Hey Guys,

I have a transmission mount that has been sitting around, waiting for me to get the right tool for the bolt. For anyone who has taken down the cross member, what is the best type of wrench? If you know the bolt size, I'd appreciate that too.

I assume once I get that bolt off, I can just unbolt the crossmember and it will come right off... Then I can get off the bolts that attach the mount to the transmission itself...

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure, but are you talking about that big bolt in the center of the mount? I don't think that big bolt needs to come off, I'm pretty sure it just keeps the rubber from stretching too far and breaking. There should be 4 bolts to the crossmember and 4 bolts to the transfer case/tranny.

You do realize you need to support the transmission if you unbolt the crossmember right?

 

I just thought I would have more room to work in if I could drop the crossmember by removing that bolt. I'll just have to get under there and check it out again. thanks for the tip on supporting the transmission I'd like to think I would have figured that out!

 

Hopefully before you were under there trying to bench press it back up with one hand to get the bolts in

 

So finally did this last night. You do not have to remove the big bolt. Mt_Goat was right on the money with his instructions.

I just wish I would have changed my front motor mounts when I had the diff and rack and pinion out a few months ago. Just the new rear mount alone has helped quite a bit with isolating the driver from the driveline.

 

IIRC, its four 10mm or 12mm bolts and the torque on them is around 13ft-lbs.

 

Close, the bolts were actually 12mm and 14mm. If you are right about the torque, I think I way over-torqued them but I'll probably leave them since I put anti-sieze on the threads.

 

The torque specs are:
Mount to cross member. 13ft#
Mount to transfer case. 48ft#
Cross member to frame. 53ft#

The question i have is on the big center bolt. My new mount came in and the nut at the bottom was loose. I know it has to be tight but not too tight, because it has a plastic knob i assume not torqued to any real value. Whats to stop it from vibrating loose over time? Should I use red loctite to keep it on the bolt and make it finger tight? Its just a safety restraint, correct?

 

I would assume that the plastic is meant to compress a bit and act as a lock washer - keeping tension on the nut regardless of vibration. The rubber will compress over time so the bolt will probably need periodic retightening, if you've locked it you will have to bust out the torches to take up 1/8" of slack. Ideal setup would be a nylon locknut so that it would never vibrate off, but would allow easy tightening. BTW, had to Google the avatar... My next cup of Starbucks will taste even better

 

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. The nut that is moulded into the white plastic knob. It holds the bolt and spacer in place. Mine was only finger tight and would have dropped off in only a few miles.

The spacer on the bolt keeps the bolt from being tightened any further so really its not possible to tighten it later down the road. So I guess I answered my own question then. Red loctite it is. Why it was so loose, I don't know.

 

I recall being able to squeeze those bushings together with that bolt, they can vibrate loose and fall out. Personally, I wouldn't use a mount where the spacer prevented me from doing so. Who's the manufacturer of your mount?

 

The spacer seats on the top side of the bottom plate and the washer beneath the bolt head. There is nothing to compress. Its steel against steel. The bolt is there to keep the mount from ripping apart and rising too high. The rubber ring at the top is part of the top plate as you can see in the picture. Also, its a huge opening. bigger than the spacer.

 

The rubber bushings would compress as the bolt was fully tightened if the spacer was shorter, or removed, eliminating the need for locktite.