How difficult is it to change a motor mount?

[zachzchw]

I have a bad motor mount....I think that may be the cause of some of my problems. (take off thumps, loud roar on the highway, etc).
How difficult is it to change one?
The passenger side of the engine jumps, it is a 1997 Bravada with the smarttrak AWD.

[JoulesWinfield]

Its a real PITA.

Try to get your hands on a engine hoist and lift the motor from the top.
Whatever you do make sure you dont use the oil pan to lift the motor. Just a couple mm dent caused my crank to hit the pan. Its a 20 hour job to pull the pan and put it back. At least thats how long it took me.

The real hard part is getting the little bolts that hold the upper mount to the engine. You have to get totally underneith with your socket wrench.

I read some where that it was ok to use the harmonic balencer to lift the engine from the bottom but I didnt feel real good about that. Of course I used a floor jack with a 4x4 and put two little dents that created a bunch of extra work.

Try to talk to a mechanic to get some pointers on getting enough clearance between the upper and lower mounts.

[blazes9395]

Originally Posted by JoulesWinfield

Its a real PITA.

I read some where that it was ok to use the harmonic balencer to lift the engine from the bottom but I didnt feel real good about that.

Under no circumstaces do you use a jack on the balancer. Wherever you heard that, or who ever told you, its wrong. You could easily damage you main bearings doing that. On the newer trucks, with the aluminum pans, its ok to raise it there, just don't force it, pop the bolts on the mounts and jack it up a little, and you should have enough room to do it. Its tight, real tight, but can be done slowly and carefully.

[JoulesWinfield]

Originally Posted by blazes9395

Under no circumstaces do you use a jack on the balancer. Wherever you heard that, or who ever told you, its wrong.

Thats why I didnt do it. But I really needed more room than just a little. So I would say that if you lift your engine by the oil pan use the most surface area that you can. Get like a peice of 4x6 or something that can spread out the force. Cause trust me, you dont want a dent in the oil pan.

[riptide44]

use a piece of lumber on a jack - raise the jack up to oil pan until it touches then just slightly more to hold the motor from dropping - the old mount will be a pain sometimes ( rusted bolt) . when you put the new mount in raise the jack slowly just enough to slide the mount in . just make sure the piece of lumber stretches across the entire oil pan (width ). done many many this way -no problems.