How to Put Body Mount Replacements on a Truck

As time wears on, and vehicles get more miles on them, parts start to degrade and wear out, particularly those made of rubber. On a vehicle that has body-on-frame construction, such as a truck or older car, when the rubber body mounts start to wear out, both the frame and the body will take more abuse than usual, causing damage in the process. Replacing these mounts isn't difficult, but it is a bit daunting at first.

Instructions

1

Use the tape measure to determine the distance between the bottom of the rocker on the cab and the frame in several different places, and write those numbers down with a pen and paper. When you lift the body to put on the mounts, you may move everything out of alignment slightly. Having these numbers will let you know if you need to move or adjust the body in any way.

2

Locate all of the body mounts on your truck. On most trucks, the bed is bolted directly to the frame so there are no mounts to worry about. Instead, there are mounts underneath the core support and around the cab. Locate all of these mounts and unbolt all of them on one side of the chassis using the 1/2-inch ratchet and socket.

3

Place the wood block on the jack and position the jack under the cab next to the body mount. Lift up the jack until the wood block contacts the rocker then jack it up until you can see the body is off of the mount by about a 1/2 inch.

4

Lift the body mount off of the stock frame mount and then slide in the replacement mount. Depending on the age of your truck, you may have to lift the body even more with the jack to fit in the mount. Once it's in, lower the jack and loosely thread the bolt into the body mount so that it's in there for alignment but not enough to actually bolt the mount into place.

5

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each mount on each side of the cab, including the core support. Once done, tighten down all of the mounts on that side using the 1/2-inch ratchet and socket, then repeat Steps 2 through 4 on the other side of the truck.

6

Check your measurements on the pad and paper against the completed project using the tape measure. If it's off in one direction or another, loosen the body mounts and push the cab into alignment. Once it's correct, tighten all of the cab bolts down.