Yep, it's a 4x4. Never heard of a busted trans mount before and I try and read as much as I can on here. Are there any other symptoms I can verify it with and a write-up on how to go about replacing it?

I've read quite a bit of stud removal threads and I've gotten as far as spraying them down with PB Blaster whenever I get the chance. From there, I was going to jack the front end up and get the wheels and liners out of my way and go at them. The ones that are busted already, broke at the nut so there is quite a bit of the stud left. I have a stud removal tool (looks like a drill chuck) that I was hoping would get the job done on any broken studs. If I end up with one that breaks at the block then that's where I'll get in trouble. I'm not sure I have the skills or know-how to drill the stud down and use an easy-out to pull it. That's probably the only thing holding me back from going at this repair right now.

 

There was a thread on here that gave a run down of all the products for easing a rusted/stuck bolt. The best was a home brew of acetone and ATF in a 50/50 mix. Do a search for it, might even be in the DIY's by now. It was amazing.

The dry torq was like 520-580 ft/lbs to remove and with the potion it was something like 58 ft/lbs!

Found it! https://www.f150online.com/forums/v8...ectivness.html

Good luck.

 

Damn, last time I posted in this thread was last year - falling behind I guess lol.
Anyway, I've never heard of a transmission mount breaking either. Perhaps flying over a large boulder could do the trick? What happens is the rubber bushing wears out, - literally disintegrates, leaving the mount metal on metal contact. Now all drive-line vibration transfers thru the Y to the engine. Also with the mounts missing bushing material, the mount collapses to a smaller state. When this happens and because the exhaust Y is tied directly to it thru a plate that's just above the mount, it forces downward pressure on the Y which stresses the manifolds. This results in manifold stud shear usually more so at the passenger side as these shear first.
Most just fix the studs without fixing the root cause of the problem. Simply because they don't know any better. The Trans Mount wears out in these trucks around 100,000 miles.
Correct, Acetone/Trans fluid combination works best at the flange nuts. Use a medium evaporation Acetone, IF you can locate some. Chances are, all you'll find is FastVap. However, Home Depot carries FastVap, O'Riely's carries Duplicolor MedVap. BTW, you can also use Lacquer Thinner which has more variety/types on the market. 100% Synthetic ATF is a more robust cleaner, if your considering specs. Just don't let that stuff run down the block on the drivers side and collect around the freeze caps. It's strong stuff and it WILL compromise that cap from sealing. Keep it away from the harness as well. No need for an anti corrosion agent @ the studs themselves. You have the dissimilar metals, -steel stud into an aluminum housing. Whether you use a HSS Cobalt Coated L Bit, Mig weld a washer then a nut or use a self centering HSS bit then an extractor, -with just the very, very little heat from either procedure WILL break down any and all corrosion joining these two in-particular dissimilar metals. Steel on Steel, = different story, - can be a PITA one lol.

BTW- That drill chuck type extractor. I've seen them I believe, -from Snap On and Blue Point. Never used tho, but if I recall they are self centering and have heard they work very well if you have the room to use them. Usually, I'll use the Mig or a lefty from a Snap On kit. The studs buried or not, extract very easily. You may be surprised. If you can get on a broken stud w/vise grips, just apply a little heat beforehand. Like I've said before, -it doesn't require much heat in this case. Propane or Mapp is plenty sufficient.

One other note: I won't usually screw around with the old manifolds. I opt for Dorman direct fit replacements as they are cheap and come with the EGR fitting, new ball flange hardware. Using the original manifolds can be more work than it's worth. Then can also be a little out of wack in some cases. Also, use Permatex Gold (w/copper) on the *****. Otherwise, you may have to fool around w/them to get them to seal completely.

If you lack the correct drills or taps, -never purchase a cheap kit. For the best stuff, look to the machinist section within eBay and purchase one at a time as needed. That way you'll get aircraft grade and/or jobber type bits. Always use HSS and Cobalt coated bits for this type of work or you can end up finding yourself in a much, much worse predicament, been there...

Your getting an education

 

Took me about 5 Minutes to realize what was going on here. At first I thought... brews off his rocker or his sight has gone bad. Dementia maybe...

Then I got it. Slower than most this morning I think.

 

Mind freeze perhaps ? You get into the Popsicles this morning ?

 

Funny you ask. I made a batch of homemade chocolate ice cream couple days back. Had some with coffee this morning

 

Thanks for all the help, I'm learning a ton!

Truck has 239k on it now and I doubt the transmission mount has ever been replaced so it's pretty safe bet that it's toast. Any tips on replacement? Seems like it should just be unbolt, lift up the trans, remove and replace but I haven't been under yet to take a look.

Thanks for the tip on the penetrating fluid, I'll have to give the acetone/ATF mix a try. Is that brush on kind of thing or can you find a spray bottle to put it in?

If I'm understanding the flange nut vs. stud correctly, the studs will generally break because the nut is rusted on and if you can get the nut out okay then the stud will come with a little bit of heat?

If I go at this to replace the broken studs, do you recommend I replace all the studs with the new SS ones from Ford or should I just leave the ones that haven't broken yet?

I was planning on putting the stock manifolds back on until I'm done with school this spring and then buying some long tubes. Is it really that much trouble to get the stock ones back on that it makes sense to get replacements now? I'd rather not spend money on something I'll be replacing in 6 months but I need to be able to get everything back together.

 

No problem, best way to learn is to just keep asking questions.
Yep, you just support and unbolt the skid plate (5 minutes) Then cross member bolts 3 on each side at the frame rail and the two bushing nuts. An air ratchet at the frame rail makes quick work of that. When you support it, support directly under the oil pan and at the backside of the transfer case. I use two floor jacks.

BTW - Hows that transmission? I have 300,000 + miles on my old 98. Trans went out once, but it was an easy fix, one that gave it a second life.
Yea DYNOTECH posted some very useful info about that stuff as well. Use an Acid Brush. These can be found at the Big Box stores like Home Depot in the plumbing isle. The piping isle to be precise, opposite of the pipe racks over by the Teflon tape and pipe thread sealant. The brushes are sold in packages of 10 -15 brushes for 3 or 4 bucks.
No, I've never come across that anyway. I suppose that may be possible. Honestly, the only problem I've had is getting the correct socket on the nuts. At times I've had to jump up to a 13mm instead of a 12mm because they were corroded so bad and that's without using any kind of penetrate. I also use an impact to remove w/two universals to go up and over the frame rail. However, penetrate to assist is a good idea and heat as described works great as well.

You may be confused, can't blame yuh so I'll try to shed a little more light on what your going to find. The studs become weak from stress and vibration that's transferred via trans mount deterioration. NOTE: The studs are steel with a combination of stainless, nickle and maybe a little zinc. These studs usually have a 5mm molded peg at the ends that will receive a 5mm socket. This is for installing them and what you'll use removing them IF the nut frees from the stud during removal. The nuts are just steel and go completely to hell once exposed to its environment, -unless you incorporate stainless nuts with your install. Ford never did this with the nuts, but they did use a high grade stud. Not the best studs you can get, but a much higher quality vs the nuts.

Now the biggest problem your going to have is with the pipe flange studs (two per side). Unless you plan to try this without removing the flange pipe studs. I wouldn't suggest that because it will be in way. So much so, I'm not sure you could work around it. I don't think it's possible. The pipe flange studs are nothing special and fuse completely to the manifolds.These will most likely break right away and it's a little bit of work drilling or torching those out. You'll need a HIGH quality drill bits and maybe even the same in a tap to repair. It's a PITA compared to the head/flange studs.
At one time, Dorman sold replacement manifolds on eBay for $26 apiece. This was a godsend for this type of repair which made it speedy, cheap with less drama lol.
No, as your plans are to go with a Long Tube header install in the near future. Use the cheapest studs you can find. For the simple fact, with an LT header install, you'll require short bolts as studs will be to long for the LT configuration. Studs won't fit in most locations. LT's usually come with correct bolts to replace the studs.
In this position, your going to have to use your own judgement. Either put up with the truck leaking until your ready for LT's, attempt half *** fix to get you by, set a good amount of time aside to deal with your old manifolds (to repair well enough so that they'll work, but you'll need to invest in some GOOD drill bits), or check out prices for manifold replacements. Keep in mind, you have an EGR pipe on the drivers side that taps the manifold. Using old parts may not be possible... It can be real time consuming attempting to use manifolds that old. You may want to absolutely want to kick yourself for even attempting that. Just saying... Also, I'm there to see EXACTLY what you have, IF a temporary fix is in the cards.

Also keep in mind that you need to take steps to assure that you don't compromise the threads in the aluminum heads. These are very easy to strip out. You don't want to have to deal with that problem without the proper tools and time sert hardware or thread repair tools. That can be a expensive fix unless you have the stuff on hand.

I'll see if I have some pics of what I'm referring in some of these explanations. I documented here and there. I believe I have some of my 98 header install. I'll post them if I can find them lol.


Original Manifold studs from a 98 header install, -



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Headers and High Flows to be Installed. There's also a new trans mount in this pic, - (Also this kit, when said and done was under $250. Original old converters went to salvage. Salvage purchased these from me - $200.)



__________________________________________________ _____

Bolted Up!



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EGR tube connect fitting. Hard to find. User Delerium, a member on this site had found one for me at a bone yard down south, NICE!





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New Trans Mount, -



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BAD Trans Mount, from a 2000 model year -



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BAD Trans Mount 2. This one had broken the exhaust Y damper plate and manifold bolts. Plate was welded, new mount installed, manifolds then lined up perfectly.

 

What a Wierdo.

My grandfather use to make ice cream. From what I recall, it was purdy tasty.

Hey, I think I've seen coffee ice cream at the super market. Coffee Tin Roof I think?

 

Trans is still running strong. The truck has seen the highway for probably 80% of its life so I think that has really saved it. I have put more city miles on it recently and the shifts are just how they should be. It starts to shift pretty hard and skip a little bit when I hammer it, but I almost never do that so it's not much of a problem. I also tow about 3k miles each summer and she does great with that as well. Hopefully I won't have any issues for a while but I for sure will be fixing it if anything pops up.

At this point, I'm thinking about holding off on the whole thing until I'm going to put the headers in. It seems that it doesn't make much sense to try and fix the leaking now, put the old manifolds back on and then put headers on later this year. It also doesn't make much sense to spend over $100 for new manifolds that would fit, only to take them off later for the headers.

I will probably put a new trans mount in now, one less thing to do later.

I do appreciate all the help and tips with this and I will for sure be referring back to your posts when the time comes to actually go through with the repair. Until then I guess I'll just have to deal with lean codes every now and then.

 

Different motors have different cures.

 

Good idea, well, iduno, -you might want to hold off on the mount for now as well. Since replacing just that could very easily cause the exhaust leaks to worsen. Yea, you don't want to thro yourself in a position where your forced to repair. Better your chances w/avoiding that, - leave it alone for now.

In the mean time and over time, start collecting what your going to need, - comfortably.

Oh, another thing, - I can't count how many times I sat next to one of trucks at the light, sounding like sh.... , w/exhaust, manifold leaks.. Since, yours might sound similar, I believe people are getting use to it.

 

You know that they started selling these at Oreilly's now? Took them 15 years to start carrying them! lol, I wonder if Ford lowered their price now that there is finaly competition. When I checked the dealership they cost some insanely ridiculous amount just because the threads were ford specific and couldn't be found anywhere else. I'm talking like $90 or some crap for a little fitting!
Here is the Dorman on Oreilly's website though:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...rd=egr+fitting

 

No kidding lol. Well it's about time! Yea, I had a hell of a time finding that one. Glad you came thru for me back then, couldn't believe you found one. Without that piece they leak. It's uniquely made, that's for sure.