Motor Mounts on 350 Small Block

[mrvsfriend]

Well, I have my motor back in the truck and got to talking with some guys at work who strongly suggested I change my motor mounts while the motor is still loose. Does anyone on here have a how to video or tips/tricks to getting these things off with the motor in the truck? It's a 96 v8 c1500 if that makes a difference. The truck has 254k on it.

 

[fancyTBI]

You’ll have to take the bolt out that holds the mount to the block, raise the engine, and then finesse the nuts off from inside the cross member. Good luck. A lift will be your friend if you’ve got one. I did mounts with the motor out and it still sucked.

There is a clamshell bolted to the block with a hole on each end. The bolt goes through with a nut on the other, obv.

The mounts themselves have 3 bolts holding them down in the cross member. I believe the bolts go in from the top and nut threads on inside the cross member. I installed mine backwards on purpose as it was easier to put the bolt in a socket, put it through the CM, and put it through the hole, then put the nut on it. YMMV though with the engine still in.

 

[arrg]

Unless everything is all back together and running again, I think you'd save time by pulling the engine back out. Not sure what access to the bolt heads would look like even if you lifted the engine slightly. I used this to get to the nuts inside the crossmember.

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That's a 20" long 3/8" extension with a u joint wound with electrical tape and a 15mm socket. Go in through the gap between the crossmember and the lower control arm. It was a pain with the engine out.

 

[fancyTBI]

Not a real mechanic, you don’t have three 6” ones put together!

 

[Wade]

Not a real mechanic, you don’t have three 6” ones put together!

Well, that would be 2" too short!

 

[Hipster]

But he is wearing safety toe Jesus sandals, so kudos for that! lol

 

[Schurkey]

The sad truth is that the ******, ancient original mounts are probably better than any of the new ones.

I went nuts looking for replacement mounts when I replaced the engine in my '88 K1500 5.7L.

Energy Suspension polyurethane inserts don't fit properly. Too tall, too wide, and the metal inserts aren't at the same angle as the originals. Correct part number, they just don't fit.

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I stopped at O'Reillys, they had one each of two different brands of aftermarket mounts. Both had THIN steel shells, and both were made in China. Probably in the same factory. Junk.

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Good luck. Maybe 2WD is different, or maybe the newer trucks have some appropriate aftermarket support that the older trucks lack. I put my original, worn-out, 310,000-mile mounts right back in. I returned everything else.

 

[arrg]

Not a real mechanic, you don’t have three 6” ones put together!

I tried that...they kept coming apart inside the crossmember. And what's wrong with my safety sandals?