S&B Body Mount Replacement How-To

Fellas,

This thread will serve as my how-to on swapping the crummy stock body mounts for a quality replacement such as the S&B. I opted for these mounts over the stock and "daystar" mounts because I wanted to never have to deal with the mounts again. Daystar mounts have miles of bad reviews pertaining to poor ride, poor fitment, and creating squeaking noises when the body flexes. I suppose they'd work fine for a fleet truck. The reason why I bit the bullet and paid the hefty price tag of the S&B mounts can be attributed to the reviews out there of better ride quality over OEM, great fitment, and silicone design (which will not rot like OEM).

Project review:
So to tackle this project (all 8 mounts) took me about 8 hours. About 7 of them were getting the old bolts out, and 1 hour installing the new mounts and torquing the body down. Whatever threadlocker Ford used, that is some great stuff because every bolt gave me absolute hell. I broke the sheetmetal cages on the front two radiator mount bolts using a breaker bar only and that is what held up the project the most. In order to catch the nut spinning freely in the body, I had to buy a 7/8" sacrificial wrench. For the driver's side, heating the wrench up and bending it to snake it through the cavity to catch the nut was enough. For the passenger side, too much was in the way and I had to cut the wrench in half with a grinder to get it in.
I'm not responsible for your actions or incidents. There are dangers involved when installing these mounts yourself if you do not have the proper tools and proper precautions are not taken. This thread is to serve an informational purpose only and I am in no way shape or form liable for anyone who attempts this process.

Helpful tips:
When doing the mounts directly under the floor panels of the first row, peel the carpet back and remove the rubber plug in the sheetmetal from inside the cab. You'll see the nut that the bolt threads into. I put the torch directly on that nut from inside the cab (be careful not to burn your truck down), and those two bolts came out with ease.
The factory bolt heads are 15MM and hex shape. Don't use a 12 point socket like I did..many headaches on one bolt. Nut sizes are 7/8".
Use a long 1/2" drive breaker bar and a 10" extension to allow yourself to get enough torque to overcome the rust and threadlocker. Ample lube was used in my situation, sometimes it helped and sometimes it didn't.
The body will realign when you have all the mounts in and fastened down. I lost my mind when I had one side done and the other still factory and the body looked like it shifted to the passenger side about 3".

Process:

1. Loosen every bolt as much as you can. WD-40 and heat are your friends here. Pick which side you want to do first and then drop those bolts out all of the way.
2. Remove the lower mounts from the mounting tab on the frame. To do so, grab the lower mount and rotate and twist at a slight angle until you feel it break free of the tabs that hold it together inside the upper mount.
3. Raise the cab. I won't tell you how to do this because there are risks involved, and I do not want to be liable for somebody making a mistake. Installing yourself also voids the S&B lifetime warranty, btw. But, raise the cab just enough to get the upper mount slid out.
4. Swap the old upper mounts for the new ones. Carefully let the cab back down.
5. Install the new S&B lower mounts to the frame tab. Lubricate the new bolts very well and thread them in until they catch.
6. Repeat process for other side.
7. Once all mounts are replaced, torque every bolt to 78 ft-lb. Do so in a criss-cross fashion. Double check torque on each bolt after tightening the final bolt.
8. Re-torque all bolts after a few days to a week from installation.
9. Check all body lines and ensure they all fall where they need to be. For me, once I got everything cinched down it was factory perfect as far as the body lines go.

That's it! It was really a very simple job to do. It was just a complete pain due to the bolts that refused to come loose on my vehicle. Youtube has some great how-to's on the subject if you want to learn more. Attached are some images of the old mounts, new mounts, and mounts installed. I will admit that I cheated when torquing the new bolts down, I used a 1/2" impact and air to cinch the bolts down, but it was almost midnight and I had enough of the project lol. But using an impact to remove the old bolts is a horrible idea due to how seized they were in there. There is only a sheetmetal cage holding the nut in place, and once you break it the project transforms from quick and easy to horrendous.

The new mounts ride a heck of a lot better than the old clapped out ones. Going through dips and speed bumps that I used to slow down to a crawl for are no longer an issue for the truck. The body feels more firmly mounted and more responsive (or lack of response maybe) to the road. I'm happy with the turnout of the project.