PathFinder7 wrote:
This may have been one of the easier things I've done to my Jeep. It took maybe 30 minutes by myself.
Good grief.....if only.....
I set out on Saturday afternoon to replace the mounts, thinking it would only take an hour or two. I had a bad feeling, though, when I read the "how-to" and it said "
Remove skidplate". Last time I tried to remove the skidplate, the first bolt I tried siezed up and broke the weld nut loose inside the rear x-member. I put my tools away and said "screw it". Well, that was about 3 salt-filled winters ago, so I knew I was in for a fight.
To save everyone from the profanity, name calling, tantrums and other childish antics that went on, I'll merely state that I was able to drill the heads off the front mounting bolts, drill out the bolt itself and go in with an M10-1.5 tap to clean out the threads of what was left. The rear mounting bolts were just cut off with my angle grinder and the remaining weld nut was knocked loose with a punch. I then drilled through the top of the x-member and used some 2" long bolts/nuts to reinstall the plate.
The actual replacement of the mounts was quite easy, although the left side bottom nut was a buggar - very tight and very poor access. I finally removed the little bracket between the subframe and diff housing (3 small bolts to the diff and one big bolt/rubber bushing to the subframe) which allowed me to snake through with a long 1/2" extension and impact swivel on the end.
The left side mount was in fine shape but the right side mount rattled like a coffee can full of marbles. I kept the old left mount in the event the new right side mount fails some day, but for now the CRD is quiet again without that buzzy rattle that was driving me nuts.