The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Front engine mount - AD truck

I’ve put it off long enough. Gotta get the front engine mount replaced. Late 235 in a 51 truck but looks like a stock style mount (best I can tell through decades of grime).

I have studied this enough to know what I need for parts. And I know I’ll have to use some all thread or otherwise attack the bolting to the timing cover from the bottom.

Can I get this done without pulling the balancer?

In my head it seems like I could….but need some perspective from those who have tackled this job. Sometimes I go out of my way to save a step, when that extra step would have saved time and frustration over all.

Nathan - IIRC from previous discussions, your mount is the 1960-62 style with the single bolt going up through the mount and threaded into the center of the front cover/mount plate, yes???

If so, this seems to be the latest thread on the change over of this mount with good info and pictures how fellow Bolter "UtahYork" did his conversion. It allows for changing without having to remove the front balancer, front mount plate and oil pan etc. Hope this helps.

I think my mount is the earlier style with the two bolts through timing cover and two through crossmember. Need to study closer.

Did some more investigating. I do think it’s some version of the early style mount. Pretty confused as to why the one bolt up and one bolt down. Also seems like the outer two are upside down

That's some serious gunk on there. Hard to tell what's going on.
I thought my front engine mount was gunky, but yours beats it hands down.

From the looks of things you're right, it is the 1951 style mount, although with all that aged protective coating (hahaha) stuff it makes it a little hard to see for sure.

My thought on why you have one bolt up and one down seems that someone has already changed it out once before (???) and didn't put it together the way it was originally installed. It could be that whoever changed it before did what you are thinking and changed it without removing the balancer. I could see that as a possibility, but have no idea if that does work or not as I haven't attempted to replace my front mount yet. I also agree from initial appearances that the outer bolts seem upside down. Maybe more will be revealed after some cleaning to expose what is there.

Let us know how things go.

In mine all 4 point downward. Let me know if you need a digital image.

I only clean the gunk when I actually fix something. Rear suspension is clean and painted. Front suspension is clean and painted.

The protective layer keeps the rust at bay until I get there.

(Actually I’m just lazy).

I can commiserate Nathan. My front engine mount area actually looked like yours for decades until I had to clean it out to replace the rotted front brake line that runs across the front cross member.

LOL! I can relate.

I'm not sure how the outer bolt could be installed with a nut on top. And the inner ones are the ones that are hard to get in from the top. Unless the sheet metal cap is completely destroyed or holes punched in them for the bolt to go thru. The cap covers the carriage bolt heads on the outer bolts. Here's a pic of my front engine mount.

The gunk on Ol' Roy is structural. I think I'd end up with all kinds of noises and problems if I tried to do a deep cleaning under there.

If you do need to remove the balancer, do yourself a big favor and remove the radiator first. It is real easy to damage the bottom of the radiator. I found that out the hard way with a hard to find original Desert Cooler radiator. I got lucky because we have an amazing radiator repair shop near me.

If your crank is not tapped for a bolt, (good time to do so) you’ll need to drive the balancer back on with a block of wood and a hammer so you will need the room.

I don’t have a shop manual in front of me. Does the front crank seal have to be placed in the timing cover from the INSIDE of the timing cover?

As ugly as all the grime is…I don’t see much in the way of an active, significant leak. I’d greatly prefer to avoid “while I’m at it” snowball effect, but I don’t want to be silly either.

No, you can tap it in from the front.

Funny you should mention that Phil. LINK

On installing the seal, it's really best to have the timing cover off and support the back side of it while tapping the seal in place.

Agreed, but I did it without removing the cover and it did work.

The last time I replaced the seal I found one PVC plumbing fitting in my plumbing junk box fit over the crank end and helped to center the seal.

That’s kinda what I had in mind….good to hear it actually works.

I did exactly the same thing when installing the timing cover.

Scored a complete NOS front mount assembly on eBay. Will let you know how this job goes when I get there. In the meantime, have a question regarding the rear mounts that I will post in a different thread.

Good deal on the score! Would love to see your report, with pictures please, of how the install goes.

I will share pictures on one condition:

No teasing me about how lazy I get in cleaning (or not cleaning) the “protective layer” of buildup in that area.

No judgement. When I cleaned my similarly encrusted front cross member, I found that one of the bolt holes to secure the front mount was so wallered out that my Grandpa had used a 1-1/2" diameter x 1/8" thick washer to keep the nut from pulling up through the oversized hole. Definitely going to get repaired/reduced in size during the future engine replacement.

Some people think that “wallered” isn’t a word.

Those people are wrong.

Phil (Phak1) has a good theory about cleaning parts, he said that if you need to remove it, clean it and paint it. That way you eventually have a cleaned and painted project. I have tried to adopt that mindset. Ohh, and "Wallered" is a word.... used it a sentence: My second gear syncro is wallered out..:D

That’s the way I clean and paint stuff. Only when I fix it.