How difficult is this car repair?

[daveleau]

Hi everybody!

I have a problem. As you may know, I recently bought an 87 Jeep Cherokee. Well, it's taught me a lot about vehicles in the past 3 months. The motor mounts and track bar were bad and going to work last week, the entire engine shifted forward and punctured the radiator and stopped my AC from working. Luckily there appears to be no other damage.

I got the parts and have been looking at doing the repairs myself after the mechanic diagnosed the problems. The mounts, radiator and track bar bushings (the bad part of the track bar, supposedly) cost me $230. The labor is set to cost me about $375.

Radiator repair seems straight forward: http://www.cybrrpartspro.com/Chilton...07CH03_11.html

Track bar repair looks straight forward as well:
http://www.cybrrpartspro.com/Chilton...107CH08_9.html

How difficult is it to do the motor mounts and a transmission mount? The Jeep has two front motor mounts (one on each side) and a transmission mount. Would it be more beneficial to buy a heavy duty jack to jack up the motor and install them myself? Is this dangerous? I know not to jack up under the oil pan, but that's about all I know about this. Is there a big potential for serious damage to me or to the vehicle?

Thanks
Dave


Jeep Cherokee
4.0L 242 engine
AW4 automatic transmission

[pickel]

You'll probably need an engine hoist to get the engine high enough to swap out the mounts, but be careful of anything connected to the motor, wiring, brackets, ect. Make sure all is supported so you don't lose any fingers or digits . Should just be a bolt on deal. Be careful!! Good Luck, Dave ***

[Brainchild]

I'd look into renting a cherrypicker to do the job with.It would still be cheaper than having it done,and it's really not that hard a job,other than having to roll around underneath the jeep

And a heavy duty floor jack is a good investment at anytime IMO.

I just bought a 3 ton MVP floorjack at Wally World for $70 yesterday.Pretty nice replacement for a worn out one

Mine is like This one.Only blue

[daveleau]

brainchild,
Would that go high enough to lift a lifted truck (31" tires and 3" body lift)?

[RedFury]

Blocks of wood do wonders when there is a lack of height when it comes to jacking up vehicles.

Now, if you have a strong beam in your garage, a come along and some chain may be all you'd need to lift the motor up ( after you take off the hood of the jeep ).


Simply bolt the chain on the engine for lifting making sure that the chains don't break anything when you start lifting the engine for clearance.
Motor mounts generally aren't that hard to replace, same with tranny mounts. It's just a matter of getting the old ones out that's usually the problem with all repairs.

[bigblue77]

All I hav to say is be VERY careful. Renting a cherry picker and having a good heavy duty floor jack is a must in this job.

Good Luck

Jer

[Bovon]

I stopped doing my own mechanical repairs about 1980 due to working long distances away from home. And I am certainly not familiar with a Cherokee layout. But.. I have changed out many engine and transmission mounts with nothing more than a small hydraulic jack, a few short pieces of 2 X 6 or 8s to put on the ground or drive way..get that sucker up high enough to squeeze under and jack the engine up. remove the old mounts and install the new..lower down and align the bolt holes with a bar. Same thing with the tranny mount.

The radiator is pretty straight foward..you will need to remove the fan shroud and blades probably.

[daveleau]

I have a friend who is renting a house that has the joists for an engine lifter in his garage. I also have our auto hobby shop on base that surely has something like this. I may just tackle this myself at the hobby shop with supervision. I bet the guys who run the hobby shop would help me lift the engine, and I could go underneath to get the mounts replaced.

Thanks!
Dave

[Siliconjunkie]

The hobby shop sounds like a good resource and a good choice on this one.

Don't try to jack up the motor by the oil pan, please. Use a cherry-picker. It's fifty times easier. Other than the actual motor moving, it only took us about 15 minutes to replace the motor mounts in a TJ. We didn't do the tranny mount so I can't help you there. Otherwise, all my advice has already been given.