I'm putting the new core support in monday (hopefully) and everything else should be ready tuesday or wednesday for me to pick up.

 

Got the old core support out and new one in.

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My radiator bent more than yours and somehow doesn't leak lol.

 

that's the second accident on that radiator. It was bent in from when I center punched a stopsign that walked out in front of me. Hitting the truck just bent the passenger side in more, actually straightened it a little i think haha. I'm just gonna replace it and be safe.....

 

Magnethead: we must be related. I fell asleep driving my 98 Dak home from work last week. Hit a couple "saplings" on my way off the road. I'm into it a bumper cover, bumper, radiator core support, grill, and hood.

My question, how easy was it to replace the radiator core support? I have everything torn down to that point and am waiting for the lower core support to arrive. (Spend 110 on the core support and 70 on the bumper, delivered.)

 

I have never done it but it looks to be not that hard at all look at all his pic's they may help you.

Keep a diary of how you took things apart so when you start putting parts back on just go in reverse and you should be ok.

Don’t tighten all the body parts even the brace till you are set to do it as that’s how you will align everything properly body gaps hood so on.

But that’s my guess only thats how I would do it

 

Do this also don’t install the rad, condenser or bumper and other bumper parts first try to get you fender and hood on and get them all straight and aligned properly.

That way its easy to get to the bolts for the brace cross member and other body parts

 

I'll have Wes Garret chime in, he's helping me with alot of the "how the heck do I reach this bolt?!" type of questions.

You've probably discovered this: The 8 bumper bolts are 18mm. The chassis/frame rail/core support isolator bolts are 19mm. The radiator bolts are 10mm with a torx inside, body panels are both 10mm and 13mm.

The core support has about 2 dozen associated attachment points, and I'm not kidding.

Remove the bumper bracket on each side. 18mm, torq side is attached to the frame rail, just remove the 18mm nut. The brackets wont come out until you've loosened the rest of the core support, you have to push it towards the engine to remove the brackets. With them gone, you can remove the core support from the truck. If it's terribly mangled, sawzalling it in half or even 3 pieces will make your life easier. That said, getting the new one is a huge PITA. In my case, having the pass fender removed allowed me to pick up the pass side of the support and lift it out of the truck.

Each fender has 3 screws on top (I forget if 10 or 13mm)

Each inner fender has a brace with 2 bolts in it (13mm) going to core support

The battery tray has two 13mm bolts in it, and the batt tray support has a bolt that you have to remove the driver side fender liner to get to (13mm)

The PDC has a bolt attaching it to the inner fender (I think 13mm)

With the battery tray and PDC loose, lift it up, it will expose 2 13mm bolts going into the core support. Both are a PITA to get to.

The hood pin latch has a pair of 10mm bolts

the upper support and lower support conjoin with 3 13mm bolts on each end. Depending on damage level, may require a hammer to separate them

There are also 3 or 4 loom connectors that you need to unclip from the support.

 

Magnethead pretty much hit the nail on the head.

When i tore my DAK apart to rebuld (2000 3.9L 4x4 CC) i pulled the bumper and brackets as an assembly. i removed all 8 bolts on the frame. all require the same size socket, (18mm i belive) everything else is accurate, down to the socket size.

I am sure people will be smart enough to know that when using the big sockets (18&19mm's) USE a 1/2" drive sockets and ratchets (or airtools).