What's the deal with this body mount?

[Mastiff]

I used a 2x4 against the underside of the body and crowbar between that and the frame. As was said, you don't need to lift it much, just enough to get the pressure off the mount and the new one it.

It sounds like you guys are just lifting one mount location at a time, vs. the whole half of the truck like they suggest in mfg instructions. Maybe you can get away with this if just replacing bushings (I am) and not doing a body lift?

I'll probably jinx it for saying this, but life seems good so far. I took a breaker socket to the "hidden" mount locations under the rocker area and they all turned easily. I can't see the other ones turning into a disaster since everything is accessible. The Line-X peels right off of the carriage bolt tops too. It's like it sticks to the regular body, but not to the coated bolts. Only the inside ones appear to be tacked.

 

[colbystephens]

Glad to hear it's going smooth. I lifted a whole side of the body at a time. The only mounts that were a hassle for me were the rearmost mounts - hard to get a socket up in there at the right angle without dropping the tank, but it was doable.

 

[bp71k5]

How did you get the floor jack to reach?

The wood is vertical. Place one end of the 2x6 on the jack and the other end next to the mount. Then jack up until the mount is loose. Are you trying to lift the entire body up all at once? That would be way to much work.

 

[y5mgisi]

It's a pickup but the concept is the same. This is how I did mine.

 

[Mastiff]

The wood is vertical. Place one end of the 2x6 on the jack and the other end next to the mount. Then jack up until the mount is loose. Are you trying to lift the entire body up all at once? That would be way to much work.

I see. Yeah, I was trying not to keep the load very distributed. My plan was to lift half the body at a time with a long 4x4 and two jacks, or something along those lines.

 

[SouthernYank]

Just do a single jack to make it a little easier for one man to operate. Use your 4x4 vertical on the jack since it should fit in the cup better and 2x4 across the top like a "T" to spread the load out some, it shouldn't take much to get the lift you need to replace the bushings. I wouldn't do a 2x6 vertical, the grains of the wood run vertical and have a better chance of splitting the wood, not that you couldn't do it without any issues just a safe practice not to go that route.

I've always used 1 single jack, center of body on the outside of frame with a long 4x4 horizontal for lifting. Had solid concrete blocks to bring the jack up high enough to achieve enough lift.

 

[rebelgregory]

^ What he said. In my pic on the previous page, the body is lifted on a rib just outside the frame rail. Pretty much center of the body and it came up evenly. Jacked it once and did all mounts on that side, including the 1" body lift. Same on other side.

 

[diesel4me]

It sounds like you guys are just lifting one mount location at a time, vs. the whole half of the truck like they suggest in mfg instructions. Maybe you can get away with this if just replacing bushings (I am) and not doing a body lift?

I'll probably jinx it for saying this, but life seems good so far. I took a breaker socket to the "hidden" mount locations under the rocker area and they all turned easily. I can't see the other ones turning into a disaster since everything is accessible. The Line-X peels right off of the carriage bolt tops too. It's like it sticks to the regular body, but not to the coated bolts. Only the inside ones appear to be tacked.

Thats the advantage to having an ARIZONA truck!...bolts actually unscrew,have heads instead of looking like rivets,and NO RUST!...
I've had only a few cab mount bolts ever come out without tearing the cage nut out of the floor on all the trucks I have owned,or took apart at the junkyard..and it was the trucks with rotted "holy" floors the bolts came out intact on,it figures the ones that had nice floors ended up having to be carved open to cut the cage nut off and repair the "cage"....

 

[Mastiff]

Making slow, steady progress on the body mounts. Just putting in about 30 minutes in the evenings between other obligations... and getting out of the heat.

The rear carriage bolt didn't want to come out. I hit it with the air chisel and got it to go. Strange thing is, I was expecting to see a square cutout for it to go in, but it doesn't look that way. I don't think rust can really explain it. Maybe some dude at the factory spun it and rounded it when it was first installed? Anyway, not sure I can use a carriage here anymore (after I spent $45 on the d*mn things). What do you think?

Another question. Can anyone explain what is going on with this bracket inside the rear frame, under the bushing? It has captive nuts on it, probably for the factory rear bumper. I'm not sure if I should leave it, or if I'll be able to get the new bushing in with it there. The old bushing seems slightly stuck to it or something. It's hard to tell.

 

[rebelgregory]

That's the bracket I was talking about in a previous post. It doesn't work quite right with poly mounts and not at all with poly and the 1" body lift. I used a die grinder to cut off the part that sandwiches in between the body mounts. I kept the part with the captive nuts. It holds the 'wing' brackets for the factory rear bumper. If you no longer have the factory rear bumper, maybe you don't need it at all.

And no, I wouldn't re-use a carriage bolt. You know it's gonna be bad news if you ever have to remove it. You could always use a hex and use a grinder to give it a dome profile while still retaining enough edge for a socket to grip.

 

[dremu]

I think you mean "will a carriage bolt still fit and work in this rounded-out hole?", not "Can I reuse my old nasty carriage bolt?" cuz you said you bought new ones.

The hole does look suspect, but welding in new metal and then filing it down to square again would bring teh suck in terms of time and effort. Could JB-weld the corners and file it, and then put the new nut on by hand (i.e. no impact )

Could just use a hex-head there, but that's a PITA to put back together solo. I am starting to have flashbacks to when I did mine ... there was much use of vice grips. Shudder.

-- A

 

[Mastiff]

I'm leaning toward plain old hex. The grade 8 washers I get at Ace look to be just the same size as the carriage head, so it should work out okay. I'll get my wife to help, or find something heavy to capture a wrench.

 

[y5mgisi]

Yep. Hex it.

 

[diesel4me]

When I had to put a bed on a truck alone,I used vise grips on the head of the bolt,and I attached them to a 4 foot long hunk of conduit with a hose clamp,so when I tightened the nut underneath the truck,the conduit would bear up against the side of the bed,and it kept the bolt from spinning..

Sucks working alone sometimes--you need to improvise!..

Air impacts help in situations like this also..I put about 100 1/4" bolts in the floor of my first K5 to bolt in new floor skins I made of 16 gauge galvanized sheet metal,it sucked,crawling up and down a million times,clamping the vise grips on the bolt heads,back under it to tighten the nuts,the vise grips pop off---repeat,swear,repeat...that was when I decided torches were well worth 300 bucks,then I could braze or weld patches in instead..not long after that I got an arc welder..a crappy 50 amp 110V--was good enough to tack weld the floors in,but I soon ditched it in favor of a "real" 220V one..

 

[rampage]

Air impacts help in situations like this also..I put about 100 1/4" bolts in the floor of my first K5 to bolt in new floor skins I made of 16 gauge galvanized sheet metal,it sucked,crawling up and down a million times,clamping the vise grips on the bolt heads,back under it to tighten the nuts,the vise grips pop off---repeat,swear,repeat...that was when I decided torches were well worth 300 bucks,then I could braze or weld patches in instead..not long after that I got an arc welder..a crappy 50 amp 110V--was good enough to tack weld the floors in,but I soon ditched it in favor of a "real" 220V one..

Hope you weren't welding/torching that galvanized metal without removing the galvanization first.

 

[Mastiff]

The outer carriage was halfway rusted away, but the inside one looks like it was installed last week. The square cutout is perfect too. I removed it by dremeling the welded part away with a cutoff wheel, knocking the bolt out, and then grinding the welded part away.

Spent some time messing with how to jack the body. I think I'm going to do it like this.

 

[diesel4me]

When I put a bed on one of my trucks, I used some 1/2" flat washers when the carriage bolts square portion "stripped" the bed hole round,I just welded the washer to the head of the carriage bolt after I put the bolt and washer in a piece of pipe and pounded it down with a hammer,so the square part of the bolt made the hole square,and it sat flush with the head of the bolt..then I tack welded the washer to both the head of the bolt,and the bed itself..

I have used a few hex head bolts,but they were always a pain when I went to drag something in or out of the bed...I prefer carriage head bolts ..

Nice cribbing by the way!..

 

[diesel4me]

Hope you weren't welding/torching that galvanized metal without removing the galvanization first.

Oh yes I did!..

I learned the HARD way never to weld or braze galvanized steel without a FAN blowing the smoke it makes away from you!..I was very ill a good week after being in the cab inhaling those fumes a whole day..zinc chills suck,and there is no real "cure" except for time to pass...

 

[SouthernYank]

That's exactly what I meant, good deal man. Should work out for you just fine. Those blocks look very familiar lol

 

[chulisohombre]

I've used that method when replacing springs under the frame to Keep the weight up. When redid my bushings. I tacked the bolts to the bed so I didn't have to worry about them spinning. Was much easier than trying to vise grip it into place.