Body lift done yesterday and it sucked!!

[AlaskanJack]

Well my buddy and I got together to do his 1" body lift. All was going sweet and fast then we had a problem getting the front bolts out of body mounts in front of engine. well we jacked up the truck enought to slide the disc over the bolt and we pressed on from there. we completed all the body mounts and then came back to the front only to realize that there wasn't enough threads sticking through for the front body mounts.

Neither of us knew that the front body mounts screwed together so we hit it with penetrating oil the heat then hammered on the bolt top until we boogered the threads. He finally got a cutting wheel and cut the bolt head off. when we pulled the body mount out we discovered the additional threads in the body mount.

We are going to do this 1" body lift to one of my Explorers next and need input on removing the body mounts without cutting the bolt heads off. We tried to lock vise grips on the round metal top of bushing without success. If you removed the front body mount tell me what you did.

 

[Trckmagik]

I have always had to cut out my front bushings and get new ones for the front. This is a problem area on the explorer when it comes to removing it.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Dang really!!! We were trying to do a budget Body lIft and ordered the 1" Spacers from 4 wheel parts for like $10 and we checked the cost for the front 2 nody mounts was $50 at the dealer.

 

[Alec]

That's a very common problem and many members just get new front mounts.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Huh well I thought we did our research and read all the body lift posts we could. I never read that.

 

[XplorerKid]

when i did my body lift, i didnt have to buy new frotn mody mounts, im not sure how we did it, but when my dad get home ill ask him.

PEACE

 

[nak4af]

Hey AlaskanJack!

Don't forget to thell them that after we cut the bolt head off we removed the bolt and drilled out the sleeve with a 1/2" drill and used one of the ole bolts and ran it through the body bushing. Thus saving the bushing and another $50.00! But was 4 hours worth saving $50.00?

 

[XplorerKid]

yea, if i rememebr right, you are suppose to drill out the bushinf, im pretty sure thats what we did,i tihnk i found that info on the site

PEACE

to drill out the bushings it only took my dad like 5 mins...... why did i take yall 4 hrs?? Not being mean jsut asking

 

[nak4af]

AKJack,

Where's the pics you took??

 

[AlaskanJack]

Originally posted by nak4af
AKJack,

Where's the pics you took??

Look man I was tired today after getting home around 11:30pm then I had to get up and drive back into Anchorage to pick up buddy at the airport and then we shopped all day,(DROVE ME INSANE). Then came home played some cards then drove back into Anchorage and dropped buddy off at airport got home at 12:34am and now I am trying to get to sleep. got to start it all over tomorrow! aauuuggghh!

Pics will be posted tomorrow.

Oh and the reason it took us so long is we didn't realize the bolt was threaded into the body mount. We beat the heck out of it, shot penetrating oil on it, applied heat with propane. It was only after getting it off we realized it was threaded on.

 

[DeRocha]

Hi Kurt,
I have picked up a Daystar body bushing kit for all my body bushings. I may be hitting you up for some info on removing the old crap... They didn't give me any hardware with the kit, just the bushings. I know I will need all new nuts, bolts, and some heavy duty washers.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Naw you can re-use your old bolts and stuff if they come off. Replacing them will be expensive. I should point out that the bolts are Grade 9.8 and the two up front by engine bay are grade 10.8, we could only find grade 8.8. And they were $4.40 each.

I wouldn't suggest getting bolts less than grade 8.

 

[SteveVB]

I didnt have any troubles with the front mounts- I took the nut off the top and then sprayed the bolt from top and bottom, went and did the others.
Came back and the front bolts came right out - I was using air tools.

The only real problem I had was with the rear most mounts on my sport one of the bolts was rusted and snapped off in the bushing, and the other bushing was rusted away, which is interesting since theres virtually no rust ion the frame or body back there- but it was above the exhaust so that may have helped it along. The mounts were shot- the reason I kept getting a big klunk going over a speed bump, or curb. $90 for the mount bushings and 14 for each bolt. The bolts are no longer available, so you need to call around see who has them in stock. Very hard to find 9.8 bolts the right length- 160 or 170mm I think... I couldnt find replacements local at Grainger, or any of the specialty fastener supply houses here or on the net.

 

[DeRocha]

Thanks Kurt, Steve for the info

I didn't realize the hardware would be so much $$. The rear bushings near the bumper are rusted apart (like Steve's). So I know I will need to replace them @ least. The Rest are pseudo ok, but I won't know until I start taking them apart..

The daystar bushing kit only came with the bushings and 2 large washers. fun fun fun...

 

[nak4af]

Originally posted by SteveVB
I didnt have any troubles with the front mounts...

After I let them soak for a week (sprayed them everyday) Kurt and I went to remove the front bolts and the bushing was spinning with the bolt. I couldn't get anything to hold the bushing still so we could remove it. Also wasn't aware that the bolt screwed into the upper bushing. 4 stinkin' hours on one lousy bolt!

 

[AlaskanJack]

Here are a few of the pics from that day.

before

 

[AlaskanJack]

After:

 

[AlaskanJack]

And the fender ht after 1" bodylift is

 

[DeRocha]

Nice photos...did you get a new camera?

 

[ld50]

Alaskan, don`t know if you seen my write-up in my mod thread, but here is an excerpt on that manner:

Then you have to take the bolts out of the mounts from below. They go into a sleeve, you see, and were a problem, because the mount will spin.
I used a big pair of vice grips to hold onto the metal part of the sleeve where it rests against the body,so I could get the pass. side out. I ended up having to grind off the head of the drivers side, pulled it out, put it in a vice, and unscrewed what was left with my vice grips.
Then you have to drill out the old threads in the sleeve to accomadate the new bolts.