Programbo

I posted this in another thread but feel it may have gotten lost so am going to repost it here as a thread of it`s own:

If any of you guys have some ideas here`s what I am facing...About 2 years ago I hit a deep pothole and all 3 bolts of my motor mount on the engine block (Passanger side) sheared clean off..The only thing that kept the motor from dropping far was that the bottom of the distributor came to rest on the part of the motor mount still attached to the wheel well area..Had a mechanic friend easy-out the bolts out and replace them and figured everything was fine..A year later hit a bumpy stretch of road and heard that bang and the fan hitting the shroud and knew what happened right away..Mount broke again, this time elogating the holes a bit...Took it to a different mechanic friend and he got the top and front bolts out but couldn`t get the back one easy so I said forget it I`ll make-do with the 2...Long story short was in a bad wreck 6 months ago (Ran into a van from behind) and the impact was enough that the one mount bolt that goes in the hole which is kind of raised up from the block shifted forward and a chunk of that bolt stud came off (Between say the 12:00 and 4:00 positions) so you can actually see the threads of the bolt about halfway down..So now my passanger side motor mount is attached to the engine block by 1 good bolt and 1 other one which you can see half the threads of

I know it`s only a matter of time til I hit a hard bump or hole and that things gonna come down..The 3 holes on the engine block are kinda shot as far as re-doing so I`m thinking of some other sort of improvised motor mount backup system that will keep the engine from dropping should those bolts fail..Feel free to crawl under your Cherokees this weekend and look it over and bounce any ideas off me..I have access to a full machine shop with various metal rods, bars, drills and welder so I can make any sort of bracket.

big95xj

I had this same problem when i got my cherokee from the PO. And have since had the bolts break once. I havent really looked into it much but i saw a Jeepspeed build on NAXJA i think that the guy used some mounts that attach to the block in about 7 different locations. I have not researched this but i am very interested in it as well. I want to say advanced adapters made them but im not sure. Im going to look around a bit and ill get back to ya...

Bryant

cantab27

mate, i have just done the same to mine , three bolts snaped.... how did your mate get the bolts out...ive tried but cant get drill down to start the easy out.....have moved a lot of stuff out of way but still no go... do i have to take engine out, thanks if you can help, and good luck with yours.......

98 JeepJeep

im sure than can be tapped/helicoiled and locktited the HELL out of...use the hardest grade bolt you can find.

big95xj

The problem is not the bolts themselves backing out, the problem is the torque from the engine versuses the weak design. I looked on NAXJA and found the guys most recent build thread but he lost the old one were it said what mounts he used. I posted a message so well see what he says. As far as getting them out i got a right angle drill and drilled them out enough to get the easy out in there. I couldnt get to the farthest one back so i just left it and only have the front 2 bolts. And one peice of advice i figured out the hard way is NOT to use grade 8 hardware. Use something like grade 5 that is softer. That way when they break the next time, and they will no matter what you use, you wont have to fight the grade 8 hardness to drill into...

big95xj

http://browndogindustries.com/s2572-...acketleft.aspx

AH HA!! Found it! Or something like this.

Programbo

He used some sort of 90 degree drill thing..It almost looked like an air powered ratchet with just a drill bit on it instead of a socket

Programbo

Hmmm..Interesting..It`s suppose to be like 70 here this weekend so I`ll drive my Jeep up on my car ramps and lay under there and stare at it for awhile til I get a flash of inspiration

98 JeepJeep

maybe try a grade 10 fastner?