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Edited: Bent crossmember and body mounts. Help!

Dabba

Dabba

1/2 ton status
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Okay, so the last two times i went out wheeling on my stock truck, i beat on her pretty hard. Really hard in fact. Now ive always had a problem, which i thought was the front bumper being loose, even though i took it apart and put it back together myself, but tonight my friend pointed out my body on the truck is loose. After wheeling really hard on it, im noticing bad squeaking from the front end on bumps. I think i killed the front body mount(s). How exactly do i check them? I mean where are they and how does one fix them. Is it possible the trucks screwed if my mounts are busted?

Secondly, im having a slight problem with my tranny shifter. It seems that when i shift it to park now, it just barley makes it into park, dosnt totally lock in. Tonight i started it and it just started moving backward, which means it was in reverse, and it also means the neutral saftey is broke'd. I dont care much about the neutral saftey switch but any way to adjust this easily?

Thirdly and finally, i bottomed out tonight and the only damage is my crossbar that protected the t-case.. ITs kinda bent down backwards a bit. It is just for protecting the tcase or does it have a integrity purpose? Would it be wise to replace it or should i leave it as is. Im pretty sure the hard wheeling days of the truck are over as i feel she cant really take it anymore. Not until a find a military one ton at least. Ill be consulting my haynes manual but any knowlage you guys can share would be great. Thanks.
 
You can loosen the bolt on the shifter rod where it meets the transmission linkage and adjust it so it goes in park and your vehicle won't move. You either have really bad rubber body bushings or some bent or rusted body mounts.
Tarey
 
Okay, so i checked my body mounts, at least the first 3 on each side, couldnt quite tell where the ones on the bed were. Anyway, the first 3 on my passenger side are shot. The rubber bushings under the frame rails are shot. How hard is it to replace. I assume since its only the rubber underneath the frame rails i dont need to do anything special like lift the body, so can i just replace the rubber and maybe the nut. Anyone sell kits. Ill look at my LMC truck. I also took a pic of my crossbar, the framerails a little bent at the mounts so i simply cant swap it out, any options, can i leave it. ITs not interfering with the transfer case or shafts. Also, i only took a quick look but where are the tranny mounts? I wanted to check if they were bad too because my t-case wont stay in 4hi. And i also checked the shifter linkage. ITs very loose, i can shake it quite a bit. It it suppose to be lose or tightend up? Thanks.

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That is the tranmission crossmember, that is probably why nothing is shifting correctly, it needs to be straight.
 
Well its the one under the tcase. The points where the crossmember mounts on the frame is slightly bent. Options? Bfg?
 
Well as i said. Is it just protecting the tcase or does it support structual integrity of the frame? I just wanna know how badly i need to replace it. And also, the point on the frame where it mounts is bent sooo do i need to bang it out with a hammer or just do the best i can?

Also, i looked in LMC and it sells a whole set of mounts for 130, does this sound good and does anyone else sell them individually? Could blown body mounts produce my problem with the tcase? Thanks
 
oh and i really dont know how i did that to the crossmember, i did bottom out a bit on a few hills but nothing that should have done that...
 
That crossmember actually supports the ass end of the tranny and the t-case. It's not just a decoration - it needs to be replaced.
 
So, what should i do with the little bends in the framerails. The mounting is bent up a little so the new one wont fit exactly, any suggestions?
 
The frame is pretty weak in that area.. The last one I fixed by drilling holes in some long 1/4 plate. One for the top and one for the bottom. Then use bolts to tighten against the frame in effect pressing the frame straight. Sandwich the frame between the plates and it will flatten out.
 
If your body mounts look that bad, you can safely assume that your motor mounts and tranny mounts are equally bad. Replace them all as a starting point.

That crossmember is wasted, and the frame looks a bit tweaked just forward of that xmember. A new one with thick plates sandwiched from above would probably help..... you are REALLY lucky that impact didn't happen a little further back. That would have broken off the bottom of your transfercase (aluminum) and you'd have been walking home instead of driving.

Wheeling a truck is a lot more stressful on it's parts than simply street driving it. Like most people, you found the weak spots immediately as the truck flexed and twisted in ways it never had before. The good news is that if you replace all the mounts (including body mounts) it should stiffen up the truck substantially and will probably make it feel more solid even when street driving it.


:usaflag:
 
the neutral safety switch is on the column. it still works but your shifter linkage is fubar because you wasted the crossmember. the safety switch thinks the truck is in park because thats where the shifter is, the trans just happenes to not be in park.

get the crossmember replaced and the frame straightened out immediately. when it comes to replacing the body mounts you are going to have to lift the body some. there are two peices to a body mount. an upper and lower. the upper part goes between the body and the frame and the lower part goes under the frame. if you can turn a wrench you can replace them yourself.

You say you are wheeling a stock truck, then why do you have a T-case drop kit? those are the plates stacked between the crossmember and the frame.
 
gmc4cw said:
the neutral safety switch is on the column. it still works but your shifter linkage is fubar because you wasted the crossmember. the safety switch thinks the truck is in park because thats where the shifter is, the trans just happenes to not be in park.

get the crossmember replaced and the frame straightened out immediately. when it comes to replacing the body mounts you are going to have to lift the body some. there are two peices to a body mount. an upper and lower. the upper part goes between the body and the frame and the lower part goes under the frame. if you can turn a wrench you can replace them yourself.

You say you are wheeling a stock truck, then why do you have a T-case drop kit? those are the plates stacked between the crossmember and the frame.
Click to expand...

As far as i know the truck is stock. I thought those spacers were normal to be there. But i also havnt seen many other undersides of k5s so i guess i wouldnt know. I just know that i have a stock drivetrain.

How do i lift the body to replace the mounts? I was just gonna replace the underside being i woudlnt have to lift the body and those are the bad ones. But you make it sound easy to replace the whole mount. So how does one replace the who body mount and lift the body. I have limited resources so.

Also, where exactly are the tranny and engine mounts? Are they diffcult to replace? I would definetly like to replace the mounts because that possibly means fixing my t-case problem

You think my tcase shifting problem has to do with the mounts? Ill go take a looksee for the engine and tranny mounts now.
 
Okay i got some pics of the only mounts and supports i can find quickly for the engine, tranny and tcase. I gotta run out so. I also took shots of the frame bendage where the crossmember mounts. Here...

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So yeah, how do i replace the mounts and are these the right engine/tranny mounts, and how do i replace them. Thanks
 
thats all the mounts. the trans mount is the one bolted to the crossmember you bent, and its Junk.

if you have a floor jack you can use that and a peice of wood to raise the body enough to slide the upper mount out. loosen all the bolts that hold the body to the frame. don't remove them. you will want to remove all the ones on one side first. jack the body up enough that you can slide all the upper bushings out. slide the new ones in. attach the lower bushings and install the bolts. don't tighten them yet, just run them in enough that they are started.

do the same on the other side. when all the bushings are replaced and everything is lined up the way it should be you can tighten the body bolts.

If I were you I would order a complete set of poly body mounts and a 1" body lift. the 1" bodylift will do 2 things for you. your original bolts are probably junk by now, the bodylift kit will have new ones. the 1" will give you a little more tire clearance and make working under the truck a little easier.

new body mounts are easy to replace but they will take you several hours at best. you need to remove the grill and the rear bumper to get to the forward and rearmost mounts. its lots of wrench turning but it all can be done with simple hand tools. having help makes a big difference. and soak everything in penetrating oil for days.

I have worked on trucks that were bad enough that I had to cut holes in the floor to get some of the bolts out.
 
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