Slightly lifting the rear body off the frame in the driveway? (1 Viewer)

[DivByZero]

Can it be done? I'm trying to replace the exhaust on my HZJ80. The rearmost section of the exhaust pipe runs over the frame, in a narrow gap between the body and frame. Other people have been able to slip the pipe through at a magic angle, which I've discovered doesn't work if you have the factory sub fuel tank like I do.

I'm considering seeing if I can loosen some of the body mounts, and jack up the rear of the body off the frame by around 1cm in my driveway, so I can slip the old tailpipe out, and slip the new one in.

Thougts? Opinions? I basically want to hear all the things that might make this difficult or impossible, rather than discovering them halfway through the attempt. And if anyone has done anything similar, please share any advice which you can offer. Thanks!

 

[JohnnyFish]

I've done it, though I can't remember why. I suggest slacking off all of the body mounts, all the way up to the front frame horns, to avoid tweaking the body longitudinally.

 

[Shipwreck]

I did it to weld up a collapsed rear body mount. I only loosened the rear and center mounts. Didn't bother with the fronts. I was able to lift the body several inches with a floor jack. Repaired the mount, and dropped the body back again.
Only thing to watch for is finding a suitable spot to lift the body without bending the floor. I think I slipped a steel bar between a couple points so wouldn't put pressure directly on the sheet metal floor.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Loosen all the body mounts starting with the ones under the front floor boards and send it. I think you could get away with leaving the front mounts alone.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Cut the old exhaust, its a ball bag to remove

Where is the joint in the new one? And what type of joint?
I've put new 3" exhaust on both my hdj80 and hzj105 and had no need to jack up the body. Both mine were made with v-band flanges in the exhaust. If the joint in the exhaust is in the right place, just having the whole car up on stands is enough

YMMV

 

[DivByZero]

Thanks guys, sounds like it's viable at least. I'll give it a crack soon when I can drop some time on this, and report back how it goes.

Cut the old exhaust, its a ball bag to remove

Where is the joint in the new one? And what type of joint?
I've put new 3" exhaust on both my hdj80 and hzj105 and had no need to jack up the body. Both mine were made with v-band flanges in the exhaust. If the joint in the exhaust is in the right place, just having the whole car up on stands is enough

It's a new factory exhaust I'm putting in. Unfortunately cutting the old one off wouldn't help me in this case, as I'll need to get the new one in somehow. Plan is to jack up the body, slip the old one out, new one in, and lower again. Already got the original exhaust separated and removed without cutting, apart from the last section that's just hanging there. It was a pain, mostly because the PO, or whatever mechanic they took it to, used whatever hardware they had lying around to reattach two sections of the exhaust, and it wasn't rust proofed in any way it looks like. Totally frozen on and badly corroded. They weren't the factory bolts, and they were too soft too. And no anti-seize to be seen anywhere. I hit it with my torque wrench and it just stripped both the bolt and nut round. Had to go at it with cutoff wheels on the Dremel to slice the bolt off. Got it all done in the end, but it slowed me down a little. Going back together should be easy enough, I've got brand new factory mounts and hardware all round. Just need to get this last fiddly section of pipe out.

 

[DivByZero]

Managed to do the body lift today. My torque wrench made short work of the mounts, but I had to remove my Kaymar rear tyre carrier to get to the rearmost mount on the driver's side. There's a bracket that bolts the carrier to the frame that I had to drop in order to get my torque wrench on the mount. I removed the locking nuts on all 10 mounts, to minimize stress on any of the mounts and the frame itself. I decided to jack the drivers side of the body up using the brackets for the Toyota side-steps that are fitted to my vehicle. The trolley jack I had wasn't tall enough to reach the bracket, so I bodged it. Don't try this, ever:

Like seriously, never do this.

It gave me enough lift on the body though, not much just enough, in order to slip out the old rear exhaust section and slip the new one in.

Job's not finished yet, only getting brief windows of time here and there, but with the new rear exhaust section in its spot now it's on the downhill run.

 

[ppc]

You don't want to use a torque wrench for removing bolts. That will require it to be recalibrated.

 

[DivByZero]

You don't want to use a torque wrench for removing bolts. That will require it to be recalibrated.

Sorry, meant to say impact wrench.