bed mount question - bent frame from towing?

[padresag]

joe that is what I think that is what it is above the axle area. reinforcment strip would be a good term. it just fastens to the bottom of the plywood and sits off from the frame. as the other insulators collapse, it eventually resides on the top of the frame.
both my panel and my suburban have them there . it clears the frame on my panel but the insulators on the suburban are bulging out and that bar is resting on the frame.
this was explained to him on another site
ron

[joe231]

oh,
I at one time frequented several of the sites....but this one has taken over my time
as far as I'm concerned there are no "others"

[padresag]

oh
they all have their pros and cons and their own little clique
ron

[Chuck78]

Sorry Ron in BC, I replied here yesterday before I read my daily 60-66 GMC email list where you replied. Yes, I believe most likely that my mounts are just flattend out from time. I still think my cross sill "reinforcement strip" is possibly sitting in the wrong location, but my mounts are less than 1/2" thick, and the new ones are supposed to be about 3/4" give or take, so that would explain a whole lot.

Another member emailed me off list and told me that the cross sill is definitely in the wrong place if it's at the highest point of the frame over the axle. Double whammy on my bed there if that's the case.

I've inspected the frame several times, and no apparent signs of bending, but still have not been able to pull a string and measure to make sure the rear of the frame is level/parallel with the mid section.

[padresag]

it sits right at the back of the high flat section just before it drops. the 3rd picture of protrash shows it in it's proper place just above the panhard bar
it is located 32 3/4" behind the frt cross sill and 24' in frt of the rear cross sill and that is centre to centre on the bolt holes
ron

[Chuck78]

I wonder if, after I replace the burb/panel bed mounts, use one of the thin 1/4" pickup rubber bed bushings and put it between the reinforcement strip cross sill and the frame?

Also, I suppose that I will most likely have to replace ALL of my body bushings when replacing the bed mount bushings, as on a panel/burb, I'm sure this would create problems.. bummer. One project always turns into ten!

[padresag]

that is just meant to float so there is no sense to put anything there.
unfortunately with a pane or suburban body you should do all the mounts or it will give you alignment problems elsewhere. there is no easy way out with these things and then you are more than likely gooing to have to deal with some rust issues along the way
ron

[Chuck78]

are the front cab mounts on the panels/burbs also a specialty item, or will the standard pickup mounts work?

[padresag]

they are the std frt cab mounts but don't buy the p/u cab mounting kit as you will only be able to use half of it. buy the frt mounts seperately.. also replace you rad support mount insulators so as to align your frt end sheet metal to the body. everything is connected
ron

[padresag]

if one is really stuck for those insulators there should be 2 for every mount- 1 above the frame and 1 under. the one under will not of had the strain off the body sitting on it so should still be usable to use as the top one for a while.
other option is to get some of that hard black rubber 5/8" and cut some out to the sizes mentioned above. the steel backing plate that was bonded to the orig is .100" thick. noe that old backing plate may fall off the old insulator so use that..
the other option is to find a good plastic shop that may have the right thickness of polyurethane or urethane of the type that they use for s/absorbers and other suspension pats and make them out of that. total thickness o.720"
ron

[Chuck78]

Bob's Chevy Truck Parts and Early Classic have the 67-69 and "67-72" complete suburban bed mount kit w/o hardware. I'm ordering a set before they run out!

[Chuck78]

early classic is all out for good now, but just phoned to BobsChevytrucks.com and he said he has them in stock for the "67-72". For $200, I hope they fit!

Also, I was curious as to whether these were the same units, 73-80 blazer mounts:

http://www.harmons.com/ItemDetail.aspx?pid=27173


http://www.harmons.com/ItemDetail.aspx?pid=27601


http://www.harmons.com/ItemDetail.aspx?pid=27317


they look the same to me, and use up to 1980 might explain why GM still had stocks left of the 67-72 units up until 2008.

whaddya think guys?




Also, on a separate note, looking at my rear brakes last night, I noted that my bed cross support reinforcement strip piece that is causing the hump in my bed floor) was a good bit ahead of my panhard bar mount on the frame. The panhard mount on my frame is directly underneath where the frame starts sloping down. The bed floor "reinforcement strip" is sitting (due to saggy mounts) on the highest pont of the frame just in front of the axle. I am still confused as to whether or not this is the correct spot. I think it should be directly above the panhard mount where the frame slopes downwards, to give it more clearance. Just getting 1/4" more out of new bodymounts will still leave this reinforcement strip REALLY CLOSE to the frame, if not on it.

[padresag]

I did give you exact measurements the other day. I also told you where it was located.bye
ron

[joe231]

does your truck have the original style bed wood? the strips between the wood dictates where the re-enforcement strip is located....you are kinda beating a dead horse here.....

[padresag]

it is a panel and the floor is made of plywood and not all bolts go through the strips
ron

[joe231]

Originally Posted by padresag

it is a panel and the floor is made of plywood and not all bolts go through the strips
ron

you have seen Chuck's truck?

[padresag]

Originally Posted by Chuck78

After owning my truck for a short while, I noticed when the previous owner replaced the bed wood with some oak plywood on my 62 GMC panel, Thanks guys.

1st line in the thread , he states that it is a panel
no I haven't seen it. it is more than likely the original floor as one has to lift the body off the frame in order to replace the floor
. it is 2 ---- 1/2 sheets of plywood with a seam down the middle
ron

[joe231]

yeah I realize it is a panel, I was asking him what kind of wood he has in his, you can't assume anything with the rigging some of the po's do...
I didn't realize the panels didn't have metal strip and wood like the trucks.
I'm not sure if you are meaning it to come across as as hateful, Ron, but your post do seem a bit that way. I am only asking questions to try and give the OP help......

[padresag]

Originally Posted by joe231

yeah I realize it is a panel, I was asking him what kind of wood he has in his, you can't assume anything with the rigging some of the po's do...
I didn't realize the panels didn't have metal strip and wood like the trucks.
I'm not sure if you are meaning it to come across as as hateful, Ron, but your post do seem a bit that way. I am only asking questions to try and give the OP help......

just direct answers Joe , so that people do not get confused with to many words.

what kind of wood? I think that he states in the opening statement that he thinks that it is oak plywood

I didn't realize the panels didn't have metal strip and wood like the trucks.
panels are trucks joe, but panels and suburbans take a different floor and mounting structure than p/u's do. they also use metal strips but in the panel they don't form a part of the structure as they do in a p/u. in a p/u they align and hold the boards in place. in panels primarily to just as hold downs or as long washers if one looks at it in that vain,so that the stovebolts that are used to hold down the floors doesn't suck into the wood. the other function of those strips in all the floors is that they are wear strips to allow objects to be slid across the floors so that they do not abraid


I'm not sure if you are meaning it to come across as as hateful. please elaborate Joe on what you mean as hateful, that is a pretty strong word?
ron

[joe231]

I saw in his first post that the floor had been replaced with oak plywood, I was curious if the "wear strips" were installed. I didn't realize the panels had plywood for bed wood originally. sorry if I was unclear on what I was asking, I was trying to get at the wear strip issue.
so the wear strips do or do not have holes in them that bolt to the cross sills and re-enforcement strips like the "pick up" trucks?? is the re-enforcement strip aligned by holes in the wear strips?

by hateful, I mean short and almost like you are annoyed by the questions. you have stated several times that you have already answered the OP's questions on another forum, but that does no good in sharing the info here. don't take it personally, I'm not trying to be an ass....sometimes it is hard to get a read on people though their typing...

[padresag]

hey Joe my demeanor can be be short, but at least I answer with more than 1 word and I can be annoyed at times but that doesn't mean hateful. I do hate to waste words

the metal strips do fasten to the cross sills and the holes are drilled to application of where they are to mount. the strips also just fasten to the plywood
suburbans are different again in that most use a rubber covering over the plywood and they use special washers in fastening to the cross sills
ron

[4dranch]

Originally Posted by padresag

1st line in the thread , he states that it is a panel
no I haven't seen it. it is more than likely the original floor as one has to lift the body off the frame in order to replace the floor
. it is 2 ---- 1/2 sheets of plywood with a seam down the middle
ron

Ron,
He also states in the first post the PO replaced the original floor.

Joe,
I'm sure I'm not the only person on this site who needs the long explanation on some of the hard to figure out questions and situations we find ourselves in while trying to work on these trucks. So for my sake and the others please continue to try and get as much information before answering questions. I know some of you guys may know a lot about these rigs, but some of us don't. And Ron this may piss you off and for that I'm sorry. But when folks ask questions about a motor vehicle that may be someday traveling in front of you and/or your family someday on the interstate I'm sure you would want thta rig to be safe, I know I would and it's folks like Joe and others here who help us out and make sure we do our builds correct. after all it's their reputation on the line if someone gets hurt from some incorrect information.

I don't want this to turn into a pissing match. so to the forum staff I apologize. and please delete if you guys see fit to do so.

And Chuck I apologize for jacking your thread.

[Joemomma1]

Pissing match? Im In!!

[padresag]

Originally Posted by Chuck78

After owning my truck for a short while, I noticed when the previous owner replaced the bed wood with some oak plywood on my 62 GMC panel, they left a out the bed mount bolts on all but the rear mounts. The ones over the gas tank were completely missing, as evidenced by the empty space left behind. Then, moving forward to directly over the axle, I alarmingly noticed that the side to side cross brace under the bed wood was sitting directly on the frame. I didn't think this was supposed to be like that, and also shortly after, when hauling tools and having a 6 foot level laying in the back, I noticed that the bed wood seemed to hump up in this location a slight bit. I then started wondering if the previous owner's had bent the rear of the frame down from towing, as it does have a heavy duty rec. hitch. Can anyone confirm this frame/bed support contact for me, or tell me that it's gonna be alright?
I need to go pull out the rubber bed mat and re-examine the problem wth the 6 foot level directly on the wood...

When I first got the truck, I looked at the frame rails and thought to myself, wow, those aren't very tall for using a receiver hitch to tow a car trailer! I had thought at that point that I should reinforce the frame with some heavy duty C-channel. Now I am wondering if I need to unbolt the bed mounts and jack the whole truck up directly in front of the back bumper mounts to the frame, and try and use something to bend the rear frame rails back upwards if this is the case. It is the stronger X-frame, but the frame channel height on this whole generation of trucks left me wondering about their towing capabilities due to the minimal frame rear of the back axle. If it had leafs rather than coils, I would think it would have been less of a problem, but the coils don't support the frame back that far.

Might be time to get out the welder! I can get pictures soon if needed.

Thanks guys.

1. I doubt that the bed wood has ever been replaced as there was no bed wood in the first place for want of a proper term."plywood".if one sits back and surveys a sitiuation and everything has symptoms and and lot of uninformed people do jump to conclusions.
my outlook is that he is a newby to this vehicle and is unaware as to the flooring material and surmises that it is not "real wood" but plywood that it has been replaced. He has also surmised that the frame is bent downwards becauses a small crosssill is resting on the frame.(can you realize how much weight it would take to bend a frame downwards). the body mount insulators have deteriorated to the point where they have collapsed and the body has settled down causing that crosssill to rest on the frame which cause more confusion to him( it doesn't belong there; it is in the wrong place). Now if someone had replaced the floor, do you not think that they would have replaced the broken down insulators at that time.there is a lot of work to remove a floor from a panel as I aforementioned. one has to lift it off the frame to do the job--not remove it but lift it up and off the frame. the plywood floor splits in the middle and in order to remove it one has to undo all fasteners including the ones that go up from the bottom at the outer side edges of the floor. these bolts go up through the crosssills through the plywood and through the bottom lip of the inside body panel into a welded nut( you must know how these things get rusted up). what happens here is that either the bolt breaks off or the nut breaks loose and spins and you may mention someones name in vain . you then lift up the plywood in the middle of the floor and pull it to the opposite side of the panel so that it clears the sidepanel and wheel well and then you can lift it out. if I had gone through all that work, I think that I would have put in new insulators so that it would be sitting properly, wouldn't you?. that tells me that the floor more than likely wasn't changed. the scenario of the missing bolts is that someone was going to repair the problem and broke a few bolts and spun a few nuts and gave up on it and said to himself or herself, let's just leave this for the next nice person.
ron

[padresag]

[QUOTE=4dranch;3298040]Ron,
.

Joe,
I'm sure I'm not the only person on this site who needs the long explanation on some of the hard to figure out questions and situations we find ourselves in while trying to work on these trucks. So for my sake and the others please continue to try and get as much information before answering questions. I know some of you guys may know a lot about these rigs, but some of us don't. And Ron this may piss you off and for that I'm sorry. But when folks ask questions about a motor vehicle that may be someday traveling in front of you and/or your family someday on the interstate I'm sure you would want thta rig to be safe, I know I would and it's folks like Joe and others here who help us out and make sure we do our builds correct. after all it's their reputation on the line if someone gets hurt from some incorrect information.

I don't want this to turn into a pissing match. so to the forum staff I apologize. and please delete if you guys see fit to do so.

4dranch; I really don't know what you are trying to say;
I have answered every question and please illustrate where I have given anyone incorrect information
regards
ron