My 1984 F150 2wd Flareside Project "Blue Mule"

[Steve83]

Rembrant wrote

The front ones...not so much, especially with the clutch pedal and dash in the way.

Air hammer, FTW.  I think I spent more time lifting the carpet & prying out the covers than I did knocking the mounts apart on this Bronco (10 mounts instead of 6).

[Rembrant]

Steve83 wrote

Air hammer, FTW.  I think I spent more time lifting the carpet & prying out the covers than I did knocking the mounts apart on this Bronco (10 mounts instead of 6).

LOL. I have an air hammer, but it is a tool I absolutely despise, and is a last resort for me in all situations.
The little press I used took all of five minutes to make with parts I had on the shelf, and it worked perfectly, so I can't complain too much. I'm going to use it again today on the 1985 frame, but it should be a little easier to deal with since I already have the body off the frame and the mounts are easily accessible.

[Rembrant]

Ford F834 wrote

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?

Jon, I'm using stock replacement rubber mounts. I did not measure the cab to frame distance, but I did measure how far the bolts protruded through the nut on the bottom plate. My plan is to tighten the bolts down to the exact same measurement, so the height should stay the same, and the mounts will be compressed the same as the originals were.

[Steve83]

Rembrant wrote

...a tool I absolutely despise...

Why?

Rembrant wrote

...the body off the frame...

I find that to be MUCH harder (with a hammer) - I think the lack of preload (the weight of the body) on the rubber lets it bounce more.

[Gary Lewis]

My body man says the way to line up the cab with the bed is via those bolts.  The bed attaches directly to the frame so unless you shim it is where it is.  So install it first, and then bring the cab down to match it.  Then bring the front clip into alignment with the cab.

We don't have the trim on the truck yet, so it isn't in its "final" position, but pretty close as the body lines match.  So I could measure the bolt protrusion as well as the height of the bushing/mount between cab and frame - if that would help.

[Rembrant]

Steve,

I’m not telling you why.

And, I didn’t say I was using a hammer to remove the mounts. I just said they were going to be easier to access with the body off the frame.

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

So I could measure the bolt protrusion as well as the height of the bushing/mount between cab and frame - if that would help.

Hey Gary,

I think I should be OK with the protrusion measurement for now. It will effectively give the same as stock dimension. However, I still have to install the bed, with new mounting blocks, and I'm replacing the front fenders as well, so I'm going to have some body alignment work to do for sure. Currently, I just want to get the cab back to where it was.

I think the cab needs to be shifted a little bit (I haven't measured it against the frame yet). The driver's front wheel was sticking out past the fender a little further than the RH side, and the rad support was pushed hard to the right, so that tells me the cab could be cocked to the right a little bit. I'll deal with that when I install the new front fenders. I'll loosen the cab mounts and shift it if need be.

[Gary Lewis]

Dad's truck has the following bolt protrusion:

LF =   .912"    RF = .840"
LR = 1.135"  RR = 1.050"

[Steve83]

Rembrant wrote

I didn’t say I was using a hammer...

I know.  I was talking about why I don't pull the body first.

I used my air hammer yesterday to align the door on my '95 F150.   I used it last month to shred my '94 CV.





It's a fun tool!

[Gary Lewis]

That's a lot of slitting.  Wow!

[vicp21]

What are you doing with the crown vic?

[Steve83]

Scrapping it.  Read this & the NEXT few captions:

[Gary Lewis]

I think you'll like the new 2-poster for that kind of work.  I've done several with mine.

[Rembrant]

So tell me Ford & Bullnose experts, what is the reasoning for the two different sized brake line fittings in the axle end of the rear flex line?. The larger of the two was a bit difficult to find. After two parts shops came up empty I stopped at one of the two Ford dealers, and sure enough, they found one somewhere on dust covered shelf out back.

[Rembrant]

Ford F834 wrote

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?

By the way, it turns out that measurements were not required, not with the stock replacement mounts at least. I did measure the bolt protrusion so I could set it exactly the same when I installed the new mounts. What I did was cut four little pieces of 3/8" hose to stick over the bolts so that I could tighten the mounts evenly until the bolt protrusion was the correct length. It ended up that they all bottomed out, and the bolt protrusion was correct on all four corners. This may not apply to the Poly mounts, but with the stock replacements, it looks like the installed height is a fixed distance.



The new mounts look much better installed and I'm sure it will be a little nicer/smoother ride in the cab now compared to the old stiff/cracked/worn out rubber mounts.

[Gary Lewis]

That's good to know.  

[Rembrant]

This little gadget above my wheel cylinder...is it supposed to be loose or fixed rigid? The one on the driver's side doesn't move, and the one on the passenger side fell off during disassembly.

[FuzzFace2]

Rembrant wrote

This little gadget above my wheel cylinder...is it supposed to be loose or fixed rigid? The one on the driver's side doesn't move, and the one on the passenger side fell off during disassembly.

All the ones I have come across come off.
They do like to rust in place. If you hit it with a little PB Blaster and tap with a hammer it will come loose to clean up.

Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

Cory - That is a Plate (Brake Shoe Anchor Pin) D7TZ 2028-B.  

But Dave is right, it should be able to rotate.  And while his picture is the best, here's the illustration from Driveline/Brakes:

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

Cory - That is a Plate (Brake Shoe Anchor Pin) D7TZ 2028-B.  

Thanks Gary,

I'll free it up, no worries. Appreciate the reply.

Now, I'm just installing the master cylinder, and I can't remember the orientation of the brake switch and plastic bushings, etc. Do you have a picture of this on the site? I just checked the brakes page and I didn't see it.