BoatBanter.com - About Scotty

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I should also know better than to try responding to a
sideways
post, in
the middle of the night, after a long day of working on
a
broken
down
car. I broke a motor mount with collateral damage on
the
way
home
Friday. I had thoughts of even getting to the lake this
weekend,
and
that all changed in a loud bang and then some very
nasty
grinding
sounds.

What kind of car did you break a mount in, that caused
other
problems? I had
not broken one in many years after having an early 70s
Chrysler
that
ate
them for breakfast. Until recently, that is, when my
wife's
Bonneville
(since traded for a Jeep) broke the front one. It had the
same
problem as
that early Chrysler. There was no limiter to keep the
rubber
from
over-extending. On many others in between these 2 cars I
noticed
that
they
had a lip that would prevent over extension and then if
the
rubber
did break
it would prevent collateral damage by keeping the engine
from
moving
beyond
the limits of other components. I think the engineers
either
forget
the
lessons learned or they are so hard pressed to save
money,
space
and
weight
that they make sacrifices. Rubber holding hundreds of
ft/lbs
of
torque in
place is a poor place to save a few ounces or cents. IMO

Ken

Dodge Grand Caravan, 3.3 L engine, Left side mount. The
engine
dropped
and moved to the right about 1.5 inches. the left side
constant
velocity drive shaft pulled apart and self distructed.

I had a spare shaft that I put on, before I figured out
about
the
motor
mount, and it lasted about 20 ft before coming apart as
well.
That's
when I began to figure there was something else wrong than
a
bad CV
joint. I am a fast learner!

When I got it all jacked up you could see the rear mount
all
dropped
down and pushed to the right. I figure the pop I heard at
first,
was
the mount breaking, then the grinding was the knuckle joint
coming
apart. I hope I did not damage the tranny? TnT

Yeah, if you pulled one apart you were driving the opposite
side
shaft into
the tranny. Hopefully it has a bearing that can take the side
load
without
harm. You should know in the next 3k miles or so. Wish you
luck.
If
they had
limiters built into the mount you would have just needed the
mount.

Ken

Limiters, what a novel idea!!!! Well I got it all put back
together,
replacing the left rail mount, left CV-Shaft, and everything
ran
fine
for about 10 miles, and then I heard the motor shift right,
blew
left
CV shaft again, and this time the power steering pulley hit the
right
rail, blew apart the pulley and sepentine bolt.

Started talking to different mechanics, and come to find out
this
is a
fairly common problem. Talked to Dodge Dealership mechanic, who
said,
"Yeah those AWD Caravan have this happen commonly, but there
are
not
enough of them for Dodge to re-engineer the mount."

So now I am replacing the pulley, belt, 4th Shaft, and
re-engineering
the motor mount to include a limiter to stop the engine from
twisting
to the right side.

Do you think I could get a job with Dodge? At least that way I
would
get paid for doing all this work. Dodge says they get $800.00
for
replacing motor mounts + parts, which usually requires the CV
shaft
replacement, and they recommend doing both sides, which adds
another
$600.00 to the total. :) TnT

It is certainly a shame that they have learned nothing in 30 some
years. In
my 72 Dodge I made the limiter out of tow chain. One end under
the
engine
bolt and the other end under the frame bolt. Just enough slack to
keep
vibration from being transferred to the frame. Now you can get
webbing from
most speed shops (at least ones that serve the real racing crowd)
and
use
that in the same way. It is high tech fabric that resists heat
and
wear.
Racers use the stuff to hold their engines in and I believe the
off
road
racers also control how far the axle can move downward.

Ken

Short chain sounds good! I got most of it back together today,
except
for the power steering pump, Pep Boys sold me the wrong pulley, so
I
wiil just replace the whole pump. Got to thinking that the smack
could
have damaged the pump anyway, so be my luck the way things are
going,
the pump would fail about a week from now. So I think I would just
as
well save myself the double duty. Some fun never stops. :) TnT

I never broke the mount again after I put the chain in. No matter how
much
torque you put on the engine, the rubber of the mount was only pulled
until
the slack in the chain took up and kept the rubber from being torn
off.
Ken

I got it all back together, and no extra parts left over. Everything is
running the way it is supposed to be, no bad noises during test drive.
Hard left, hard right through potholes and hitting brakes; the motor
mounts stayed centered, but I will still work on the chains. Should be
a real comfort factor!

I have wondered about starting a thread about your favorite vehicle,
perfect paddle rack mount with wheels and motor, or tell your horror
stories. I like horror stories, as long as they are someone elses.
Would these be OT? TnT