[viter]

recently I found that driver side engine mount bracket that is welded to the frame has cracked on my truck after a lot of hard off-road use. as you can see in pics on the front of the mount a piece of metal bracket actually cracked and fell off. what is harder to see is that the crack continues all the way to the bolt mounting hole and further to the front edge of the bracket. on the rear side of the bracket there is a crack as well from top side to mounting hole and all the way to the trailing edge.

front of driver side engine mount (the bracket that cracked is the piece welded to the actual frame)

back of the driver side engine mount

judging by the dirt/slight rust on the broken edge this has happened a little while ago. my guess is during my latest baja trip a month ago, cause when I returned I started hearing this creeking noise - kind of like metal rubbing on metal in a crack.

 

[viter]

what i have found so far by searching is that people (like drabnor (RJ) whose picture is shown below) would buy replacement bracket that welds onto the frame from the dealer. then reinforce it and weld in place of the old broken one.

stock weld-on bracket from dealer on the right, same bracket with welded on reinforcement on the left

I gotta look at my truck more to figure out my options.
I already bought the stock brackets from the dealer for $62 each.
I will either reinforce them similar to pick above, or design my own bracket based on the stock one but out of thicker steel and order it from ballistic fabrication. bracket has a bit of a complicated shape to it, so might not be very easy to replicate. what do you guys think?

Also, does anybody know if it is possible to replace this without removing the engine? If so, how did you do it?

I would really appreciate your advice and will post up pics from whatever I decide to do.

 

[mrdoug]

your going to want to pull that motor to get the gun up in there to weld these on proper. It'll take far less time to pull the motor and weld vs. trying to figure out a position to get up in there to hit everything.

good luck.

 

[viter]

any advice on pulling the motor? thanks!

 

[mrdoug]

About the same as any other motor I suspect, start marking and disconnecting all the hoses/wires. There should be a black hook on the rear driver side of the block. I just ran a bolt thru the chain into an unused boss on the passenger front. I also used an engine leveler which made it much easier to put it back in (I was working by myself).

You'll need to pull out your glove box to get to the ECU pulgs, the ECU is in a tray of sorts under the passenger air bag. Much eaiser than trying to unplug the engine side of the harness monster (think of an octopus with it's tentacles all over the damn place).

 

[jonsangel]

I just did solid motor mounts on mine. Take a look at my build

 

[viter]

thanks a lot, John! I checked it out - those new mounts look good! that bumper with unusual swingouts looks really cool too! I gotta see it in person sometime.

so, please, tell me if I got it correctly - you didn't remove the engine to replace the passenger side, right? did you remove anything besides the starter? how easy was it to weld in without removing the engine? also, have you replaced the driver side yet? and finally, do you feel any vibrations when engine is running since rubber mounts were replaced with polyurethane ones and are totally different design?

or if you don't want to write anwers to all of these, can I come by sometime and check your truck out? I think you have my number.

 

[viter]

About the same as any other motor I suspect, start marking and disconnecting all the hoses/wires. There should be a black hook on the rear driver side of the block. I just ran a bolt thru the chain into an unused boss on the passenger front. I also used an engine leveler which made it much easier to put it back in (I was working by myself).

You'll need to pull out your glove box to get to the ECU pulgs, the ECU is in a tray of sorts under the passenger air bag. Much eaiser than trying to unplug the engine side of the harness monster (think of an octopus with it's tentacles all over the damn place).

thanks for advice!

 

[jonsangel]

thanks a lot, John! I checked it out - those new mounts look good! that bumper with unusual swingouts looks really cool too! I gotta see it in person sometime.

so, please, tell me if I got it correctly - you didn't remove the engine to replace the passenger side, right? did you remove anything besides the starter? how easy was it to weld in without removing the engine? also, have you replaced the driver side yet? and finally, do you feel any vibrations when engine is running since rubber mounts were replaced with polyurethane ones and are totally different design?

or if you don't want to write anwers to all of these, can I come by sometime and check your truck out? I think you have my number.

Well I forget if you're 4wd or not but I'm think you are so you'll have to pull your CV's too. I basically just jacked the motor up as high as it would go to make room which still was very little. Welding was a major PITA. I could only get to the top and bottom of the plate I made with the large MIG gun I was using. I probably could of gotten to at least the rear side but I was too frustrated and over it. I haven't done the drivers side yet because I didnt think it was broken which I just found out it was...After x-mas break I am going to cage my truck so I will do the other side then. There is definitely more vibration but its only noticable when completely stopped. Yeah you're more then welcome to come by and check out my truck. Im going to oregon tomorrow but ill be back tuesday. you still have my number?

 

[hytenor]

your going to want to pull that motor to get the gun up in there to weld these on proper. It'll take far less time to pull the motor and weld vs. trying to figure out a position to get up in there to hit everything.

good luck.

what about just jacking up that one side? yea, unbolt the tranny mount and get anything that is easily movable out of the way to make as much clearance as possible but It seems there might be enough room to work with using a small MIG gun...might not

I'd just fab up brackets using the ptorched off OEs as templates.

 

[DennisDawg]

I broke a motor mount perch in the same way. I didn’t replace the perch. I welded new metal onto what was there, based on some steel angle iron to make a new perch and wrap around the bottom of what was there. It has held up fine so far, about two years I think and cost me like ten bucks.

As described above by Chris, I disconnected the transmission mount and jacked the engine up on one side, out of the way. I took off anything that was in the way and I could get in there. It wasn’t easy to get in there and mess with it, but it didn’t take that long.

Way easier than pulling the engine for sure.

 

[sasaholic]

use an arc welder. i had to weld mine and couldnt get my mig to it, but i could with a new rod. i had to swap rods frequently to keep them long but it worked good

 

[viter]

the fact that so many people had to do it is a bit shocking, I am glad though cause I can learn from your experiences
thanks guys!

also, when you guys repaired yours without removing the engine, did you repair both sides or only one? if one, which side?

 

[DennisDawg]

I only repaired the one that was broken, the driver side and it was worse than yours. Nothing was holding the engine down so it would turn a bit when given some gas. The supercharger hit the underside of the hood and let a bit of a mark.
Fixing it in place took a few hours. Had I known better what I was doing, it would have been less. I used wood and a jack to tip the engine to the passenger side, I do not remember taking the CV out . . . but I did have to maneuver a lot to get in and fix it.

 

[mrdoug]

what about just jacking up that one side? yea, unbolt the tranny mount and get anything that is easily movable out of the way to make as much clearance as possible but It seems there might be enough room to work with using a small MIG gun...might not

I'd just fab up brackets using the ptorched off OEs as templates.

Figures, I post up saying I think it would be much easier to weld without a motor in the way, and half dozen folks say they figured out a way to stand on there head and use the big toe on either foot to do it with no problems.

Yeah, there's ways around it, probably isn't absolutely necessary, but it is much easier. I've pulled the damn 3.4 out of my 85 during so many times during my build, I chalk it right up there with dropping the skids. Mild pain in the ass, but if I just start, it's done before I know it.

That and I'm not the most talented welder.. I do best when I have good position, can actually move my hand and head around so I can see whatever I'm welding on, etc. Maybe the OP is super talented and can weld without even having to look. Maybe not...

my advice (you know.. like assholes) is to pull the motor so you have good access to weld that motor mount. It's not like it's critical or anything, just a motor mount. pretty good ought to be good enough.

 

[hytenor]

Figures, I post up saying I think it would be much easier to weld without a motor in the way, and half dozen folks say they figured out a way to stand on there head and use the big toe on either foot to do it with no problems.

Yeah, there's ways around it, probably isn't absolutely necessary, but it is much easier. I've pulled the damn 3.4 out of my 85 during so many times during my build, I chalk it right up there with dropping the skids. Mild pain in the ass, but if I just start, it's done before I know it.

That and I'm not the most talented welder.. I do best when I have good position, can actually move my hand and head around so I can see whatever I'm welding on, etc. Maybe the OP is super talented and can weld without even having to look. Maybe not...

my advice (you know.. like assholes) is to pull the motor so you have good access to weld that motor mount. It's not like it's critical or anything, just a motor mount. pretty good ought to be good enough.

pussy...all you need is to hold a piece of #12 glass in one hand and the gun in the other...no need for that bulky helmet

looking at that pic again I'd probably just weld a piece of angle in there and be done, LOL

 

[viter]

thinking of making this out of .250in steel

click - this is video

 

[jonsangel]

that looks good. if your going to go through all that trouble why not throw a bushing in there?

 

[mrdoug]

pussy...all you need is to hold a piece of #12 glass in one hand and the gun in the other...

I'm not the most talented welder..

Ha... I need both hands to weld. motor controls have gone to shit (too much fun in the 80's, 90's, 2k's).

OP: sorry bout the hijack. The plans look good. You could probably make that out of 2x3x.25 box. Why not throw some extra gussets around it while you're at it (outside to the frame)?

 

[viter]

that looks good. if your going to go through all that trouble why not throw a bushing in there?

extra complication figuring out where to put it and redesigning the bracket side of the mount, plus i don't think I want to introduce any extra vibration between truck and engine due to harder bushing material.

also I am not sure if this true, but so far I can only find info on people who broke the actual welded on piece on the frame and I can't find anybody who broke actual bolt-on bracket that goes between engine and frame mount. that piece actually looks much stronger than the frame mount. does anybody know if anybody has ever broken one of those engine mount brackets (the bolt-on ones)?