transmission mount alignment
 

hey there fellas,

so I removed the bolts to my transmission mount (the 4 bolts that go into the transmission on the front side of the crossmember) as part of my plan to drop my oil pan.

long story short, in trying to jack up the transmission or transfer case again to get the bolts back in, that bracket of the transmission mount doesnt alighn anymore with the transmission.

how do i fix this? did i move the transmission or something when i did this? I was jacking up the transfer case a few different times, did i mess up the mount or something?

please give suggestions!

i ran into the same problem the other day, either your trans mount or the crossmember or both are backwards.

meaning: the trans mount will bolt to the trans either way (LR/RL) by itself W/O the Xmember, and the Xmember, will bolt up either way by itself W/O the trans mount, BUT, both will only line everything up when in one certain way.

try dropping the Xmember first, and flipping the trans mount (L to R), put the Xmember back on and you'll see. also, the will still be a tiny bit off, but just let your trans jack down a tad and tap the trans mount with a brass drift or similar until the bolt go in their holes.

that sounds like it makes sense, and I'll definitely take another look at them and maybe try that.

the thing that makes me wonder if thats my current issue is that I never actually removed the mount or crossmember, just unbolted from the transmission. so it worked before, and nothing has been moved.

any other suggestions?

i just took a big pry bar and moved my trans over, works fine

yes, after re-reading your original post, you just need a pry bar to make them go in. the engine is in the same sort of rubber mounts as the trans, so it has a good deal of flex.

There are offsets in both the mount and the crossmember. If you look at the rubber mount, the upper holes and the lower studs are offset. It looks kinda like
--
/
--
Looking from rear to front, the way it's diagrammed above is the way it should go in. The offset of the mount needs to go towards the passenger side.

Also, if you measure the crossmember where the old mount was, the center of that was also offset (center measures 18" from one end and 19" from the other. The 19" side needs to go to the passenger side.

I've been waiting for this topic to come up because I just went through this not too long ago.

And if I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me. Hope that helps

-bob-

well I tried moving it but i couldnt get it. it would move a little bit when i had pressure on it, but i couldnt get it right.

should i try it without it jacked up? i tried doing this when it was on the floor jack. where should i pry it over?

I really have no idea what i'm doing with this, i thought it would be a simple bolt back up when i was done.

Does it need to go front or back or do you just need to pull it side to side. What ever the case DON'T take it off the jack. You'll hurt it.

I would hang the mount on the tranny (leave it loose) and hang the crossmember off the mount (again...just loose). Then you could try a pry bar through the crossmember bolt hole into the hole in the frame. Ratchet straps are an option and some might occasionally need to loosen the motor mounts (but probably not). I know the first time I screwed it up, I had to yank pretty good to get it to move over. Kinda like I was fighting the motor mounts, but....it did go.

-bob-

hmmm, well it sort of already was off the jack. it seemed as though it rested on the mount still. didn't seem to cause any problems, aside from the holes being misaligned now.

i guess it kind of needs to go forwards and to the drivers side a little bit. kind of a diagonal move i guess.

i guess i could try ratchet straps, i dont really have a massive pry bar, just one about a foot and a half long. beefy, but kind of short.

rachet straps

this was the best advice.

I tried ratchet straps to move it over, but it was impossible to get the transmission in the exact spot i needed it.

I then decided since it needed to move forwards I'd hit the transfer case with a big hammer to get the whole thing to move. Bad idea, as i found out. slight crack in the the t case weeping oil.

I finally just took off the crossmember, attached the mount bolts into the transmission, then just use a tiny bit of force to get the crossmember back into its place and rebolted it. it was so simple, i can't believe i spent so much time wondering how to do it and wasting my time breaking other things.

thanks for the help everyone!