I have a bad motor mount on my driverside. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to working on cars. Is it difficult to change. Do I have to take off the manifold before I change the mount? Any advice or a write up would be awesome

 

No need to take off the manifold. If for some reason you happen to have the manifold off you should definitely do your motor mounts though. You'll basically just jack up the engine with a floor jack under the oil pan. Use a block of wood between the pan and jack to spread out the load. Once the weight is off just remove/replace one mount at a time. You may need to rock the engine a little to get everything to line back up.

 

Here's a good video on how to do it. He has a little more trouble with his in the video than most people do. It's not that bad. Also, it may be time for a new transmission mount.

Keeping motor/transmission mounts in good shape is very important. When they go bad some nasty stuff can happen: cracked exhaust manifolds, rough ride and even radiator fan slamming into the radiator.

 

^^ This can't be over-emphasized, particularly the radiator bit. Ask me how I know.

 

I just did mine. It wasn't too bad. Drivers side was easier for me to get at underneath the jeep. Also make sure you replace both sides not just the bad one. It is recommended to replace the trans mount as well.

When installing, install the longer bolt that goes through the middle first. Get the nut started but don't tighten down yet. Then work on the other 2 smaller bolts. Get those nuts started but don't tighten until you get the other side installed.

I also noticed the engine was shaking almost as bad with the old mount but this settled down after a week or so. It seems it may have needed to "break in".

 

Here's a video I took when I changed mine recently. I was a little nervous going in, but it really wasn't a difficult job.

 

I just put Brown Dog Mounts on mine last week, I put it off for a week after seeing the bleepinjeep video and waited till I had a whole day I could dedicate to it, when I finally put them on it was way easier than it seemed and only took about an hour and a half. Brown Dog recommends to do the Drivers side first and pull the Engine Bracket with the Mount together.

 

There's also something i recall about the mount bolts in the engine commonly breaking but don't recall the details, you should look that up so you can address those while you're in there.