Replaced both motor mounts yesterday to eliminate various clunking sounds I was getting. CRD was at 161,000 miles and I think the mounts went bad about 100k miles ago. I had purchased new mounts 4 years ago but was too lazy to do anything about it until yesterday and wanted the clunk sound gone so I can list it on craigslist for sale..hint hint hint.
Anway, here is what I learned:
Lifting engine: It has to be lifted a surprising amount under the oil pan to remove the old mounts. I already had my fan, radiator, intercooler, front bumper removed for another reason and wasn't too concerned about clearances.
Pax side: I removed the battery box, and inlet/exit CAC hoses from turbo to free up more room. I could not get the mount removed from the bottom, there wasn't enough clearance and pulling it from the top was easy with all the aforementioned stuff removed.
Bottom nuts:
Bottom nut rusted on pretty good for both sides. Pax side came out using an impact wrench. Driver side didn't allow impact wrench use. I heated the rusty nut/bolt area with a propane torch and then quenched it with penetrating oil. I did this about 4 times trying my best to catch my Liberty on fire so I could collect the insurance money. No luck, it wouldn't burn which left me with the task of actually removing the nut. It was still stuck on pretty good and I think I tore a muscle in my abdomen trying to break the torque on the nut. I found a short craftsman wrench in my toolbox which had plenty of clearance to mount onto the nut with an 18mm six sided socket and rotate freely. However, the short handle made it difficult to give it the torque it needed so this is what I did. My ATV has a winch with a wireless remote. I ran the winch cable to the socket wrench handle and used duct tape to keep it from sliding off but to be honest, there the winch hook/clevis couldn't have slid off the handle anyway due to clearance....just enough to rotate the wrench. I didn't want to use my hand to press the wrench against the nut to prevent it from falling off so I hacksawed the pax mount and pushed it under the wrench to act as a support and save my hand from carnage that could have occurred. I then engaged the winch which broke the torque on the rusted nut very easily. The rest is history. I could have used a ratchet strap or a come along to do the same but I wanted first time use of my ATV winch to be memorable.
Install of new mounts made a big difference. Horsepower and torque are up at least 30% per my butt dyno, fuel economy is at least 10mpg better and I can now smoke SRTs at a stoplight. Sorry, wrong mod, it was the Vtec sticker I put on my bumper that did that, not the new motor mounts.
|
