My 1984 F150 2wd Flareside Project "Blue Mule"

[1986F150Six]

Nice!

[Gary Lewis]

Far be it from me to tell someone the wrong torque value and have him twist something off.  

So, I'd rather post the FSM page.  

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

How's this?

That's great Gary, thank you. My apologies...I didn't mean for anybody to have to take the effort to actually look it up...I thought it might have been one of those things that you knew off the top of your head;).

[Gary Lewis]

No, my head is .  That's 'cause I'm waaaaaaay in, far over my head in documentation.  I just posted a new thread asking for help on the tip of the iceberg on that subject.  But, there are two more similar documents that I've had scanned and will, soon process.

However, "process" is way to simple of a word.  I had the people doing the scanning take the booklet apart and scan it that way.  But, that gave me 30 pdf pages, each of which held two pages for a 70-page document.  And, they aren't adjacent.  So, it took hours to duplicate each page and then crop it to keep only the appropriate one.

Plus, on the TSB front Keith Dickson (Mr FORDification) found me a trove of TSBs from the late 70's to the late 90's.  But, they are in Michigan.  And there are probably 500 booklets/25,000 pages and they fill up 22 large 3-ring binders.  So, shipping looks EXPENSIVE.  Given that, there may be a road trip in the offing.

Meanwhile I'm trying to scan in some of the interchange pages as they look REALLY useful to folks.

So, you can see why my brain isn't about to retain anything, much less torque values.  So, I'd rather give you the real thing rather than what I think it is.  

[Rembrant]

Guys,

Are any of you familiar with cab mounts? Specifically, LMC cab mounts?

I was just unwrapping these tonight to get everything fitted together, and the rear cab mounts don't seem right. The front cab mounts fit together nicely and leave a small gap for the steel mount on the frame. The rear mounts to not fit together and have a large gap where the crossmember sits between them. Is that normal?



I called LMC to see if I had some mixed and matched parts. I'm not sure why, but they have two listings for the rear upper mounts 1980-1994, and then a different one for 1995-1996, but they both have the same part number, and they assured me that they were the same. However, the rear lower cushion has a completely different year break...1980-1986, and then 1987-1996. Why would there be different lower mounts if the uppers were all the same from 1980-1996?



Anybody been there and done that with the LMC rear cab mounts?

[Gary Lewis]

Yours don't look like mine, which are shown here: Suspension & Steering/Body Mounts and then the Cab Mounts tab followed by the Rear Cab Mounts tab.  (And, if you follow that all the way I'll be surprised.  )

[Rembrant]

Gary,

Your parts are all the same as mine...same part numbers and everything.

Have you installed the ones in these pics?

Man, the rear cab mounts just don't seem right to me the way the upper and lower cushions contact each other.

The front upper/lower cushions fit together perfectly, but the rear ones do not fit like this.

Hmmm...

I wonder what is different about the 1987-1996 rear lower cushions?

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, mine are installed.  I didn't do it as my paint/body man did it, but he didn't have any problems.

Let me see if I can find info about the later ones in the catalog...  

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, go back to the link above and look at the Ford Part Numbers tab.  There you'll see the rear cab mount and it shows that they were the same up until a build date of 10/88.

[Steve83]

This shows the same set for '84 & '94:
https://www.energysuspensionparts.com/products/ford_f150_2wd_1984?scri=8,1&filter

[Rembrant]

Ok, I just spoke to a gal at LMC that was super helpful and I think we have the mystery solved. She was nice enough to send me pictures of both versions of the rear lower cushions. It looks like I need to order the 1987-1996 rear lower cushions (part # 40-2009) to work properly with the upper rear mounts (part # 40-2002). There is something screwy with the parts listing, because the 1980-1986 rear lower cushions (part # 40-2008) do not fit the upper cushions. You can see below that the 40-2009 lower cushion has the recess for the upper cushion to fit into.



And below, the 40-2008 lower cushion, which basically has just a straight bore hole through it, and no recess for the upper cushion to fit.



Anyway, no big deal. I'll get a pair of the 40-2009 lowers on order and report back with how they fit after I receive them.

I assume at some point they started using the later upper cushions for all years 1980-1996, but then left two different versions of the lower rear cushions...

[Rembrant]

The new rear lower cab mount cushions arrived today, and they fit the upper cushion much better. I'm not sure what is up with the LMC listing, but it looks to me like only the 1987-1996 rear lower cushions fit the listed 1980-1996 upper cushions properly (By properly, I mean fit together as the factory mounts did/do). I have one of the 1985 rear mounts at work, so I'll compare with it tomorrow.

Below shows the mounts all together:

Cab front mount at top.
Cab rear mount in middle (1980-1996 Upper cushion with 1980-1986 lower cushion)
Cab rear mount on bottom (1980-1996 Upper cushion with 1987-1996 lower cushion).



Below shows the two lower cushions side by side. You can see that the one on the left has the recess to fit the upper cushion so that they sandwich the frame crossmember snugly.



Anyway, I'm back in business and can carry on with the installation (if I can get the old ones out...lol). I already know that the 1985 needs the frame saver repair kit...I'm pretty sure the 84 is going to need them as well, and it's going to be a much bigger PITA to deal with....

[Gary Lewis]

Glad you got that figured out.  That is bizarre.  I hope LMC will fix that.

It is a pain when the layers you are peeling aren't on the truck but are those of a supplier.  

[Rembrant]

Holy heck are those cab mounts a bear to remove! This is what my 35 year old rear mounts look like. I'd say they well beyond their best before date.



I was worried that the crossmember holes would be rusted out, but they are OK! It's not that it's a terrible fix, but it IS with the cab installed. I sprayed the rusty area with Rust Converter and will let it sit until tomorrow evening. I'll apply some black rust paint over that, and stick the new mount in hopefully Tuesday night. The front mounts will be quicker I think. The frame stands look like brand new.



I'm going to make a press/removal tool tomorrow. Checked a couple Youtube vids, and they're using a piece of pipe with threaded rod to pull the buttom cushion of the mount off. I just need to find some thin wall pipe that is at least 3.25" ID, but not larger than about 3.75 OD.

Hopefully I'll have some better results in a few days.

[Gary Lewis]

Progress is good, as Jim/ArdWrknTrk says.  

How 'bout some pics of that tool you are making?

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

How 'bout some pics of that tool you are making?

Gary,

The "tool" ended up being really crude, but it worked PERFECTLY! These cab mounts being difficult to remove may be strictly a rust belt issue, but they are extremely difficult to break apart, especially when changing them with the cab in place. Edit to add: I cut the pipe so I could expand it a little bit...3" pipe isn't quite big enough. I needed about 3.25" ID.

I ended up using a piece of 3" exhaust pipe cut to 3.5" long, and I used a piece of 5/8" aluminum bar as my cross piece. The bolt is simply the bolt removed from the front mount, inside the cab.



I got the idea from this Youtuber below...



This video shows you just how hard the two sections weld themselves together. Not so bad when you have access to them from the top. The rear mounts can be removed this way. The front ones...not so much, especially with the clutch pedal and dash in the way.



Anyway, I'm off to the races and these mounts are getting popped off in seconds.

[grumpin]

Very cool! Nice to see it work in the videos.

Good job!

[Rembrant]

I took a pic of it on the passenger front mount. This one was especially hard to pull off. My 3" split exhaust pipe looked like it was starting to deform...lol, but it let go in the end. I used a 5/8" socket on my 1/2" CP impact gun.



Also, found out that the LMC bolts for the front mounts are the wrong length and cannot be used. The good news is the existing bolts were perfectly fine to re-use. The bad news...I ordered bolts that not only don't fit, I didn't need them anyway.



So that's it for this evening. I have all four cab mounts removed and three new ones installed. Just treating the rear crossmember mount (passenger side) with rust converter overnight before installing the new mount tomorrow. That will get the cab mount work all tidied up.

On to brake lines, fuel line, and electrical.

[Gary Lewis]

Very well done, Cory!  Thanks for the documentation and the Youtubes that explain how to do it.  

Boy, LMC really did a number on you on this one.    Glad you got it worked out in the end.

[Ford F834]

Nice pics and video links! Thanks! By any chance are you taking before and after measurements between the body and frame? I’m curious how much the new bushings pick up the cab. Did you go with rubber or poly?