77 CJ5 TEARDOWN UPDATE, HELP!!!

NCHornet

New Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Location
Mt Airy
Ok y'all, was hoping I would get the tub off today, but things didn't work out just as I had planned. I got everything disconnected from the firewall, got the clutch linkage disconected and so on. I went to pull the body bolts and was hoping since there was minimal rust they would come free, Yeah Right!!!!
What a Stupid design to have an open channel, with captive nuts, for all the dirt and moisture to collect and rot stuff!!! I have just tried the drivers side so far, but 1 just broke, 1 came out, yeah!!, the other two just spin. I think I can get a swazal in there and just cut thru the bushing and straight thru the nut, but then what? If I cut the nuts off how do I remount the body? Is there a way to do it without having to weld?

Also I learned a huge lesson, I crawled underneath and thought I would take off the huge skid plate under the transfer case. Well guess what, that thing ain't just a skid plate, the transfer case is mounted to it!!! Of course I didn't find this out until I pulled the last bolt out on one side and the thing dropped about 3". It was a real pain to get everything to line back up too, about 2 hours worth. Anyway another stupid design. I would sure appreciate any help y'all can give me
Thanks
Kevin/TJ
 
Hey Kevin, sorry I havent made it by there yet. Those body bolts suck!!!! In the past I have cut the upper floor pan to get to them. You should be able to cut them out like you said as well.
 
Jason,
There you are, I was worried something happened to you! Hey do you know anybody in the area that could do some welding for me? Have some minor rust and now this body mount problem. I need to go to Lowes and get some sawzal blades, I will look and see if they have a hole saw for metal. The good news is I think I have everything else disconnected and feel comfortable I can put it all pack when I'm done. I sent you a email with my # whenever you would like to come up would be fine.
Kevin
 
I had a similar problem when I changed my body mounts, the captive mounts were spinning inside the channel, as Jason said mark there points on the inside of the tub and cut some access panels

makes life alot easier, when you go to replace the bolts, replace all the captive nuts with lock nuts and big washers

as far as replacing what you cut out, I had full intentions of welding the panels back in, but thought ahead and ended up cutting an oversized piece of sheetmetal and screwing a patch panel in instead, that way If I ever have to access them again its easy
 
Another idea is to run by a slavage yard and pick up some rubber drain plugs for the floor. You can find round ones and get a hole saw the right size for the plug. Use the holesaw to acces where the blind nuts are, cut the existing body mount bolts and replace them with new bolts and nylock nuts. Then put in the drain plugs and it will look stock but leave you with access for later removal. You can also pick up a little 110 mig setup from lowes or HD and add a gas bottle. Then you can learn to do all the rust repairs. Sheetmetal is tough but it is very rewarding to do it all yourself.
 
I may look into a low cost welder just for this project. It looks like it might come in handy. Thanks for the tip on rubber plugs, another member suggested using a hole saw sized to fit the galvanized plugs that electricians use for the side of boxes. I thought this was a great idea and one that I will probably try.
Thanks y'all
 
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