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ORD HD crossmember

jtrux

jtrux

1/2 ton status
 Premium
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Posts
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Location
San Antonio, TX
Firstly, I'm terrible with the search function so wasn't able to find what I'm looking for.

How much of a PITA is it to swap the crossmember with the engine in the truck? My mounts are garbage so I figured I would upgrade.
 
jtrux said:
Firstly, I'm terrible with the search function so wasn't able to find what I'm looking for.

How much of a PITA is it to swap the crossmember with the engine in the truck? My mounts are garbage so I figured I would upgrade.
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I did crossmember with engine in. Lined up good. The engine mounts are separate and sit on top of the frame pedestals. Just hook up your cherry picker to hold the weight of the engine and it’s not too bad a job. Depending how greasy that area is.
 
I installed mine with the engine in. The hardest part was drilling the holes on the bottom of the frame due to the axle being right underneath it. A short drill bit or a right angle drill would really help.
 
I could imagine that getting the cross member rivets out with the engine still in the truck would be b!tch. Getting the rivets out with the engine out would still be a rough job.
 
I did it no problem cut the old cross member in half with a grinder makes the job easier.
 
Chevk587 said:
I did it no problem cut the old cross member in half with a grinder makes the job easier.
Click to expand...

I have never installed one of ORD's cross members, but as far as I know you still have to remove all the engine cross member rivets because the ORD cross member bolts on using the old rivet holes, and those rivets for the engine cross member are in a tight spot. Some people like to say removing rivets is easy. I say BS...I have removed enough rivets to know it is a B!TCH. I just recently installed some DIY4X front spring hangers, and cutting out the rivets from the old spring hangers took several hours of grinding, drilling, and air hammering to get them out. Not even removing my entire Dana-60 from the front end was as hard as getting those damn rivets out.
 
I would agree. In the last couple of years, I’ve removed the rivets for the engine crossmember, front shackle hangers, front shock mounts, rear shackle hangers, and rear spring front perches. About 5% were easy, the rest were a complete bitch.
 
Like Chevy305 said, worst part is the new holes. I installed with 2 bolts on bottom per side(old existing rivet holes) and waited until my D60 swap to drill. My rivets were all loose and came out easy.
 
bigjimmy82 said:
Like Chevy305 said, worst part is the new holes. I installed with 2 bolts on bottom per side(old existing rivet holes) and waited until my D60 swap to drill. My rivets were all loose and came out easy.
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On that last rivet removal job I had two of them where already loose, and they came out easy, but not the rest of them. Having rivets coming loose was the reason I bought and installed the DIY4X front spring shackle mounts. My truck has about 300,000 miles on the chassis, and some of the front spring hanger rivets where coming loose after all those miles.
 
On the rivits, I use a three step process and it is a piece of cake for me. First I cut a plus sign pattern with a cutoff wheel. Then with the air hammer, I use my thin, sharpened chisel bit to blast off the four sections. Then switch it to my pointed bit and poke them out.
 
Fastereddie said:
On the rivits, I use a three step process and it is a piece of cake for me. First I cut a plus sign pattern with a cutoff wheel. Then with the air hammer, I use my thin, sharpened chisel bit to blast off the four sections. Then switch it to my pointed bit and poke them out.
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It is the "poke them out" part that never works for me. I end up having to drill a bunch of meat out of them before I can poke them out with my air chisel. Especially when the rivet is holding together up to 3 layers of steel.
 
Yup. I can have the head off in a minute or two. That’s not the problem. I’ve only got a 60 gallon compressor, but I’ll crank it up. I’ve tried three different air hammers. Bought a chisel and punch set from HF and an assortment of little sledges. Some just won’t budge without drilling. The engine crossmember and frame hats had more that were able to be punched out. The rear spring front hangers were by far the worst.
 
This is gonna be a YMMV thing, I did it with the motor pulled and it was a pain in the ass because nothing lined up. I absolutely would have never got it in with the motor in. Gonna depend a lot on what kind of shape your frame is in obviously and the rivets always take some patience. That being said it's worth it and I'd absolutely do it again.
 
Fastereddie said:
On the rivits, I use a three step process and it is a piece of cake for me. First I cut a plus sign pattern with a cutoff wheel. Then with the air hammer, I use my thin, sharpened chisel bit to blast off the four sections. Then switch it to my pointed bit and poke them out.
Click to expand...
This ^^^
 
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