Just got owned - 99 Blazer Motor Mounts

[Bob Kontak]

Just replaced the left and right motor mounts in a 99 4WD Blazer for a pal. I hustled for real. I usually don't.

Just finished 8:00PM EST - all day job. Three bolts to the block per side and then the long through bolt. That's eight fasteners. All day plus into the evening.

No lift cost me some time - honestly, probably four hours due to the bizarre body positions I had to assume. Plus I am far from skinny.

Please tell me this is just a nasty job because I am feeling really small right now. There is simply no room. To remove a fastener it's as if you are setting up a compound angle cut on a piece of furniture. Once set up you have all of an eighth revolution per ratchet movement.

So six honest hours? Damn.

[RANDY P]

did u have a cherry picker around?

Eff that if you don't. That sucks.

PS a lot of times it's just the RT one (Passenger) that fails from torque..

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

did u have a cherry picker around?

Eff that if you don't. That sucks.

PS a lot of times it's just the RT one (Passenger) that fails from torque..

Help me out with what you mean regarding a cherry picker. I was able to get some "clearance" by raising the engine but I did not lift the engine from the top. Also took top of fan shroud off to get another inch or two.

Both mounts were sheared off. They were burnished pads. 250k miles.

It definitely was "sucking"

[RANDY P]

I would've dropped the fan shroud, remove the long bolts, and used that cherry picker to lift engine- I have done that on trucks to do oil pan gaskets...

It's a **** job for sure!

rjp

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

Please tell me this is just a nasty job because I am feeling really small right now.

Fifteen-year-old mounts and fasteners? Yes, that sounds a serious biitch of a job, Robert. And not having a lift, or being able to lift the motor up much...

I think six hours ain't that bad. OK, story time:

Last summer, I did a brake job on the wife's 2001 E320. New pads all around, new rotors. It took me all day on a Saturday to do it. The damn rotors were frozen to the hubs because some fool hadn't bothered to put any grease or anything between the hub and the rotor. So, I got to pound off the rotors, all of them, with a BFH. Then, I had to de-rust the hubs. Then, I had to mount the new parts. Taking the old stuff off and cleaning up the hubs took easily 90 minutes per corner. Putting the new stuff on was trivial - 10 minutes, max, per corner. Bleeding took another ten minutes per corner (full flush of the system). Oh, it was SO nice to get that job done. But damn, if I ever have to do that again, it'll be SO easy.

You got owned this time, but next time, you'll be the boss.

[Chocaholic]

Sometimes it's worth it to just write the check and let the pros do it.

Not always.

But, sometimes.


Did a valve adjustment on my Carrera (first time for me). Decided to remove the Cat for access and replace with a bypass pipe. Cat was installed at the factory in 1987. Since I don't own a torch and only have a "home-garage" air compressor grinder (and no lift), it took me two Saturdays to bust out or grind off the bolts. A pro would have had it off in minutes. I also find that as a home-wrench, every time I discover the need for a gasket/part/special hardware/tool that I didn't know I'd need, everything stops while I place an order with Pelican and wait for delivery. Then something else pops up that I forgot.

As long as it's a car that can stay on jack-stands for a few weeks, no problem. But for a DD, I'm afraid it'll only be routine maintenance (oil, brakes, etc.). Engine mounts go to the pros ($$$).

[Rick V]

Some people respect my profession, but those are usually only the people who have tried to do it themselves and realize that we are crazy for doing it for a living.

[fastfredracing]

[QUOTE=Chocaholic;7926399]Sometimes it's worth it to just write the check and let the pros do it.

Not always.

But, sometimes.


To hell with that, sometimes the pros don't want even want to do it.......

Those motor mounts on the older blazers are a real pia, I think I could blast out the passenger side in an hour, but the drivers side which is blocked by the front differential is brutal. The factory blue loctites the bolts, so even after you have got them loose, they have to be wound out by a wrench ( too stiff to turn by hand ) 1/8th of a turn at a time. I HATE that job. The last one I did, I had to replace the freeze plug that is under that drivers side mount. It ate my lunch too, so don't feel too bad Bob.
Oh, and while a cherry picker is great for lifting the motor, you now have no where to lay under the car, as the legs of the picker will be in your way. No easy way on this job, I would have done it the same way as you if I did not have a lift. I usually use two tall jacks on the trans , and oil pans to lift the motor up.
Then I love it when I get an impatient customer, who is calling every hour on the hour, " is my car done yet, is my car done yet?". They expect it back in the same day, but I bet that they could not finish the same job in a week if they had to do it themselves. Ahh the joys of wrenching on modern cars.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

I would've dropped the fan shroud, remove the long bolts, and used that cherry picker to lift engine

Yep. I did remove the shroud - top half - and had room - sorta. The manual said to use a cherry picker vs lift from underneath. Something about not crushing the oil pickup - which I think means crushing the oil pan. Given it's aluminum, it would have broken vs bending.

Originally Posted by Rick V

Some people respect my profession, but those are usually only the people who have tried to do it themselves and realize that we are crazy for doing it for a living.

OMG, major respect. I am trying to do this for a scratch living in my older years. Without working with guys that can transfer knowledge, these kinds of jobs are eye openers and definitely humbling.

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

. Those motor mounts on the older blazers are a real pia, I think I could blast out the passenger side in an hour, but the drivers side which is blocked by the front differential is brutal.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, differential is simply rude. Also the truck is not big - congestion. E.g., I installed the bottom driver's side plate bolt to the block with finger tips while my head was under the passenger side brake rotor. Tightening took a good 20 minutes as finger tips on stubby ratchet was all I had to work with.

The fasteners were cake. No rust at all. Had they been rusted the old mounts would still be there. Just setting up for loosening them was where lack of experience on this job and lack of of high-end tools really presented themselves as issues.

I have sockets, etc, out the yang, but I really needed quality swivel sockets and offset wrenches with just the right offset to snake up in there.

Thanks for the support.

Originally Posted by SilberUrS6

You got owned this time, but next time, you'll be the boss.

I got owned and my body hurts still. But from what I read, these aches and pains subside once you actually get into your 60's. Can't wait. Only 57 now.

A lift is in the horizon.

Also - Choco - Agree. If this one had to be done for a must have NOW without time risk, $$ would have been better.

[Scott R]

We live to fight another day. 14 hours to replace the motor mounts on this XJR. Entire supercharger and intake assy has to come out, and it's still hard to get at one of the bolts.

[McLovin]

Engine mounts seem like they're always tricky. They are usually in fairly inaccessible locations, with lots of "stuff" in the way. And they also often require the engine to be lifted to give enough clearance to get the mounts in and out, etc.

So you are disconnecting the engine from the mounts, things shift around, it's a bulky heavy mass, then you need to get everything lined back up to get the bolts back in, etc.

Coupled with for most of us at home working on our backs, etc. And, mounts are often in dirty, greasy, never cleaned locations.

Yeah, it can be tough.

I did a (well set up) 944 last year. This car was spotless, so that was nice, but it still was a bit of a bear. I started on a Saturday and tried to do the "easier" side first, but couldn't wrangle the mount out, and actually gave up and put it back together without doing the job.

But overnight I couldn't let it get the best of me, so I started up again Sunday morning. I managed to get it done, but it was a full day work. Have to unbolt and lower the cross member (which then requires an alignment), unbolt the mounts and jack the engine up much higher than I had thought on Saturday.

That gave the clearance to easily get the old ones out and the new ones in, but lowering the engine back in place while getting all of the bolt holes to align and get every bolt in place was a time consuming puzzler.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Scott R

We live to fight another day. 14 hours to replace the motor mounts on this XJR. Entire supercharger and intake assy has to come out, and it's still hard to get at one of the bolts

Why am I not surprised? I am still farting around with the XJ12 we talked about. Major issue was fuel regulator on right bank,

Owner of the XJ12 and I are taking a coast to coast run in his Tesla S this summer - on the cheap. How much room you got in the garage for us to crash?