Motor Mount Tip(s)

Drewd · **Joined:** Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:24 pm **Posts:** 902

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.

APC9199 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2016 2:27 pm

My only addition here would be that it is best to do only one side at a time. It eliminates any potential problems with alignment and it is much easier to "roll" the engine off of one side while you replace the mount then "roll" it the other way to do the other side. This was probably a half hour job for me doing it that way (Arizona = No Rust!)

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:35 pm

I changed both of mine earlier this year, took me about an hour of real work, but I had air impacts which makes short work of those nuts. Biggest challenge to me was snaking the old ones out and then getting the new ones back in place! Did one side at a time as others suggested, no real problems...

I was TOTALLY amazed at how much quieter the motor was at idle, blew me away at the difference!!! Never knew a motor mount could make that much difference in engine noise.... :shock:

If you hear a lot of engine rattle at idle and have eliminated all other possible sources, idler pulleys, alt. pulley, etc... change the motor mounts, you will not believe the difference!!! :wink:

undrgnd · **Joined:** Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:47 am **Posts:** 194

At what torque did you all tighten the upper and lower nuts too??

joe_ · **Posted:** Sun Sep 04, 2016 12:50 am

2005 factory service manual says 82 ft. lbs. (110 N·m) for the upper and lower engine mount fastener, and 44 ft. lbs. (60 N·m) for the mount-to-engine bolts (if you removed those).

undrgnd · **Joined:** Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:47 am **Posts:** 194

Awesome...thanks Joe

flash7210 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 07, 2017 8:32 pm

I recently hit 200k miles and have been noticing more rattles and vibrations.
Figured it was time to change the motor mounts because it had never been done before.
To my surprise, the motor mounts didnt seem all that bad.
I shook them really good and didnt hear any kind of rattle that every one else seems to report.
A few small cracks but not separation of the rubber.

None the less, I put new mounts in.
Took about 1.5 hrs. All done from underneath with regular hand tools.
The only problem was when the passenger side mount got wedged between the oil pan and frame rail and almost couldnt get it out.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:41 pm

Yours may be the exception! Count your blessings... :wink:

GordnadoCRD · **Posted:** Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:44 pm

When I did mine, I couldn't get a torque wrench on the lower nut for the Driver's side mount.
Had to use the strongarm technique on the longest wrench I could get on it. Hasn't presented any problem yet.

thermorex · **Posted:** Wed Jun 07, 2017 11:45 pm

A while ago I made a write-up in the tech forum, should be still there I think. I have not had an issue using the methods in there.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Thu Jun 08, 2017 7:43 am

See, I don't want my liberty on fire, but if the back end got crushed by a tree so I could still salvage the motor for a swap that would be fine

APC9199 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:53 pm

mass-hole wrote:

See, I don't want my liberty on fire, but if the back end got crushed by a tree so I could still salvage the motor for a swap that would be fine

Uh...what?

Motor Mount Tip(s)

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