95 Ranger Trans. Crossmember

[yotermanic]

Well, I'm used to answering questions, not asking them, but here it goes...Helping a buddy out doing his clutch on his 95 2wd 4.0 OHV Ranger. The crossmember has rubber bushings with bolts through them to u-brackets on the frame. have the crossmember and two bellhousing bolts holding the transmission in, and the crossmemeber bolts won't let got! They are seized in the metal tunnel in the rubber bushings. I have beat them with a hammer, tried to twist them with a u-joint press and soaked them with penetrating lube and tried it all again. Anybody ever have this problem before?

I remember them being stubborn at the dealer before, but never like this. When I put the ball joint press on the bolt, it pushed the steel tube through the bracket! I would just cut or heat the bolts, but I cannot get replacement bushings, only with a new crossmember.

I was thinking of blasting the rivets holding the bracket to the frame, then dealing it with it off the car and bolting it back on (after welding a patch on the bracket with a steel tube sticking through it, of course). This is soundnig desperate, so I thought I'd post it and leave it overnight before doing anything drastic. Any help/experiance appreciated.

[cj091184]

Ohhhh yeah, those things definetly know how to get stuck, when I did mine I had used a grinder to cut the bolt head off so you can remove the cross member from the truck then use a press of some kind to push the entire sleeve out of the bushing, so you have two metal sleeves with bolts in them, the sleeves do have seems in them so you can open them, however I heated mine up and holding with a pair vise grips position it over a vice so that you can use a hammer and a punch and then they will come out, then you have to press the sleeves back into the bushing. well thats how I got mine anyway, and oil helps with the pressing the sleeve into the bushing.

good luck