I'm in the middle of tearing down the engine compartment. All I have left is to remove the motor mounts. I've serched the post and from that I have learned that it is possible to remove them but man what a pain. I've removed one bolt from each mount and there are two remaining. Sad to say I feel like I've tried everything short of cutting the off, which I would have tried but I dont want to search everywhere for new bolts.

Should I just say forget it and keep the old ones on? My original goal was to swap them with Poly mounts because of how easy it would be now as opposed to waiting until one of the stock ones wear out if they aren't somewhat allready.

I've got most everything sandblasted and would really like to change them so some GOOD tips would be welcomed. I've tried to jack the car up only some. My trany isn't fully out so I'm leary about going too high. I've also tried single and double U joing sockets.

 

Easiest way is to drop the A-arms down. If the engine is out, you won't have enough weight to compress the springs by jacking on the A-arm, so you need a spring compressor to do it. If you don't have one, you can rent/borrow one from a lot of parts stores or tool rental outfits. You also don't need to compress the spring itself necessarily, just be able to squeeze the A-arm and frame together.

I did the change during the engine swap with the engine out, without dropping the A-arms. As I recall, it took me one evening after work for each side, using a combination of off-set wrenches, sockets, u-joints, extensions, greasy forearms, sweat, a little blood, and words I don't normally use around my mother (but not much of those, of course... ).

After the car was on the road, I changed the front V6 springs to V8 springs, dropping the A-arms to do this. Those stupid nuts were so easy to get at then. Of course, then I didn't need to...

 

He's right, best way is to take out the A arms, but I did it without removing them, and it was a @!#%^@#%! I was able to get a crows foot on one nut, and a regular wrench on the other. took about an hour. kind of hard to explain the exact technique in print...

 

just remember, if you cut them off you still need to put the new bolts in which will be just as tough if not tougher to get the nuts started.

 

Whats a crows foot? Your big feet on the ratchet?

So it's drop the A arms then if I want them out. I'll have to figure that one out and see if it is worth it. Seems like as much of a pain, I've never compressed a spring before so what a great chance to find out how!

Can I do it without taking the wheel off. I guess I need to do some research.

Thanks

 

look at the bottom of this pic. that is a crows foot. you will have to remove the wheel, the brakes, and disconnect the tie rods, sway bar, and strut. if you have no experience you may want to get help, it isn't a job for newcomers. on the back side of the k frame there is a round hole which points down. that is where i was able to get a wrench inside on the nuts.

 

I would agree to removing the wheel and sway bar link, but you don't need to disconnect the rest of that stuff just to drop the A-arm down from the frame.

But, experienced (or at least competent) help would be a good idea.

 

You guys are making this way too difficult. I've replaced 2 sets of motor mounts without removing anything but the mount. It only takes like an hours to do both for me.
There is a noticable hole in the upper spring support. The hole is just big enough to stick the appropriate wrench in the hole and put it over the nut. Then all you have to do is untighten it from the inside of the engine bay. A trick to put the nuts back on is to use one of those snake graber things where you push in the *** and the 4 grabers come out the other end. Use that to hold the nut and snake it up the frame. once the nut is started just use the wrench through the hole and tighten it down.

 

while your changing your motor mounts, weld the nuts on the backside, if you have access to a welder. makes makes it a lot easier to change them in the future

why GM didn't weld the nuts in the first place, who knows

 

Very Good idea

 

I got the crows feet yesterday and I'm going to give it another try this weekend. I'll report on how much time it takes. I'm not about tearing down the LCA if it's not necessary.

Thanks all,

 

Used long handled swivel ratchet with crow foot and help from 1 friend total time = 1.5 hrs.