Decided to start an entirely new thread to catalog the work:

Cab Mount Bushings Status: Passenger Side Bolts Pulled @ Positions 1, 2, and 3. (Easy Part). Passenger Side Radiator Core Mount Bushings out. The bolt was rusted to the Radiator Core Support Upper Body Mount Sleeve (description per Bronco Graveyard). Once I figured out there was a hex threaded insert in the middle of the rubber bushing assembly, it was just a matter of cutting out the rubber part and putting a 1" box end on the hex part of the threaded insert, then impact wrenching the bolt out.

 

Also started on some interior cab rust repair today. I pulled all the old interior vinyl and backing (disgusting). Purchased a shop vac, and got it cleaned up. Grinded away the rust with a cup style wire brush using an angle grinder. Lots more to do...may have to cut more out and weld in new than i wanted to on the Driver Side.

 

Good work. I too am working on refinishing my interior at the moment. Easy work, but can be time consuming with all the prep and paint and such. Keep up the good work and keep us informed!

Btw, is that a outlet wired into your truck??

 

Outlet..yes. Did I put it there, No. I'm sort of torn whether to remove it, or leave it...I'll probably remove it. Back in the day, guys at work use to put portable heaters in their cabs...that ended as you can probably imagine...with a car burning to the ground.

I forgot to mention that I also started on distributor cap & rotor, wires, and plugs today. I have a feeling the guy before me used an impact to put the plugs in. I got burnt out after the first 3 nearly gave me a hernia. I'm going to need either a cheater or an impact to get the remainders out....seriously irritating.

 

Daggum, having the plugs in there that tight prob isnt good!

 

Spark Plugs - Changed
Wires - Changed
Distributor Cap - Changed
Distributor Rotor - Changed
Driver's Side Interior Rust Grinded Out, Rust Stop Applied, Will Primer tomorow.

The seat belt bolts down at the rocker panel are rusted beyond my power to break free (much effort applied). Gobs of PB Blaster applied with no improvement. Driver's side star head is now stripped (ok, so maybe a 3 foot cheater was a bad idea)....I guess my best bet now is to drill it out from the top huh ?....

Rocker Panel for Drivers side on order. LH Floor Panel, far edge on order. LH & RH Cab Corners on order. All gaskets for engine on order.

 

Ok - so somewhere in the process of lifting my cab to replace the body mount bushings, I FUBAR'd (technical term) my clutch mechanism. Furthermore, I can't seem to pinpoint exactly what it is that I did to it. Maybe I'll try to get a video of how it is acting, but in short, when I press the clutch all the way to the floor and release, it only comes about 80% of the way back then I have to pull the clutch pedal the rest of the way (it sort of "pops" from 80% to 100% out).

If there was something I was suppose to disconnect on the clutch (between clutch and transmission or clutch and frame), prior to lifting the cab, I definitely DID NOT. I didn't lift the cab exceptionally high, and I did one side at a time. Basically, I lifted it 3-4 inches in order to get the old bushings out and new in.

Any help here or thoughts on what might be wrong is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

Maybe you could give me some insight. I have an 82 like yours but mine is an XLT Lariat. I have been in the process of replacing the body mount bushings. This it self has been the hardest thing to do so far. How did you get them seperated?

 

Front Bushings (by Radiator) - There are essentially 2 sets of threads in this component. First (and easiest to deal with), is the nut / bolt combo that you reach by coming in from the top (from hood of car). On the passenger side, you probably have to remove your air intake to the air filter if it is still stock. Then access is easy. Once you have the nut off, the bolt still can not be removed. There is a threaded sleeve (LMC page 31 calls it the CUSHION-UPPER) that sits on (and in) the bushing that sits between the radiator support (extension of cab) and the support off the frame. If you cut away the top rubber bushing in this location (difficult, but doable) you'll see what I'm talking about. Once you get the top rubber cut away (if you can do it cleanly) then you may be able to get a 1" wrench around the exterior of it (it's a hex assembly, when stock). Put the wrench on it, and hope you can get the bolt to spin out. If it's stuck (one of mine was stuck bad), plan B is torching it out. You might get lucky with a sawsall, but mine couldn't touch the bolt. In which case, you'll be order the part off of Page 31 from LMC.

Middle Bushing (under your feet in the cab). There's an access point if you remove the carpet / vinyl, whatever and expose the metal cab. Getting the bolt out here is a snap. There's only one set of threads in this assembly, and it's essentially a nut that is welded on to the RETAINER-LOWER (lmc pg 31 terminology). Now comes the hard part. I used a "Bushing Puller". It's a 3" diameter piece of pipe (4.5" long roughly) with one side that is essentially covered with a large washer. Mine was built sorta custom and I can take a picture of it if you like. Bottom line, it needs to be beefy. Put the open end around the bottom bushing from below, insert your bolt through the washer side, and get after it with an impact wrench. CAUTION - you'll probably FUBAR your bolt, and the "retainer-lower", because of the torque required to get the bushings to come apart. (refurb with tap and die set if you have it) The top and bottom bushing retainers are "factory flared", which is why you have to do this. I've heard of the following alternative method to the bushing puller. Partially thread the OEM bolt (or longer bolt from the rear cab mount) from inside the cab, leaving enough sticking up to hit it with a BFH (large hammer). Honestly, I don't see this working, and will almost certianly FUBAR you existing hardware beyond refurb.

The rear bushings behind the seat, I am not replacing. Initially, I was going to. But then I realized that the driver side was going to require me to, at a minimum, pull the gas tank. Also, the above described "bushing-puller" does not work on the rear bushings. The geometry is not the same as. You would have to fab up a different custom bushing puller for the back, which could easily be done I'm sure, with more welding and mechanical aptitude than I have. Besides, the rear bushings showed little to no wear, although now I'm going to have Poly-Urethane bushings in front and mid locations, and rubber in the back.

To replace the bushings, I did one side at a time. For example, loosen all the drivers side bolts as much as possible (still leaving a few threads in the nuts for proper alignment), and obviously remove all bolts on the side you are trying to jack up. Put a 2X6 under the rocker panel on the passenger side of the truck and get after it with your jack. CAUTION - I messed up something on my clutch during this process. Don't know what or why. Might need to disconnect some stuff with your gas pedal and cluth (and maybe brake pedal) so you don't do the same. At this point, the cab will lift up off the frame so you can slide the new bushings in.

I realize this was a long explanation. Send me a private message if you want more details.

 

On the clutch question you probably bent something in the bell crank--under the drivers dide have someone push in the clutch while you watch them.

 

For the seat belts, i had the same exact problem you had for trying to remove that daggum star bolt! (think they had them in there that good to keep us safe ) I was actually able to get one out fine, but the other was very stubborn. After awhile of playing with it i managed to strip it.

So what i ended up doing was grinding down two sides of the bolt so i could stick a wrench or pair of vice grips on it so i could get alot more leverage. It worked, and since no one even sees that bolt it doesn't bother me. But if needed you could just run to the junk yard and grab another one.

 

I'm replacing rocker panels and cab corners next week, so the seat belt bolt problem should be resolved. I have new bolts which I believe go into the new rocker panel.

 

Kool! Please post pics on that project if your able, I would love to see what you did. Mine was rusted out & was an intense cut & weld job.

 

I have removed the seat belt bolts on several donor trucks. They are very hard to remove and think that they may have some sort of thread locker on them. You may want to add heat to see if it makes them easier to remove. I have found that a small pipe wrench will bite on the outside of the bolt if you start to strip the starr inset.

 

In case anyone is interested them "Star" bolts are called Torx.

And the Torx bit size for the seat belts is T-50.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~