Inspection nightmare, frame rot help appreciated

[michael hurd]

You have to slide the cross member into the rails from the rear. You will have to remove the hitch and the bumper for that to happen. I doubt you will spread the rails enough for it to 'drop' in.

Cut the bolts in the hitch, it will save hours of frustration. Box bolts, the best you can do is to keep spraying repeatedly in the cross members and cross your fingers. When you get the box bolts out, run a tap into all of the holes before you put the box back on. Buy new bolts for the box, that is the best route to take, once the threads get filled with rust it's a losing battle.

 

[98_k1500]

He may be better off to just go ahead and break off the bed bolts, and stand the bed up on end and drill them out and re-tap if they are not coming out.

 

[DieselDetroit]

You have to slide the cross member into the rails from the rear. You will have to remove the hitch and the bumper for that to happen. I doubt you will spread the rails enough for it to 'drop' in.

Cut the bolts in the hitch, it will save hours of frustration. Box bolts, the best you can do is to keep spraying repeatedly in the cross members and cross your fingers. When you get the box bolts out, run a tap into all of the holes before you put the box back on. Buy new bolts for the box, that is the best route to take, once the threads get filled with rust it's a losing battle.

Wish it was that easy. The leaf springs are riveted in so I would have to remove that aswell........ They are in the way if I want to slide it out.

Good call on the bolts for the hitch. Will any place recognize "hitch bolts" as a standard size or do I need exact measurements.

For the box, two of my holes are already filled with rust from not seeing any bolts for years. How do I tap them? Do I need the exact thread pattern to scrape the rust out? I'll grab 8 bolts

Any tips on the bumper bolts? Cut or just reuse? Thanks

He may be better off to just go ahead and break off the bed bolts, and stand the bed up on end and drill them out and re-tap if they are not coming out.

Will consider. This is a lot of work for a damn crossmember lol. I do have a set to remove broken bolts so I might go this way


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[98_k1500]

All the bolts with a 18mm head should be 12mm bolts, not sure of the thread pitch, and they run a different hardness scale than standard stuff. 10.9 is a comparable hardness to a grade 8 bolt. If you are using bolts/nuts, grade 8 1/2 inch bolts will do fine. Thats whats in all my stuff after my frame mods.

 

[DieselDetroit]

Tips for removing box? Bolts, harness, fuel filler neck? Anything else?


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[michael hurd]

Box can come off without removing the bumper, but not the other way around, unless the back 4 box bolts are out and the box is lifted slightly to slide something on the top of the frame like a 1" board or something similar. The way the bumper brackets are made, they turn up just in front of the rear box header / U-channel.

Don't forget the wiring for the tail lights when lifting the box off. There should be a ground for the filler neck that attaches to the bottom of the box as well, think it's a 10 mm head if memory serves me. If the bolt won't come out, just cut the wire close to where it bolts on, then drill another hole and crimp a connector back on the remaining wire when installing it again.

 

[thz71]

Tips for removing box? Bolts, harness, fuel filler neck? Anything else?


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Bolts filler neck tail light wiring ground strap

Box can come off without removing the bumper, but not the other way around, unless the back 4 box bolts are out and the box is lifted slightly to slide something on the top of the frame like a 1" board or something similar. The way the bumper brackets are made, they turn up just in front of the rear box header / U-channel.

Don't forget the wiring for the tail lights when lifting the box off. There should be a ground for the filler neck that attaches to the bottom of the box as well, think it's a 10 mm head if memory serves me. If the bolt won't come out, just cut the wire close to where it bolts on, then drill another hole and crimp a connector back on the remaining wire when installing it again.

Noy true ive taken off at least 4 bumpers with the box on

 

[DieselDetroit]

For the bumper, I'm just removing 6 bolts, not 8, I'm. Leaving that bracket attached to the frame and just unbolting the bumper from the bracket


Also I got my hitch off. My knuckles are all messed up. I broke two bolts off, grinded two off, and two came off somewhat unpleasantly. Took me much longer than I wanted. I only have tomorrow and Sunday to remove the bumper and box, grind off the crossmember, and install thr new one. I also need to rewire my entire read end :/


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[98_k1500]

Good luck with it man, what happens if you don't make it in time?

 

[DieselDetroit]

Then I can't drive to work on Monday if it's all taken apart hahahha

So progress update

- hitch removed
- bumper removed
- box unbolted and propped on 2x6s
- rear crossmember out!!!!!!!!!!


Here are some pics. I gotta clean everything up, put it back together and rewire my rear end, it was a friggin mess. I'm going to paint new crossmember with rust paint just to give it a little bit of a better look

To get the rivets off, I grinded, then heated with a propane torch, and hammered with a punch till my wrists were shot, the bolts on the top were extremely difficult, I had the punch at an angle and was hitting super awkwardly. You can see in the second pic how much rust and dirt was falling everywhere, my hair was completely rusty and I was super filthy..... Should have washed the truck beforehand hahahah

I did find a trick for one side tho, after the rivet was grinded, I just hammered the crossmember and it would bend and pull the rivet out, much easier than hammering the rivet itself with a punch. I also cut 90% of the crossmember out with a sawzall and had only the ends remaining, so I was able to really take advantage of its small size and hammer it to pull the rivets out

Time for sleep, I'll get more pics tomorrow!

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