Whole body moves when clutch depressed?

[dzwestwindsor]

Okay so this seems pretty weird. I've noticed that when I depress the clutch, all the body panels (including the radiator, and the cab it seems) move about a quarter inch backwards relative to the frame! The engine doesn't move anywhere. When I let the clutch out, everything moves back into place.

I don't feel it in the cab- you can only see it from the outside.

Should I be concerned? It's been like this since I got the truck over a year ago, but I'm curious to know why this is happening, or if it's normal.

[In The Ten Ring]

Look on your SPID and see if you have the "Flex cab" option.

Geeze man, and I thought I had problems! Surely someone with more than a silly joke will chime in.

[bpatrol]

you are one strong dude.....

[treveiger]

Maybe it's engaging? You make sure everything is bolted on ?

[hamjet]

sounds like the cab mount bushings are shot. the clutch pedal is anchered to the cab, so when you push, the clutch rod is pushing against the z bar which is mounted to the frame. Not to worry, it can only go back as far as the bed, that will stop it from going any further...OOPS!

[special-K]

Either your body mounts (core support/cab) are shot, the sheetmetal around them is shot, or both. Try a light duty clutch.

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by hamjet

sounds like the cab mount bushings are shot. the clutch pedal is anchered to the cab, so when you push, the clutch rod is pushing against the z bar which is mounted to the frame. Not to worry, it can only go back as far as the bed, that will stop it from going any further...OOPS!

I replaced my cab to frame (cab mount) bushings 3 days ago. It was a little bit involved but very straight-forward. I thought about those as soon as I read the original post but I'm so new at this I didn't say anything, expecting someone else to and look what happened!

Do have a look at those, there are four of them. Two in cage nuts on either side of the rear of the cab and two at the front, under the floor mat. My bushings were very bad but the sheetmetal and frame around them very solid. I didn't have the symptom you're describing so you need to look and get us pics. (Here is a pic of my front bushings, although the rear ones were much better).

[dzwestwindsor]

Hey guys, thanks for everyone's input. I finally got a chance to work on the problem. Yes, the cab mounts are shot. I ordered new ones and began taking the old ones off. The front two came off okay with a lot of cutting, hammering and swearing, but the back two are so rusted that the bolt just broke. I'm at a loss at how to get them out... They fit into a threaded hole I believe and show no signs of screwing out. What should I do?

I also have another question- what is the process of jacking up the cab to swap out the mounts? Do I need to disattach anything like the fenders or the radiator core mounts before jacking it up? Or is disconnecting the four cab bolts good enough?
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[In The Ten Ring]

Someone will chime in on the broken bolt. I assume you'll have to drill it and then use an extractor or weld on a new bolt head.

"hammering?" What did you have to hammer to get out? If your front bolts were welded to the cab floor, all you needed to do was cut out the weld with a Dremel tool. No hammering (which will just bend the cab floor) needed.

I used 2 1/4 ton trolley jacks (those that are on wheel casters) and jacked up either side of the cab. Now you cannot do this if your bolts are still in. I sanded off rust on the brackets, primed with NAPA Rust Treatment, and undercoated with some spray on stuff from NAPA.

If your cab is like mine and was no longer lined up for the bolts, put in one rear bolt to hold position, *if you don't reuse your old rear bolts, turn the new one on a grinder to give you a point. If you do not and your bolt has a blunt end, you'll never hit that cage nut back there.* Then use a large "C" clamp a to turn your cab to line it up. I put this on the cab support (runs from rear to front) and frame rail. It will line right up.

I never jacked my cab more than 1.5 inches up as all my steering, pedals, and wires were still on there. Here are some pics. Since this project took me over a year (I get sidetracked easily) I pushed 2x4 blocks into where the upper bushings used to be to "block it up."

If you can't use your old ones, have a machine shop make you some 1/8 inch shims. That's what I did.





Here I have the cab blocked up and off the jack.





Using the clamp to move the cab over. You can see all the boards holding the cab up on that side (jack is under them).



Here is what I had before I used the clamp. Wouldn't line up.



What I have now.



I used a penetrating breakfree on all my bolts for days before taking them out. They rear ones and the nuts on the front came off with ease.

DO NOT TRY AND TORQUE THESE DOWN. It wouldn't work at all for me. I hand tightened until the bottom washer touched, then gave each nut (or bolt as in the rear) 1 full turn more and I was done. Wes at Classic Heartbeat recommended that. I went back with rubber bushings.

[In The Ten Ring]

Now for the cab, YOU DON'T REMOVE ANYTHING. Just remove the bolts, jack up both sides easily (one side at a time will do) enough to clear, and remove. When I was sanding, I blocked up the cab to prevent getting a finger caught in case a jack failed.

For the 2 under the radiator core support.......ya you are in for a task! You'll have to remove 1 side fender and your grill. I am removing the hood also as I have to replace my inner fenders, 1 side fender, and the core support itself. I haven't done this yet but it's coming.

[mechanicalman]

Just did mine, simply used a 4x4 standing on my floor jack and jacked up on the cab support. Mind you it's an Arizona truck so no rust issues; if you have rust issues then you have to take due precautions.

Sucks that rear bolt twisting out. Hope you have enough exposed to get a pipe wrench on what's left of it, however you need to get in the cab and expose the tops of those bolts and at the least soak them with WD40 starting right now and re-spraying several times. If you can get on them after getting the cab up and the mounts out of the way, try budging them loose in either direction and then work the threads back and for (grind the rust down) and keep spraying it and working the spray into the threads.

I didn't have to remove anything mine came out easy so I didn't see the upper end of it. It felt like a floating nut like a door jamb type.

[dzwestwindsor]

Thanks guys for the advice! The mounts finally came and I went ahead as you guys described.

mechanicalman: The back mounts were really rusted in... I tried the pipe wrench method, but it was just slipping on the rust. I decided to skip the back mounts for now.

In The Ten Ring: Thanks for the detailed pictures and explanation! I definitely gave me much more confidence and a better idea of what I needed to do. I swapped out the front mounts with ease, and like I said I just left the rear ones alone since I couldn't get them off. I'll work on it in the future (probably years down the road!)

Figuring out how to jack up the cab was the hardest part, since all my jacks and stands were too short. But I just blocked everything up and it raised it enough to slide the new mounts in.

Now, when I depress the clutch, the cab doesn't move anywhere! Also, as an added surprise, my doors, which used to sag when I went to close them, somehow magically aligned themselves after I put the new mounts in! They just slide right into place when I go to close them! I'm going to return my new door hinge pins that I ordered.

Here are some pictures. Thanks so much!

Original front mount:


Rusty mess!


Jacking up cab:


Old vs new:


New front cab mount:

[In The Ten Ring]

Glad I could help.

My originals fell to dust, same as yours, although my rear shims and all four bolts were good enough to use again (I found my one I was missing) and the one I did use again.

I'd say, surely you can get a skilled welder to weld a washer and nut onto the rear bolts' heads to get those out. I know it's welding upside down but there are guys that can do that.