hi when I removed the cross member took me 2 hours hammering it down to get it out of the truck


now getting it back in I figured I could just press it up with 2 floor jacks I was wrong its wider then the damn frame and the frame not tapered so it was slide up to start to get it up..


how do you guys do it.. all I can think of is use threaded rod in the 2 bottom holes and pull the cross member inwarrds using nuts to keep pulling but I dunno if that will work or if it damage the threaded rods..


what do you guys do to get it up? as I frustrated at moment or what can I build

 

Jack up the trans/t-case (if you have one) as far as you can, then set the crossmember in from ABOVE where it mounts, and pull it down into place.

 

ah doesn't work as the cross member has to be pulled together at least 1/2" or the frame of the truck has to be pushed put 1/2" so I can get it up..
frustration I tell ya

 

Angle it around. It IS doable. And much easier than trying to hammer it in from the bottom.

 

ah ill try again ya its a pain in butt I tell ya

 

Oh, I am WELL aware......

 

don't know why they made it so difficult I seen you tube videos of others its 4 bolts that holds it up and it just drops down lol so simple 4 bolts from bottom not this lol

 

Here's what you do!

Insert it from the rear at the same plane as it would sit in the angled areas.

It took me and a mechanic friend a while to also hammer it down and out, only to realize it would never go back in. After staring at it awhile, I saw the light!

We held it up to its position but further rearward, and moved it forward towards the engine so that it fit into the wedges with just a little persuasion. Frickin' engineers designed it to be inserted from above before the cab was installed.

If you need more explanation, just ask. I'm a bit tired and enjoying some beer....

 

ya a better explanation be good.. ya it is frustrating I didn't get a chance to try today.. and its just me doing it so I gotta try getting it in by myself..


ya it seems like it went in from the top... and tying to get a frame expander is damn near impossible


ya other vehicles there cross member videos show 4 bolts and the plate falls off and boom ur done like frig sakes lol

 

Okay, let's see if I can remember.....it was May of 2016....the air was cool, the weather rainy....

We jacked up the trans/t-case with a trans jack....

then greased up the wedges on the frame rails....

then set the xmember up in the rails aft of the wedges.....for you non-nautical types, that is behind or towards the rear....

there's plenty of room behind the wedges and we started the xmember slightly on each wedge LEVEL with where it would sit when installed....

then we each began hammering it towards the front....one guy on each side...feet towards the rear of truck...hammering one side at a time....

once it started in the wedges... we may have had to pound harder but that's essentially how we did it.

Here's a drawing from the SIDE:

---------------------------------- __
_________________\_/_____ \_/ crossmember
Frame side wedge

pound it <-------- horizontally towards the wedges



TOP VIEW

| engine |
| |
| |
| |
] wedge [
| |
| |
| | ^
|
>=====< |
xmember pound it towards engine



Edit: well that didn't show up right but maybe it makes sense.