Polyurethane Radiator Support Mounts (Cab Also)

You didn't bend the support while jacking it up. A very significant amount of force is required to even make a dent or damage the lower crossbar on the radiator support, (that actually is the strongest area on the support). Your support is just bent because the battery has slightly caved in the fender well, which is also attached to the support. Leave the washers up top. You are fine.

It sounds like he does.

 

Can't say I agree with that... It's the bushing between the frame and radiator support that determines their relationship. The solid inner sleeve determines how much you can squish the bushings by tightening the bolt.

 

I don't disagree with that statement whatsoever.

 

Why the hell we are even having conversations about squished and unsquished heights in the first place?

The whole purpose behind this mod is to remove the soft pliable rubber radiator support bushings and strengthen up the mounting points in the front. We are all very aware that the stock bushings are sloppy and that is one of the sources of all the pops, creaks, clunks as well as responsible for tweaking the mounting points on the frame because of their pliability alone allowing them to slide around in their mounting location. Allowing the sleeve to contact the frame and causing said tweak I mentioned above.

Bottom line. I've done the mod, it fit, it is well within the "unsquished" height the rubber bushing is in between the frame and support and has caused no additional stress to my setup since I've installed it. If anything, it's kept my front end held together much better. I run the piss out of the truck so if any additional issues came up then I would not be running them. OE replacement ones included in the master 8.4xxx cab bushing kit are not the same height as OE either. I know that because I've measured it before. Polyurethane is much more consistent at maintaining it's height over rubber, which consistently proves to show that it comes apart unpredictably and in a different fashion when compared to another replacement piece and compresses itself down to unpredictable heights when tightened down.

No one's front end height is equal to someone else's. Everyone is riding around at a different front end height when using stock bushings and by cutting those out and running the poly's it allows everyone to be just about the same cab running height.

If there is some sort of concern or complaint about heights or what it will or will not do to the single layer sheetmetal radiator support and wheel well, then replace the old bushings with OE and keep it stock. Watch your front end collapse upon itself over time or replace the bushings ever 5-10,000 miles and don't mod the truck.

Personally, you run more risk of tweaking, or damaging the cab or frame or even both by running the OE bushings and allowing all the weight of the battery on the inner fender to bounce while driving and seperate the front end from the frame. (Which I allowed to tear apart my front end and after 50,000 miles made me pay for it and made my install of the new ones even more difficult)

Sorry, I had to get how I feel towards the matter and all the hair splitting out of the way.

Back to your regularly scheduled microanalyzations.

 

FWIW. I have a couple of buddies who have trucks built and maintained by Solo Motorsports. Their fix was to just add a hunk of metal the same thicknesses of the poly bushings we are all currently running. And it is working just fine for them so far.

 

Wow. No give in those.

 

Per Roberto @12TRDTacoma, I reinstalled my polys with the fat one on top. No change to hood fitment. Used a 2x4 and my bottle jack to gain enough clearance to insert the bushings. Simple.

 

That looks lovely.

 

Looks good.

 

I see you used the smaller diameter washer on top of the larger bushing?

 

Yes, and not sure why. In retrospect, the other way 'round would have been better.

 

Yeah it would had.

 

Just installed mine. Starting with smaller bushing on top. Will swap if needed later. Also checked for sheet metal cracks like @12TRDTacoma, none noted. Mine is a 2005 with 136k miles. Done my share of off-road beatings on stock TRD suspension but not enough to cause that much damage.

Used a crowbar to lift up and pull the old ones out. The ARB bumper bracket almost gets in the way but you can still slide an extension in there. It's a tight fit.

Thank you @Pitchfork311 for pointing me to this thread!

 

Just installed the poly bushings on my 2012 today. Went with the bigger bushings on top without the washer , passenger side of the hood is ever so slightly higher than the driver side but managed to adjust the hood buffers to get it very close. The driver side bushing was a royal PITA, the bolt holes on the radiator support would not line up with the bushings. Turned a 30 min project into 3 hours with quite a bit of profanity. Any idea why the bolt would not line up? It was about 1/2" off but managed to pry it into place. My truck has 18K on it and has not been abused offroad or driven hard at all...

 

Sounds like you worked way too hard to get it to fit.

As I previously stated. It is because your support is bent, you may not have offroaded the vehicle or beat on it, but that battery nevertheless weighs 50lbs on the drivers side and you most likely have had to drive the truck some bumpy roads even if still on and not off road.

 

Thanks for the response Roberto

The bolt still wouldn't line up with the smaller bushing on top, tried it a couple different ways but ended up muscling the damn thing into place. Had to tap the bolt through the engine bay to get threads showing on the bottom of the bushings. Next on my list is battery relocation ASAP, would free up some room for an OBA setup down the road.

 

I also had to tap in the bolt through the engine bay side down with a hammer as well to make it all fit flush in there to get it to line up. Trust me, you and I are not the only one's who have had to do that upon replacing these bushings.

Battery relocate, no matter where you locate it to other than the engine bay is a smart move.

As a small word of advice when it comes to running the wiring, run two ground cables from the negative terminal of the battery. 4AWG or larger. One to the frame and one to the long block (you can hook it up to either the transfer case bolts or the t-case to transmission mating bolts) to prevent excessive voltage drop issues while cranking.

 

I want to see better pictures of your overall support. Get in there with your camera and take pictures, if you can, behind the grille also right under the upper support crossbar. I found more cracking under my upper crossbar that I never saw before as I was about to install a new intake and it required I cut out some of the area that was already cracked.

Also, do yourself a favor and install those washers. Those are really important to rest under the support crossbar, as without them, they can potentially warp over time with the movement the bushings allow.

 

Thanks for the detailed pics! Definitely helps those of us who haven't done the fix yet.

 

Have a look at this, would you gentleman?

Can mounts perhaps?

https://youtu.be/N2_YU3qjBlI