[tripower]

While loosening up (or should I say breaking) the body mount bolts on my 71, I found that I had to cut small doors to access the two far rear ones because they would not give. The square nuts seem to be loose in a small cage that is welded down to the body.

Are the nuts suppose to be welded down also of do they move within there with the cage to keep them from spinning? I also believe this is the same setup on the two mounts under the doors.

One other question..... the 71 Service Manual lists a total of four bolts on each side but I can only see three, the others seem to be just bushings resting on the frame. I found two forward (lower firewall), two under doors, and two far rear so far.

thanks

[mach par]

Mine had the cages spin till they caught the frame.

[marxjunk]

i pull 20+ frames a year..some time double, and how i get around it is simple, and old bodyman sowed me and works 99.9% of the time, and rarely to i use penitrating oil, because i dont want to open the floor if dont have to....

good old manual ratchet....it either breaks loose, or breaks the bolt..putting an impact on it strips out the cage and they just spin and you are screwed..just nice and slow, continous pressure and out they come

[markjenks]

Taking mine out, I came to the conclusion that the pads were added before the lower control arms were installed. No other good way to get to them.

[The Boss]

The blue wrench works too.

[markjenks]

Weird! Never knew that blue was better than chrome.

http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_101...2_00934658000P

[The Boss]

Not that one this one!

[GStage1]

Even using a manual ratchet, I broke several mounts.

Here is a brief article on the repair.

http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/...BodyMounts.htm

[marxjunk]

i rarely ever break the cage, i could say almost never and i pull stuff out of ditches and gulleys around here...

[tripower]

thanks I assume those nuts are not suppose to be welded down. It makes sense that they would design it that way so you had some room to play with when they dropped the body down at the factory.

[tripower]

Originally Posted by marxjunk

i rarely ever break the cage, i could say almost never and i pull stuff out of ditches and gulleys around here...

Yes but you're not lucky enough to deal with 40 years of road salt hitting the undercarriage like we are up here

[markjenks]

Originally Posted by tripower

Yes but you're not lucky enough to deal with 40 years of road salt hitting the undercarriage like we are up here

Yes, yes and yes. My car is a Wisconsin car and I got out 4 out of 6 of them and was very taken care of. And that in itself is an amazing feat.

[YNOBIL]

When I did my '67 convert, I ended up breaking off both rear bolts. I think the factory cross threads a lot of them. They don't think anyone will ever want to unbolt them, so they don't care.
Bill

[The Boss]

A sawsall works well too - just go straight through the rubber and the bolt. I had four I had to cut through last week - took longer to run the cords.

[1968firebird455]

I soak them in PB blaster the best I can and take them off by hand with a ratchet. Also I always tighten the bolt 1/8 turn first then back it out. I've snapped bolts that have rusted under the rubber bushings but the only cage nuts I have stripped were before I starting doing this and used the impact...

[steve v]

I've drilled an 1/8" hole thru the floor pan directly above the caged nut & spray it good w/PB blaster for several days thru the hole then try to remove the bolts. 9 out of 10 times they'll come out w/o issue.

[BAN]

Originally Posted by tripower

thanks I assume those nuts are not suppose to be welded down. It makes sense that they would design it that way so you had some room to play with when they dropped the body down at the factory.

Going through this right now, i had to cut through my trunk to release the one that broke free on me. I welded the cage back on, but i left the nut loose, i also ran a bolt into the nut and checked to make sure the bolt would hang down dead straight. i wanted to make sure there was enough wiggle room for when the frame goes back under that the bolt could still go in with some play either side to account for imperfections of manufacture.

Good luck.
Sam.