67-68 core support bushings/mounts - front clip don't fit no more!

[shifty]

So I finally got my replacement cab mounts on today, and like so many others, the front clip is sitting about a half an inch too low now

All I did here was remove the front clip, then the cab, then put all new mounts on, then put the cab on, bolt it down again, then put the front clip back on - and it's all lined up perfect, it just don't sit on the same level anymore.

The only thing I see that I can do is to put a stack of a half inch of washers to shim the front end of the truck up (shimming the two holes in the core support). I know others have run into this problem (I searched and found several threads on the topic), but ... everyone else's seemed to have the cab sitting lower than the bed (shim the cab) or the cab lower than the front clip (shim the cab). What happens when the opposite happens? Should I just go out and get a core support mount kit for the 69-72 trucks? That should get me at about the right height...

OR I guess I could just bolt the front clip on and let the weight of the clip hold it down ....

Any suggestions appreciated.

[shifty]

ttt

[qksilver]

a good question, I have mounted my 69 cab on my frame with new bushings and was going to start installing the 67 front end I have. I used a 70 core support and the frame is a 71 so i went with 69-72 cab and core support bushings

[67ChevyRedneck]

I'm a little confused by your post, everything lines up, but it doesn't fit??? If you're saying that you think the rad. support needs to be shimmed up to kick the back of the fenders down... then go right ahead and git r done I had to do the same with my new mount kit. Cab was fine, front clip sagged towards the front. I used two thick washers and raised the clip about a 1/4" at the front. It was enough for the fender/door gap to be parallel again. I wasn't aware of the bed/cab issues some have been having. I have a stepside so I have no idea if my cab and bed are lined up

[cdowns]

a dumb question but are you sure you put the front and rear cab supports in the right place??

[meathead95]

are you cab mounts rubber or poly? maybe they arent torqued down enough.

[gregsplace]

Align and bolt the front clip on the cab before you tighten cab mounts down. That should help you,greg

[Green Machine]

Did you use the generic replacements or the more original style ? mighr make a difference. How does the grill sit in relation to the front bumper ? The 69-72 will make the grill to high for the bumper (been there done that). I would shim the rear of the cab up - that will bring the front down, or if the front cab mounts have one or more square shims remove them from the front cab mounts, not needed, they are for adjustment.

[shifty]

Okay, to answer all of the questions above:

67chevy: i'll be using about ¾" of washers to get it up to the right height. seems like a bit much to me.

cdowns: Yes, I marked my framerails and measured all of my gaps between the cab and bed before removing and everything is within 2mm of the original spacing right now.

meathead: cab mounts are rubber. they're literally the same shape and size as the stock ones and bought from a very well known vendor who is proud to offer a "as close to stock as possible" replacement.

gregsplace: front clip is already bolted down - with i'd have thought of that beforehand i just wanted to do everything in reverse of how i took it off - and i'm doing an LS1/T56 6spd swap, so i had a lot of wires to run that woulda been damned tough with the front clip on!

GreenMachine: i used the more original style. the bumper is still off - but the bottom of the grille is 1 1/8" from the top of both of the framerails. there is exactly 3" between the center bolthole of each diagonal bumper support and the bottom of the grille. i suppose it would be possible to remove one shim from the front mounts and add one to the rear...

[shifty]

ok, check this out guys:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=192342

that's the thread i bookmarked a long time ago that 67chevyredneck posted (thanks, dude!). see how seriously biscuited out his originals were? see how many exposed threads he has in the front? i have about half the number of exposed threads (3 full threads maybe) and my mounts are only biscuited out about half that much. i had to replace the stock insert/spacer with some pipe thread that was about 1/4" shorter at most in because mine were as rusted and falling apart as his were.

see how rusted out his original hardware was? mine was worse - the washers broke in several pieces when i took em out.

i can go take pics of my mounts if anyone thinks it would be helpful (will hafta wait till tomorrow to post though).

[shifty]

Here are some pics of my cab mounts:

Front mount (driver side):

http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip001.jpg (little fuzzy)
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip002.jpg (closeup)

Front mount (pass side):
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip008.jpg

Rear mount (driver side outside and inside cab):
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip003.jpg (outside)
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip004.jpg (inside)

Front clip alingment (ignore the paint damage ):
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip005.jpg (shows the rear top cowl hole alingment)
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip006.jpg (shows the front top cowl hole alignment)
http://satellitehead.com/uploads/frontclip007.jpg (distance shot of clip alignment)

I can take more pics if anyone needs em, but I figured I'd post these to see if more solid advice is available - it's easier to give advice if you can just look at the damned things yourself

These are quick sloppy shots, most are betwee 80k-110k, so for dialup it should only take 6-8 seconds to load

[68 short step]

shifty you did put the 'thicker' cab mounts on the front and the 'thinner' ones on the rear, right?

[Blue85]

I had problems with my 72's cab mounts the rad support sits properly but the cab had to be shimmed up a 1/2" all the way around, bought the cab and rad mounts from 2 different places mabye thats got something to do with it, niether package had a brand name on it though

[Green Machine]

Do the rear cab mounts have the large washer on the top side ? Those rear bolts look like they are through farther that normal. If there is no washer on top, the inside bushing could pull through and let the rear mount squish too much.

[shifty]

Originally Posted by 68 short step

shifty you did put the 'thicker' cab mounts on the front and the 'thinner' ones on the rear, right?

I don't think I did - look at the pictures in the post above yours. I put a bunch of them up there showing the mounts.

Originally Posted by Green Machine

Do the rear cab mounts have the large washer on the top side ?

Yes - there is a washer inside on the top - its' the only way to make the internal spacer actually work the way it is supposed to - the washer acts as a stop for the top of the tube inside the mount.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Thanks for the props! If you look at mine I have washers on the top and the bottom. My mounts were all exactly the same (all four of them.) I figured that's how they were supposed to be considering how squished my front ones were. I'd just say to hell with it and keep adding 1/8 inch washers until the fenders line up, you may be surprised, it may only take 1/4" or so.

[68 short step]

Originally Posted by shifty

I don't think I did - look at the pictures in the post above yours. I put a bunch of them up there showing the mounts.
.

in the kit i got it was explaned to me that the thicker ones goes infront and the thinner ones go in the rear.....

[john]

Shifty I bet a washer about 1/8" on top of the rear mount would do quite a bit to align things. I had a 3/8 gap on the bottom of fender and 1/8" on front mount fixed it.

[byrd]

Did you change out the rad support mounts too? If not you may want to try that as is may change the front clip alignment, just a thought...

[shifty]

67 and 68 trucks just use a bolt and some thin washers for the front clip mounts - 69-72 use rubber bushings that would affect the height of the front clip.

I need to contact Brothers or one of the other board vendors and get new front mounts.

[shifty]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Thanks for the props! If you look at mine I have washers on the top and the bottom. My mounts were all exactly the same (all four of them.) I figured that's how they were supposed to be considering how squished my front ones were. I'd just say to hell with it and keep adding 1/8 inch washers until the fenders line up, you may be surprised, it may only take 1/4" or so.

Thanks man, rock solid advice. I finally just bit the bullet and went to work on the truck. Got my new tank flanges measured and drilled and finally figured out how to mount the tank.

I started looking at the front clip and figured, "what the hell, I'll give what 67chevyredneck suggested" and I started to bolt down the front clip. Popped in the fender bolts up top (forwardmost, closest to the cowl/door/hood) and tightened it down finger-tight on each side...then got a 1x1 board and a floor jack, jacked up the rad support until the front end was aligned, inserted the rest of the bolts, did some minor tweaking, tightened it all down, then put in the inner fender shims and bolts, then dropped the jack and pushed the front end down...I've got about 3/16" gap in the front I've got two 1/8" washers from when I pulled it off, so ...

Don't ask me how in the hell it dropped from 1" off the framerail down, but bolting it down solved everything

My truck is finally all bolted together again (relatively) for the first time in ... damn ... 6-8 months? Feel like I've made some progress. Now, If I could just get the damned battery tray to fit again

[68 short step]

give us some updated pics and did you already fire your engine?

[shifty]

Engine is not fired yet. I will try to update pics of everything in the next 2 weeks. I'm trying to cram in as much work as possible after work this week, my woman is out of town so I'm free for a couple of evenings to work as long as I want! I want to have the tank bolted in and try to get the radiator support bolted in and maybe get the radiator and fans hooked up :\

Believe me, will keep everything updated as soon as time is free !

[68 short step]

did you get a new woman?

[shifty]

I got the same one back (she's the one I wanted). Just had to split up for a few weeks to get our heads straight and really lay out what we both wanted over the next decade or so, before any commitments are made.

Sometimes it's hard to see where you want to go when you're distracted by being in the middle of it