I bought two motor mounts for my 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo and knew I wanted to do both of these. Turns out the driver’s side looked a bit more of a challenge and had a shop put it in for $100 plus tax so it was $108 bucks. I looked hard at the right or passenger side motor mount and decided I could put this one in. Here are the steps, and problems I encountered so someone else won’t have to think about what needs to be done, just follow the steps. You may have a better plan, but this is what I encountered:
1) Remove the fan housing to get at the alternator which I took out to get at the bolt’s nut. I removed the air cleaner housing and that rubber 4 inch spacer that attaches to the throttle-body air intake. This way you can get at those smaller 10mm bolts on either side of the fan housing. Mine is missing the bottom two bolts and this never rattles so I didn’t bother looking to replace them. I also take off the top water hose to get at the other side fan housing bolt. I have learned that it is just easier for me though you may find this unnecessary. I did though end up taking the hose off of the engine or water pump to be able to take off the alternator.
2) Unsnap the connection to the fan housing. Since I have had to take this out numerous times to drain my radiator, do water pump removal, belt, I finally just cut off that clamp and made sure it would not come apart.
3) Once out take get a half inch ratchet, put the ratchet end into the idler pressure pulley and push down to take pressure off of the serpentine belt. I just took the belt off just the alternator, but if you do take it off, make sure you have the route to put it back onto the engine. You may want to remove this and replace at this time. Also I replaced at an earlier time the both the idler pulley and tensioner. These cost about $80 for both at Action Auto stores, on eBay maybe even less…a good thing to just do for a car over 150K miles.
4) Take the battery out completely.
5) I took the alternator off, two bolts, but it was very tight on the bottom, so I took a grinder and touched the mount just a tich to make it easier to put back on. I did apply anti seize to all of the bolts before putting them back together at the end.
6) This maybe be attached in another area, but for me the negative cables were right behind the motor mount.
7) Take off the bolt that holds the two negative cables that are attached to the engine. These need to be checked also, as they do become corroded and this connection is important to engine and electrical performance.
8) You will need a floor jack under the cars oil pan, (although there may be a better place to raise the engine, this is where most say to do this) and I used two 14 inch 4 X 4’s with a 6 X 8 inch piece of 2 x 6 board attached on top of those to keep them together, to give the floor jack a buffer between the pan and jack.
9) Floor Jack under engine: I put the jack squarely under the pan with the front lip covered, and keep it away from the back due to the oil drain plug being a weaker area in my opinion. Jack up the engine just enough to keep the engine from moving.
10) Covering under engine needs to be moved aside: I saw this covering under the engine that I didn’t really know at the time how to take off. I should have gone under and figured it out, but just tried to push it out of the way from on top. The material is to keep water and dirt from coming into the engine compartment when driving. Go under there and unclip two of the clips that plug up under and into the frame. I used a set of adjustable long handle pliers to get up in there and pry this off. Then this can be pushed aside properly.
11) Bolt on the old motor mount removal: I used two ratchets with one 18mm deep socket and another on the stern end of the bolt. It came off easily enough. I then punched it out taking care not to injure the threads. The mount basically dropped out through the bottom, it will NOT come out from the top side.
12) The hardest part became the pushing the mount up from underneath, and getting it to stay to then go up on top and start a bolt to the engine. Once the four bolts are in then torque at 40 to 42 ft. lbs. NOTE: I could NOT get the forward lower bolt onto the engine until the mount bolt was through the mount.
13) Trouble with getting new motor mount to go up into the frame mount: the mount tolerance was so tight, when I raised the engine to get the mount up into the frame side attachment area, it got stuck. I ended up lowering the engine to get a look at the mount, and taking my grinder and I ground one side of the mount enough to be able to get it started and up into the frame side mount. I was NOT going to take it all off and do this, as there was just enough room to get at the one side to grind…thankfully I had a 4” disc grinder!!
14) My guess is that this is a problem with aftermarket mounts, and may be a good idea to sand off or grind off a 32nd inch or so and apply some lube. After I ground it from underneath, and it was not easy, it went up into that frame side a whole lot easier!
15) Getting the motor mount to line up with body frame mount: I had to jack the engine up, and put weight on the car fender to drop the frame side into position to be able to get the bolt started. I had some false starts and wound up having to pull the bolt out, basically the bolt got stuck in the rubber and I thought it had started into the mount hole. Try banging on a bolt when you think it should move and it doesn’t….ererrrrrr….This happened twice. Next time I would pay more attention to where the mount’s hole is before I line it all up.
16) Once I did get the bolt in the hole and through the motor mount, then it is time to bolt it up, and put it back together.
17) This took way too long to do and I have all the tools, but it was hot and in the driveway, and the setbacks were a pain, but I did get it done.
18) With this set of instructions that I went through I hope helps the next person, as I could not find anywhere step by step instructions for this mount business, and I have been taking care of my cars since the 70’s….so I just turned 60, I am old I guess…old…only in body..good luck!!
I would rather be FISHING!!