View attachment 320283
Doesn’t seem like there’s enough syllables in “major” to describe that kind of change! Lol.
That's like being on another planet
. Which Florida definitely is .CK5
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That's like being on another planet
. Which Florida definitely is .
So ... notice anything missing in these photos??
I have known my body mounts were pretty worn out for a while, just never really paid that much attention to them until now. These photos are of the 4 mounts directly underneath the passenger doors. And man are they in bad shape. 3 out of 4 are even missing the retaining cups, meaning the mount is holding on to absolutely nothing! Can you say dangerous?
Now, I know, a part of me says “soak them in PB Blaster for days and heat them up and take the bolts out”. Kind of makes sense since I already have a body mount kit from ORD and can get new retainers from LMC for $9 a piece.
But there’s always that “what if”. What if the bolts break off? The other part of me says that’s a high probability considering when I replaced the seat belts I couldn’t even get the bolts out and had to drill new holes.
So where to go from here? I could risk it and try to back the old bolts out, but if they break off, that’s kinda the end of the road eh?
Or considering that this rig has a bent frame and a rusty crusty body, perhaps this means it’s time Rusty gets a new body and frame? At the very least, I have a useable vehicle until I find a donor.
Suddenly BB20 isn’t looking so good ....
I have known my body mounts were pretty worn out for a while, just never really paid that much attention to them until now. These photos are of the 4 mounts directly underneath the passenger doors. And man are they in bad shape. 3 out of 4 are even missing the retaining cups, meaning the mount is holding on to absolutely nothing! Can you say dangerous?
Now, I know, a part of me says “soak them in PB Blaster for days and heat them up and take the bolts out”. Kind of makes sense since I already have a body mount kit from ORD and can get new retainers from LMC for $9 a piece.
But there’s always that “what if”. What if the bolts break off? The other part of me says that’s a high probability considering when I replaced the seat belts I couldn’t even get the bolts out and had to drill new holes.
So where to go from here? I could risk it and try to back the old bolts out, but if they break off, that’s kinda the end of the road eh?
Or considering that this rig has a bent frame and a rusty crusty body, perhaps this means it’s time Rusty gets a new body and frame? At the very least, I have a useable vehicle until I find a donor.
Suddenly BB20 isn’t looking so good ....
Bah. A broken bolt isn't the end of any road. You know how to drill out bolts. Worst case you just need a little bit of welding. You can handle it just fine.
I think you're just fishing for justification for the new body donor you've wanted. That makes no sense to me, as you have this one dialed in nicely, and you've repeatedly said you don't have major amounts of free time lying around. A frame swap is really an entire second truck build, it's not a four-bolt affair. And it's definitely not a $9 project!
That truck is not very rusty, and those body mounts are nicer than several vehicles that I've daily driven. The frame hangers are spotless, I'm not sure why you're worried. It's a failed rubber bushing, it's not dangerous in the way a broken tie rod would be. Replacing the body mounts will be LOTS easier than it could have been if you had serious frame rust, and you'd need to redo mounts anyways if you were swapping frames. Just fix em and be done. Or join the club of people who have more important things to worry about.
You'd have a whole lot more "what if" moments if you started building a new chassis.
Soak the in PB Blaster of something try and get them out.
You can always do new mounts and do bolts through the floor to bolt it down.
If you boat side the burb you will not have to worry about body mounts again. If you put in a cage and weld it to the frame body mounts don't matter. You really have a bunch of options. Tearing it apart is really so far down on the list.
I agree with what @campfire said.
You can always do new mounts and do bolts through the floor to bolt it down.
If you boat side the burb you will not have to worry about body mounts again. If you put in a cage and weld it to the frame body mounts don't matter. You really have a bunch of options. Tearing it apart is really so far down on the list.
I agree with what @campfire said.
Bah. A broken bolt isn't the end of any road. You know how to drill out bolts. Worst case you just need a little bit of welding. You can handle it just fine.
I think you're just fishing for justification for the new body donor you've wanted. That makes no sense to me, as you have this one dialed in nicely, and you've repeatedly said you don't have major amounts of free time lying around. A frame swap is really an entire second truck build, it's not a four-bolt affair. And it's definitely not a $9 project!
That truck is not very rusty, and those body mounts are nicer than several vehicles that I've daily driven. The frame hangers are spotless, I'm not sure why you're worried. It's a failed rubber bushing, it's not dangerous in the way a broken tie rod would be. Replacing the body mounts will be LOTS easier than it could have been if you had serious frame rust, and you'd need to redo mounts anyways if you were swapping frames. Just fix em and be done. Or join the club of people who have more important things to worry about.
You'd have a whole lot more "what if" moments if you started building a new chassis.
You sir have a unique gift of slapping sense into people. Lol.
I didn’t even think about putting the bolts through the floor or those other options.
Thanks guys for talking me off the cliff. Yes, Ethan, a part of me wants a truck that’s as easy to work on as my wife’s truck. But at the same time, I cringe at the thought of all the work that would be involved in a frame swap.
I’ll hose the bolts down with PB blaster for a while and get those retainers on order. Who knows, maybe I’ll luck out and they’ll come right out.
Yeah Ethan has kicked me in the pants enough times, that I think I owe him a few lunches now. lol
He’s not the first person who’s knocked me out of my gloom and doom worst case scenario attitude/mindset. Lol.
I’ll just consider BB20 still on the books then, and all new body mounts as added to my to-do list between now and then.
Yeah community is important. This place is good at knocking sense back into me when I get some wild idea that is counter productive.
I had one of the cage nuts break loose inside when I was replacing my mounts. I cut an access hole to get to it. I used my cheap plasma cutter but you could drill the four corners and use a hacksall or jigsaw or... It’s not the easiest repair but it’s far from the end of the line.
that will probably be my luck, but thanks for the tip. I’ll know more what to expect now when I get into it.
You sir have a unique gift of slapping sense into people. Lol.
Hahaha!
I need someone to return the favor. My new smallblock is destined for the scrap heap at the rate it keeps giving me headaches. 
I empathize with this desire. I also want a perfect vehicle that's easy to work on. But I found out that I actually don't want that. Because I would put in hundreds of hours rebuilding the truck...for what? To save a few minutes here and there on odd maintenance jobs? No, that doesn't make sense. I fix things as needed, but endlessly perfecting its flaws is not a good use of my time. Not now, and perhaps not ever.
I'm sure you've had moments when you look back over the build and reconsider things. After years of steadily playing with this one platform, I'd build the trucks so differently if I did it today. The things that made sense in 2010 make no sense now. Example: I just...had...to have dual fuel tanks. It seemed cool to have 1000 miles of range. Because you never know when you'll be unable to buy fuel. It turns out that I never needed that feature, and I only really benefited from it once (when circling through Canada, I didn't hafta buy Canadian fuel). The hours that went into building that fuel system (twice over!) seem like a waste of time, looking back.
I don't know whether your frame-swap ambitions are in that same category. That's for you to decide. But it would be a shame to put all that effort into something and not like the end result.
I'm sure you've had moments when you look back over the build and reconsider things. After years of steadily playing with this one platform, I'd build the trucks so differently if I did it today. The things that made sense in 2010 make no sense now. Example: I just...had...to have dual fuel tanks. It seemed cool to have 1000 miles of range. Because you never know when you'll be unable to buy fuel. It turns out that I never needed that feature, and I only really benefited from it once (when circling through Canada, I didn't hafta buy Canadian fuel). The hours that went into building that fuel system (twice over!) seem like a waste of time, looking back.
I did have one of those moments when I was rebuilding my cooling stack. Back when I replaced the transmission, I installed TWO auxiliary trans coolers inline with the radiator cooler, because I was afraid of overheating the transmission. The routing of the lines was wonky too. I reworked all of that during the rebuild and have just one auxiliary cooler inline with the radiator now.
You’re right though, a suburban with dual fuel tanks DOES sound pretty cool!!
I don't know whether your frame-swap ambitions are in that same category. That's for you to decide. But it would be a shame to put all that effort into something and not like the end result.
Hopefully I’ll like the end result with this rig. I’ll say this much, it’s condition has given me the freedom to throw the purist rulebook out the window and build and rebuild it in a way that works for me. I think in order to end up with the kind of rig I really want, I’ll likely have to do a frame/body swap someday. But if I can put it off for the next 5-10 years, that’s what I’ll do. Because I just don’t have the space to do that kind of build right now. Shoot, I barely have the space to do what I’m doing now.
Something David @AgDieseler reminded me of is that from the beginning, my intention has been that this will be the rig that will teach me what I need to know to build the rig I really want/need.
No, no...the dual tanks were on the stepside, my second truck:
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/adventures-with-big-blue.313228/
The 'burb is my fourth truck. Like you said, each rig has taught me how to build the next one.
No, no...the dual tanks were on the stepside, my second truck:
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/adventures-with-big-blue.313228/
The 'burb is my fourth truck. Like you said, each rig has taught me how to build the next one.
A dual tank burb still sounds cool.
Technically, this is my 3rd burb, but my first one that has really taught me anything about wrenching/building.
I highly anticipate that my next one that I build is already sitting in my driveway.
Body mount bolts are easy. Go easy by doing it by hand. Slower but high chance of getting them out in one piece. If they break or spin like two of mine did, I just used a 4 inch holesaw to gain access from the top of them. When I was done replacing the bolts I just welded the pieces I cut out back in.
That actually seems pretty clever.
So on my way to Lowe’s this afternoon to pick up a door to replace the bathroom door I jacked up last night, rolled the driver window down and it stayed down. Would not go back up. No power. Nothing.
Tonight after I finished rebuilding the bathroom door frame and hung the door, I went out to try to diagnose the issue with my driver window. Tried everything I could think of without getting crazy. Tested wires, inspected for loose or cut wires, etc. Nothing. I was about to start trying to unplug the window motor harness and remove the motor, when I decided to google the issue and see if there was anything else I hadn’t tried yet. Sure enough, there was. I found this short tutorial:
Here's how to roll up a stuck electric window without any tools:
There was no scenario playing out in my head where this would actually work. I’m not that lucky. But I figured why not, it beats tearing the door apart.
Much to my surprise, it worked! The window rolled right up and has worked multiple times since.
I’m sure I’m probably the only person on the planet that didn’t know about this. Nonetheless, does anyone know the science behind WHY this worked? And is it a symptom indicating a need to replace the motor?
Tonight after I finished rebuilding the bathroom door frame and hung the door, I went out to try to diagnose the issue with my driver window. Tried everything I could think of without getting crazy. Tested wires, inspected for loose or cut wires, etc. Nothing. I was about to start trying to unplug the window motor harness and remove the motor, when I decided to google the issue and see if there was anything else I hadn’t tried yet. Sure enough, there was. I found this short tutorial:
Here's how to roll up a stuck electric window without any tools:
- Turn the ignition key to the on or accessory position. ...
- Press and hold the window switch in the closed or up position. ...
- With the window button depressed, open and then slam the car door.
There was no scenario playing out in my head where this would actually work. I’m not that lucky. But I figured why not, it beats tearing the door apart.
Much to my surprise, it worked! The window rolled right up and has worked multiple times since.
I’m sure I’m probably the only person on the planet that didn’t know about this. Nonetheless, does anyone know the science behind WHY this worked? And is it a symptom indicating a need to replace the motor?
The brushes on the commutator are stuck/bad connection. The jolt while power is applied can get it going again. I’ve had to do the same with my harbor freight winch before.
Thanks for the info. I’m always learning something new.
