@mrk5 I didn't realize how thrashed my mounts were, until i pulled them out. None of them externally looked bad at all, but they were hammered and some of them were disintegrating. It made an immediate and noticeable improvement in the way my truck rides.

I ended up stopping at 4 different places before i found the 13" bolts that I needed for the 1" lift on the bed. I went with Grade 5 hardware and the Grade C locking nuts. I used antiseize on the cab mount bolts that thread into the captive nuts. I looked around a little for carriage bolts and couldn't find them long enough, even online, especially not in the higher strength grade 5 flavor.

The allthread that @1-ton used would have worked just as well for the really long bolt as the preformed bolt that I used.

 

[diesel4me]

I've seen very long carriage bolts used on telephone poles to mount cross ties and transformers..a friends brother used to work for the local power supplier and drove the drilling rig truck to drill holes for new poles,or to replace ones snapped off in an accident,he had 5 gallon buckets of various lengths of galvanized carriage bolts ,and those big square nuts in the truck...I think the longer ones may have been 5/8" though,not 1/2",but he had both on hand..