91 Dakota 4x4 engine/front diff/frame insolators
Thread Starter
|
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
From: NW Ontario, Canada
91 Dakota 4x4 engine/front diff/frame insolators
Hey all...new here. I haven't seen anything on this topic in the forums.
Heres the problem. I just picked up a 91 Dakota 4x4 with a 318/ auto.
The truck is in awesome shape, but while crawling around under it, I noticed the webbing on the transfer case looked like it had been "scrubbing" on the cross member, which would indicate to me that the engine/tranny/transfer case has been rocking from side to side. Upon further examination, I noticed that the bushing in the insolator on the drivers side is wore out ( gone ). This interesting piece of hardware provides a three link attachment point between the engine, the front diff and the frame.
I assume that if one is toast, then the one on the passenger side is too ( can't really see it ). The price I got from our local stealership ( not a typo, they are a bunch of bandits ) was close to $500.00 with tax.
This rubber bushing is a Dodge "nicety" to dampen vibrations from the driver. What I'm proposing to do is machine a solid steel bushing in lue of the rubber one and make the mount a "solid" one. ( I'm a millwright with access to a lathe )
Has anyone else run into this problem and tried "something different".
Feed back is welcome.
Thanks, Jake
Heres the problem. I just picked up a 91 Dakota 4x4 with a 318/ auto.
The truck is in awesome shape, but while crawling around under it, I noticed the webbing on the transfer case looked like it had been "scrubbing" on the cross member, which would indicate to me that the engine/tranny/transfer case has been rocking from side to side. Upon further examination, I noticed that the bushing in the insolator on the drivers side is wore out ( gone ). This interesting piece of hardware provides a three link attachment point between the engine, the front diff and the frame.
I assume that if one is toast, then the one on the passenger side is too ( can't really see it ). The price I got from our local stealership ( not a typo, they are a bunch of bandits ) was close to $500.00 with tax.
This rubber bushing is a Dodge "nicety" to dampen vibrations from the driver. What I'm proposing to do is machine a solid steel bushing in lue of the rubber one and make the mount a "solid" one. ( I'm a millwright with access to a lathe )
Has anyone else run into this problem and tried "something different".
Feed back is welcome.
Thanks, Jake
Captain
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 553
Likes: 0
From:
I've never done it, but the only problem I could see is the torque that the bushing goes thru, the rubber-esque material on their now, allows the whole engine-tranny-transfer case assembly to have a little wiggle room. If this were replaced with metal, I would think it would cause it to be too rigid and end up causing bigger problems down the road. However, I would think, if you could find the right material, you would be able to fashion up a set of rubber bushings for way less and install them yourself for way less than 500 bucks. I'm not sure how mechanically inclined you are, but even if you could fashion up a set of bushings, I would imagine a good shop could install them for you. I hope this helps, keep us posted
Hall Of Fame
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 10,923
Likes: 19
From: NM
Ya I had mine go bad too. Your best bet is any parts stores. From autozone ($60 each) to pepboys to napa. Napa will best quaility ($55 each). I just check their web site and they have them. A fully soild mount will not be good, althogh that would be sweet. You will get more engine vibrations. I would recomend replace both sides and the tranny mount wich sometimes is called motor mount rear, or tranny mount.
