AUTOFAB transmission Mount for Gen I Explorer/Ranger/BII

[410Fortune]

Okay people as you may know the stock Ford transmission mount is a POS.

The transmission crossmember and the transmission are held together by glue with the stock unit.
Two pieces of metal with a rubber insert glued to the metal.

For any type of towing or 4x4ing, heck even street the stock unit is not up to par. When the stock unit is worn out it will cause all sorts of caos, including leaking rear pinion, vibrations, axle wrap, play in teh drivetrain and shift linkage, and also huge amounts of stress added to the motor mounts.

So what do we do about it?
I am on my third stock mount, because I do alot of towing, I have big tires, the truck has 257K miles on her, and she is a off road rig. Instead of spending another $48 at Ford for another new mount I found out from JoshS on this board that AutoFAB makes an very stout and very trick transmission mount that is a direct replacement for the stock unit.

I ordered mine earlier this week and it came UPS last night.

I have not taken pictures yet, but I will be installing it this weekend and I will take pictures and post a write up.

I am very pleased with the time in which the part was delivered, also this unit is HIGH quality, as are most AutoFAB parts. It is a little steep, just over $100, but the new urethane bushing can be replaced, so it will last for the life of the truck.

It is also recommended to replace or upgrade your stock motor mounts at the same time. AutoFAb also sells some trick motor mounts for our trucks. I opted to pass on these since my new Ford motor mounts are about 3 months old.

Let me know if anyone has any questions, I am looking forward to finally ridding myself of the mass amounts of play the worn stock unit allows in my drivetrain, ESPECIALLY when the truck is "flexed out" so to speak off road. This unit should hold up about 100 times better for towing as well.

Anybody want to buy a slightly used Ford mount? hahaha

 

[410Fortune]

OKay the AutoFAB tranny mount is in. Perfect fit.

I have pictures if anybody wants to see them email me

jamiefortune@lerchbates.com

Very happy with teh AutoFAb mount so far. Much firmer shifts and less axle wrap.

 

[Limited Ex]

Is there a website that we can go to to order the mount? And I would not mind seeing some pics of yours, mydnyghte@triad.rr.com

 

[XplorerKid]

Originally posted by 410Fortune
OKay the AutoFAB tranny mount is in. Perfect fit.

I have pictures if anybody wants to see them email me

jamiefortune@lerchbates.com

Very happy with teh AutoFAb mount so far. Much firmer shifts and less axle wrap.

email them to me and ill host them

 

[TheRookie]

Hmm. I have traced a vibration I have to the munt. Perhaps I should just go for one of them

 

[410Fortune]

OKay pictures will be emailed later today (I left them at home)

Very happy with the mount, truck feels more solid, especially my floor shifter

 

[410Fortune]

Okay I have the pictures here, I have enailed them to c couple people so far.

Xplorerkid, ignore the email I sent, I cannot attached files to Explorerforum emails. I need your email address directly.

 

[jimbo74]

410, email them to me, i will post the pic here for you as long as it is smaller than the 100 kb limit

jimabena74@hotmail.com

*note: im not just posting a pic b/c he cant as he isnt elite, i am posting it for everyone to see it as it appears to be an awesome replacement part and im sure a pic would get it some publicity*

 

[Rhett]

Will it put strain and stress on the seals, such as the rear main, if you have STOCK motor mounts with the AutoFAB transmission mount?

 

[410Fortune]

Rhett the only thing I can think of it putting stress on is the motor mounts themselves.

The tranny and engine are basically one unit when bolted together.

The AutoFAB mount still has a urethane bushing in it, it is by no means a solid mount.

Think of it as having a brand new Ford mount in there every day that never wears out. Because the Ford unit feels great for about a week.

 

[410Fortune]

Jimabena, did you get the pics I sent???

 

[NOTAJP]

I'll be placing my order for the whole set after the 1st. I need some mounts like these...

AutoFab weld quality

AutoFab kit

Stock vs. AutoFab

 

[Josh S.]

Nice 410...glad to hear ya picked one up!

 

[410Fortune]

Josh, Heck yeah I did! I needed one long time ago.

Hows the truck rolling? Alignment in check?

The AutoFAB mount is one of the single best upgrades I have done to date.

 

[Hartman]

How hard is the install?

 

[410Fortune]

INstall:

-Remove bolts form tranny mount to X member
-Support the transmission with a floor jack and piece of wood from the transmission pan
remove hte bolts from tranny mount to transmission

Jack up the tranny until you can get the stock mount out of there.

INstall the new mount, dont forget to install the exhaust hanger on the pass side bolt.

Now the bolts can be a little tricky to get to, especially if you have a transfer case and skidplate. However you can get to them with the right open ended wrench.
I actually have several wrench's I cut in half (for another project) and these 1/2 wrenches work excellent in tight spots like this.

Took about 1/2 hour total, but again I have swapped out this mount 4 times now, 2 times with the tranny in the truck.

 

[Josh S.]

Originally posted by 410Fortune
Josh, Heck yeah I did! I needed one long time ago.

Hows the truck rolling? Alignment in check?

The AutoFAB mount is one of the single best upgrades I have done to date.

Well dude, truck's doin good, but still not aligned. Haven't had any bread lately Weeeeellll thats sort of a lie. I guess I did have some cash but blew it on beer and stuff Oh well. Hopefully this weekend I can get that done then I'll be cool. We gotta hang out sometime soon dude.

 

[410Fortune]

Josh, I will be in CO for Xmas, be back on the 29th....
While I am in CO I will be grabbing some more of my "spare parts" I shouldnt have left behind!

hahaha

I also have a Superrunner steering kit coming to me so I will have to install that sucker prior to Thaven which will require an alignment.
We should get together and make up some of those spindle nuts lock rings we talked about.......

 

[Bored_2wd]

I'm really curious, you mention better firmer shifts and less axle wrap. How is this possible from a mount? The shifting is internal, and the axle wrap a product of leverage on the springs. I can't see that changing even if the transfer case were to move around even a couple inches (if you have a broken trans mount).
I'm just trying to figure out how it makes it so much better. I too have replaced my trans mount several times, and will probably be purchasing the autofab mount after xmas. Thanks for the info!
--Bob

 

[410Fortune]

Firmer shifts:
When the tranny shifts gears and is not allowed to move (twist) so much, the truck feels stiffer.
This does not mean the tranny is better then it was, it means the forces that normally would have been absorbed by the tranny twisting (poor Ford Mount) are now transferred to the driveshaft/rear axle.

Axle wrap up is less now then it was before for the same reason, the axle used to be able to move more because the twist was transferred to the drivetrain and the weak tranny mount allowed everything to twist. Now it is not allowed to twist so much. Maybe its not wrap up (meaing axle twisting) that I was feeling on a quick launch, it was probably just the amount of play that was allowed at the tranny mount, now that play has been reduced to almost 0 (like a solid mount).

Have you ever been in a truck with solid motor and tranny mounts? Well my truck isnt that harsh now but its closer with the AutoFAB unit. The Ford unit just isnt up to the task of holding up the tranny, T case, exhaust, and also handling the forces from 33" tires, 4.10 gears, a front locker, the OHV torque, and towing a boat.


Now I have not gotten out instruments and measured these things but I can tell you that the truck feels about 100 times better with this mount. My floor shifter does not bounce around anymore (used to jump from D to OD, and from 2 to D), the truck feels better in corners and there is less vibration under acceleration.

Now dont forget all the stock shakes and twisting are only amplified on my truck because I have 6" lift with soft springs and shocks, big tires, lots of torque from the gears and engine, and a modded A4LD, so this mount makes a BIG difference in my truck. The stock mount didnt hold up very well with all this and a 4000# boat being towed or from twisting the truck up off road.....
.