Strengthening engine mounts

[Earth1]

I was thinking of adding some type of hinge or other flexible device to my motor mounts to stop them from breaking as easily. I would weld the contraption to both the lower and upper sections of the mount to avoid it overextending and breaking. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?

[unccpathfinder]

i really havent heard of too many problems with the stock mounts? didnt really think our motors put out enough torque to break them maybe im mistaken...but also some sort of diagram or drawing would help explain it b/c im not 100% sure what ure trying to make

[gabod7]

i have yet to break an engine mount. i used to brake at least 1 (front mount) on my taurus a month. but i havent had that problem yet.

[88pathoffroad]

You can get NISMO mounts that I think are polyurethane, lots stronger. Other than that you'd have to experiment and make your own stuff, I guess.

[Slick]

what aaron said.. or.. i have 2 spare mounts available if you need them.

[Earth1]

I actually did order the Nismo mounts Friday with my cams. They told me they were hard rubber, that's different than poly right? FYI the mounts at Nismoparts.com are cheaper than anywhere I've found, at like $76 a piece. I have an extra when I get these so I'll mess around with it and keep oldy for a trail spare (even though my ratchet strap has been working fine for months). I'll follow up if anything decent becomes of my idea.

[mws]

Yes, hard rubber is different than polyurethane. It seams that all the "trick" stuff is being done in polyurethane these days, but I think it is more for flash factor than funtionality. It's hard to mold rubber in bright red...

Rubber is fine for 99% of applications.

[Simon]

Earth, I've got to question the need for "stronger" engine mounts.....

 

You say you've got a ratchet strap on one for months. Surely even a stock engine mount is exponentially stronger than a ratchet strap. I dunno....seems to me that replacing with a stock part would probably outlast the life of the truck.

[88pathoffroad]

Not when you give it hell in 4LO with 33's up a rock-studded hill, they won't.

 

People break engine mounts all the time. Ask Rami.

[Simon]

I agree with that 88, but lets not forget we're talking about (in the WD21 crowd) vehicles that are AT LEAST 11 years old. Things break. I'd venture to say that breakage at that age is less due to flex and more due to the breakdown of the rubber due to age.

[mws]

My old Fairlane had a rather built 302 in it, and it would twist engine mounts to shreds. And I was a starving college student with no $ to buy better mounts.

 

Solution: A strap to limit how far it could twist. It attached from the front of the cylinder head to the frame. It had about 1/4" of slack at idle. It still allowed the engine to dance around at idle and absorb vibration up through about 1/2 throttle, but stopped it from pretzeling the engine mounts at full throttle. I started with chain, but it rattled. Solution: Piece of 5/16" SS cable.

[Earth1]

I broke my 14yr old stock mount on some pretty big rocks in a creek section of a trail... hopefully a newer one will hold up OK.

 

Besides the last half of the trail I was on, I haven't been offroad with the ratchet strap. For everyday driving, the 2000lb strap has worked fine. Ugly as hell though. I have the tail wrapped around my front tow hooks, looks like some retarded immitation recovery gear.

 

I'm not sure how often these things break? 2 guys I've wheeled with also broke a mount last year. One has a Pathfinder and one has a Frontier. Maybe just a coincidence, but if an easy modification can prevent me from potentially breaking a $70+ part on the trail, I'll go with extra.