I just replaced all my body mounts on my ‘97 U.S. spec truck this weekend. Although not particularly difficult, it did take me all day. I have a zero-rust truck, which made things much easier. Some helpful hints for those of you embarking on this task.
•OEM parts are ridiculously expensive, so many people are using the Febest alternative. I ended up having to order from Febest U.S., Febest Europe, Partsouq, and Amayama to get all the parts I needed.
•Febest is under the category “frame cushions” on their website. Toyota calls them “cab cushions”
•Tools needed:
•Every 14mm wrench in your arsenal. At a minimum a deep socket 14mm for the bottom nuts and 14mm socket for the top bolt. A 14mm ratcheting box end is helpful. I lost a socket into the body from the topside and couldn't get it out with a magnet. May it rest in peace and not rattle.
•The frame cushions above the rear axle bolt straight into the body and not the frame. They have a #3 Phillips screw head, but also a 12mm hex head. The one on the driver side can be easily reached with a long extension. The one on the passenger side takes some creative use of extensions and circus-antics to get up through the panhard mount.
•The far front and far rear mounts also have 14mm bolts that attach the mount to the frame. These do not have to be unbolted until after the body is lifted, which makes it easier.
•The mount above my catalytic converters had a heat shield tac welded to the mount. It needed a 17mm socket. After removing this mount, I removed the heat shield with some prying and Dremel tool so I could reuse it.
•You will need to remove your front seats and peal back the carpet to access some of the top bolts.
•My process was:
•Removed all nuts/bolts from the driver side
•Loosened the hardware on the passenger side by ¼”
•Jacked up the driver side, replaced the mounts, and loosely reinstalled the hardware
•Finished removing hardware form the passenger side, jacked that side up, replaced the mounts, and fully tightened everything on the passenger side
•Tightened all hardware on the driver side
•I could access the top bolt head for the front right mount with a long extension along the side of the radiator. For the front left mount you ideally need to remove the battery box to access this bolt head. I instead used a Dremel to cut a slot in the bottom of the bolt and was able to use a screwdriver in the slot to keep the bolt from spinning while I used a box end wrench on the nuts.
•I jacked the body from 2 points between the front and rear wheels. I used a length of 2x4 and 4x4 to try to span across the underside to distribute the load. I also had various wood spacers to get my jacks to the right height. Sliders and catalytic converts required some creativity.
•Strap your axles to the frame so all of your jack motion goes into lifting the body, not unloading the suspension.
•The far rear mounts look almost identical. It appears the orientation of the rubber cavities in the mount are different. Pay attention to the part numbers and make sure you get them in the right place.
•Keep an eye on your engine fan blade. As you lift the body the fan and shroud may come into contact with each other at the lower part of the shroud. Mine made minimal contact (I could still spin the blade by hand) while still being able to replace the front mounts.
Here is a video I found of removing one of the front mounts:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hy0zFXLT5g. And some other helpful info here:
Body Mount Bushes Replacement - https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/body-mount-bushes-replacement.149317/
Have fun.
