Inspect your Transmission Crossmember

Hmm wonder if that pro eagle stuff will fit the "heavy duty" snap on rip off Daytona jack. The jack extensions are tempting at the very least. Neat setup. Way cheaper than a lift.

 

"Alright honey, I'm gonna go Jack the truck up to work on it."

 

I'm sure it's probably safe but that would make me so uneasy working under it.

 

And $1100 later.

 

Yeah, and access is improved to underside stuff, but I usually need a wheel off for most things. And I need to be laying down, or standing up. Not sure the ergonomics of the in between height. Do you sit on a rolling stool maybe and hunch down? Kneeling with knee pads? Some repairs need to be up down, up down, up down, for access to engine bay, then underneath, then engine bay, etc. what do you do when the truck is up on blocks like this @T150 ??

 

If you go back to his first post , he's got some sort of rolling creeper that also inclines like a chair.

 

That was my thought also. Which brings me to this question:

Is it not teetery at all? You've got a couple of tons of vehicle, bolted to round, roller thingies, sitting in a cradle, stacked three blocks high, which are half the width of the roller thingies.

You can't honestly tell me it doesn't sway when you're putting any significant amount of front-to-back torque on a fastener.

Nice truck though. I may be a little partial . And I normally loathe black wheels on white trucks. If it weren't for the faux beadlocks, it'd prob be a diff't story.

 

The jack alone would make me uneasy using it and not having the extension tip the jack over. I wouldn't recommend that kids be near it for fear of pushing it off the blocks.

 

Meh, looks fine to me as long as you're on level ground. I'd do it.

 

Yeah, once you replace your lift pad on whatever jack you have with the Pro Eagle one, the jack extension has a track system to lock it in so it can't fall over.

I live in an apartment and my one car garage has only enough room for my tools and motorcycle.

Also, the driveway has a pretty steep angle so I don't feel comfortable jacking it up there.

So, I use my parents' driveway that is level and that means I have to bring all my lift stuff and tools with me every time.

This setup is very portable and lite except for the wood and the jack.

But, my Dad has the same jack I do with same setup for the Pro Eagle extension so I don't have to bring my jack.

 

When I replaced my Center Support Bearing, I needed to be in Neutral to spin the driveshaft to access the bolts attaching it to the diff, so I put it on 4 6-Ton jacks.

They don't lift as high as this setup though.

My creeper tilts up to a chair like position.





Now that my suspension is done, future jobs will mostly be oil changes.

 

It's pretty stable.

The race ramps are 16" by 16" and can support 6000 pounds.



The wood is 16" x 17"

There is a youtuber named "JDM Driveway"

He has a 1st Gen with these Wheels on a red access cab:

thought they would go nicely on my rig too.

Kinda looks like older TRD wheels.....

 

This worked on my lowered 1st gen taco too!

 

Those blocks do look stable. Probably more stable than 4 jack stands.

 

The ultimate I think would be 4 of these:



But they start at 28.1"

And they are pretty heavy.. 105 Pounds.....



But Dang!

46.5 height

 

I’ve got two of them
They are pretty sweet, recommended highly…….by @Cruzer

 

Those fuckers are beef!

 

HOLY Sweet Geezus I need this creepliner. No more ab workouts under my truck

 

@Cruzer, then you can do this!

 

LOL! Hell yeah.. I can drink my beers under truck all day.
: "Whatcha doing to the truck now?"
Just the ususal Babe!
: "Imma go do my nails then"

 

Gotta have something to counter the beers bro

 

Yeah who needs an expensive shade awning when you could kick it under your truck like the wagon train teamster of old? I love it. And then since you just did your suspension, when you’re done you just drive right off!

 

Hey guys, coming here to 2nd (3rd, 4th?) the crossmember issue. My truck (then my dad’s) has had a serious clank for a long time. About 3-4 years as far as I can remember. When we went to a shop for tires and a little routine maintenance (150k+ miles) such as ball joints, brakes, and u joints I believe, we told them about it and they found the bolts were missing. Completely gone. They grabbed some 12mm bolts and slapped back in with a “you’ll probably be back in a few months for this, but worth a shot” give it 4 months and… “clunk.” 2 of the bolts completely sheared off. This was discovered after the carrier bearing went out (since replaced). It’s a very easy diagnosis. 35, 55, and 75 mph vibration under acceleration. Went under there today since the clanking gotten very. VERY aggressive (3-4 clanks per stop) and the 3rd bolt has half backed out and cross threaded… idek. The crossmember is in impeccable condition with no rust given I live in Florida with 0 snow/salt. It only has the fractures typically seen here. My neighbor offered to weld it for me. Saves $120 so I’m down. As for the mount, I’m definitely following the TSB advice and will replace the whole mount with new bolts and increase torque (loctite ftw). The biggest loss with this issue was by far trying to chase it down. there was a miscommunication and the tire shop took it upon themselves to install control arms and sway links without asking us. A $1300 “pretty sure this‘ll work” without permission. Ugh. Might go down there tomorrow and maybe haggle something out of it. I replaced the suspension struts and shocks myself and saved $600 but they were so confident that was it. No fault to them, every single suspension bushing was practically nonexistent. So a whole new suspension for almost $2000 and it still clanks. I will send a picture of the crossmember when I replace it and what the welding looks like.

 

Is this not a bolt in affair? Thought all you needed to do was unbolt from trans then unbolt on both sides and replace. No welding needed.

 

The trans mount yes. Repairing the crossmember no. I will take it out of the truck and weld the crossmember back together. It doesn’t show signs of complete failure, only minor cracks

 

The same crossmember as pictured here from a previous post by @T150 ? Just need to buy new and replace correct? Just trying to fully understand what you have going on to keep everything as simple as possible.

 

Yes, the same cross-member. And you are correct, it just unbolts. The welding was referring to fixing the hairine cracks in the crossmember, nothing to do with actually mounting anything. We inspected the crossmember and determined it was not damaged badly enough to warrant replacing the whole thing. I agree it is probably a better idea to replace the whole thing, but having a welding project wouldn't be all that bad. We will hopefully be taking it out and welding the cracks this weekend, but if it isn't in good condition I'll throw it back on the truck and order a new one. All I have to loose is a welding rod and some Loctite. It looks very similar to @2006Tundra. The bolts were completely missing when the clank started. This picture was in 2021 and the remaining bolt you see is no longer tight and cross-threaded completely on its own. Given the snapped bolts, I believe the rust is mainly attributed to the bolts.

 

Honestly, it's expensive af. Like, absurdly expensive. And the quality, from what I saw of @alb1k's, was sloppy af.

But welding is a band-aid for @TeakKey7, b/c steel that cracks is, well ... steel that cracks. You can weld it, it's just going to crack elsewhere. May be worthwhile just to get a shop to take measurements and knock out a custom job with square tubing.

And it may be worthwhile just to replace the mount if it's not too god-awful expensive.