Hockey Pucks..Do they Last? Aluminum? Ranger Body Mounts

[rwenzing]

..Rangers like the X also use the 3" pucks, correct?

..The reason I ask is, I don't think they use the 2" O.D. size but since you posted it I could be wrong...

I used 3" diameter aluminum to make mine and they are just right on my 2003. I haven't looked at a 97-back Ranger but my guess is that the 3" would be a good fit on those as well. I posted the part numbers for both diameters only to let you know that there is a choice available from PA.

 

[Tbars4]

..Thanks for scaring the dickens outtame..:

..I had some already being cut when you posted and you had me second guessing..hahaha..:scratch:

 

[Tbars4]

I like them, a lot less movement between the body and cage now but there is still some. Prothane gives you a complete set of uppers and lowers for each mount and reuse all your old hardware. For some reason the rear lower mounts were a 1/4" taller than the stockers...all the rest matched up height wise.

I want to say I paid $47 so not much difference than what you are finding.

..Thanks Dave..Your input as always is very helpful and I had read a review where someone received some that were 1/2" shorter...

..I'm suspecting I'll need to buy longer bolts with the addition of the pucks and I'm hoping the beach saltwater and the road salt of Big Bear don't have things rusted up on me..

 

[Tbars4]

..I had some time Friday so I went to my local steelyard and happened to find a cut off section of 3" round Aluminum...I had them cut me a bakers dozen 1" pucks off of it on their bandsaw and I picked them up yesterday..($44)..

...Hopefully tomorrow I can get the body mounts ordered and picked up in a day or two..

..That will leave me to run over to my buddies machine shop to get to play with his big boy tools and drill me some holes....and then to figure out if the existing bolts will work or if I need to replace those too..

 

[DB_1]

Fair warning on removing body mount bolts...Most of them came out fairly easy for me except for the rears. I ended up having to cut the mounts out. There is actually a sleeve within a sleeve and it turns out they were mushroomed preventing the bolt from coming out despite all my pounding with a 2 lb sledge and long punch.

I'd have to guess all the body/frame flexing over the years from off roading really does a number on the mounts.

 

[rwenzing]

..and then to figure out if the existing bolts will work or if I need to replace those too..

You can look at your current bolts but I doubt that there is a full inch of extra threads available at every bolt to accommodate the 1" blocks.

Since there are several lengths, you may be able to swap some of the existing bolts to new locations to save some bucks. I only had to buy 2 new bolts BUT my situation is a little different because mine is a tapered lift (1.3" at the radiator core support tapering to 0" at the back of the bed). My guess is that you should be able to swap/reuse at least some of the bolts for a straight 1" lift.

 

[Tbars4]

...Curious why you chose to go the tapered route instead of the 1" all around?

 

[Tbars4]

Fair warning on removing body mount bolts...Most of them came out fairly easy for me except for the rears. I ended up having to cut the mounts out. There is actually a sleeve within a sleeve and it turns out they were mushroomed preventing the bolt from coming out despite all my pounding with a 2 lb sledge and long punch.

I'd have to guess all the body/frame flexing over the years from off roading really does a number on the mounts.

..Did you cut yourself some new sleeves or just re-use your existing?

 

[DB_1]

I just re-used the existing (cut) sleeves. Not ideal but i'll keep my eye on it. I finished replacing the body mounts a day or so before the Devil's Canyon run so all I could do was get the new mounts in and run it.
Held up fine considering that run was the biggest test of the Ranger yet and i'm confident I won't have any problems...knock on wood.

 

[Tbars4]

..Today's update...

..I got the order in at 4WP for the Prothane body mounts at $47.53...I can actually walk between the two companies to do the pick up but they said it would either be 1-2 days or I could pay an extra $10 and have them UPS'd to 4WP today..

..and I actually had time to look at the Ranger body mount locations today..The bed has none so I gots to thinking..

...:scratch:..I could either do 1" on all bolt locations including the bed or, 1" the cab and only the front two bolts of the bed leaving the very rear (2 of 4 bolts) at zero and possibly throw a couple washers on the front (2 of 4) bolts..

..The somewhat sloped idea may help since I have the chevy 64 springs in the rear and it puts the axle just a hair in front of center of the wheel well and it would level the truck..

.Doing the 1" all around with 3" round pucks (as apposed to rectangular) on the bed/frame rail may look odd since there are no body mounts at this location so I may have extra pucks sitting around..

..I did notice that on the Ranger there are a couple other (unbolted) cross supports for the bed that land on the frame that will no longer be supported either way I go.

..any thoughts?

 

[Stic-o]

sort of late to this.... The ranger cab that zukman and I have has a body lift on it. I'd give the to ya...

 

[Tbars4]

...thanks Steve but I already have some pucks and hopefully I will have this done this weekend ..

 

[rwenzing]

...Curious why you chose to go the tapered route instead of the 1" all around?

The primary driver for doing a lift was my V8 swap. Lifting the body 1.3" allows the stock 5.0 Explorer radiator to be dropped down and moved forward under the core support, freeing up more room for the blower belt drive and the Lincoln Mark VIII electric fan. The cross plate that mounts the front bumper and factory tow hooks was raised up 1.25" relative to the frame to bring those parts back into line with the body.

Of course, this also yields more tire clearance up front.

I chose to do a lift that tapers to zero at the rear of the bed to avoid gaps at the bumper/hitch and to give the body a slight leveling. There are no off-the-shelf spacer blocks available for a tapered lift, so each pair was made to the custom height required. The rearmost bed bolts have no spacers and the next set forward use a large steel washer of an appropriate thickness. The other 8 were bandsawed slightly oversize from 3" aluminum stock and faced to length on a lathe.

 

[Tbars4]

..Thanks for taking the time and sharing all tht info with us..

...and hopefully I will have this done this weekend ..

..Well this ain't happening..

....Thanks to 4 wheel parts and their infinite wisdom, one of their expediters got a hold of the order and saw they have the body mounts in one of their stores in Denver..

..So instead of me having them here yesterday from the MFG. down the road, the parts should be arriving from Denver either Thursday or Friday..

 

[JENNIFER_SUSAN]

..Today's update...

..I got the order in at 4WP for the Prothane body mounts at $47.53...I can actually walk between the two companies to do the pick up but they said it would either be 1-2 days or I could pay an extra $10 and have them UPS'd to 4WP today..

..and I actually had time to look at the Ranger body mount locations today..The bed has none so I gots to thinking..

...:scratch:..I could either do 1" on all bolt locations including the bed or, 1" the cab and only the front two bolts of the bed leaving the very rear (2 of 4 bolts) at zero and possibly throw a couple washers on the front (2 of 4) bolts..

..The somewhat sloped idea may help since I have the chevy 64 springs in the rear and it puts the axle just a hair in front of center of the wheel well and it would level the truck..

.Doing the 1" all around with 3" round pucks (as apposed to rectangular) on the bed frames rail may look odd since there are no body mounts at this location so I may have extra pucks sitting around..

..I did notice that on the Ranger there are a couple other (unbolted) cross supports for the bed that land on the frame that will no longer be supported either way I go.

..any thoughts?

I also think that doing round pucks, it'll look little bit odd

 

[Tbars4]

...Any tips on punching out or cutting the mushroomed sleeves?

...Are they just like what are pictured with the new body mounts?

 

[Scott B.]

Most likely, the rubber bushings are fused to the mushroom sleeves. I ended up replacing the sleeves when I changed my body mounts.

You can try cutting the old rubber bushings off. If the sleeves are not in too bad of shape, you might be able to wire brush the rust off and reuse them.

 

[Tbars4]

...I got them all but one..

..Smooshed my thumb with the 2# sledge and kept motoring but this one is a burger..It's the one under the pedals that's giving me fits and the one under the glove box/jockey box was a pain as well..

...I'm not sure yet what I'm going to use to replace the bed bolts to longer ones though..:scratch:

 

[Scott B.]

...I'm not sure yet what I'm going to use to replace the bed bolts to longer ones though..:scratch:

How about some nice Grade 8 bolts? Or at least Grade 5.

Having of those break on you would be interesting, to say the least.

 

[Tbars4]

...Grade 8 for sure but the head is in question.

...looking to replace with longer dome top may prove interesting..