summs
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- Joined
- March 16, 2021
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- City, State
- Boulder, Colorado
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2002 Explorer Limited V8
So after searching on this site and numerous others I realized there was hardly any information online about changing the engine mounts on the 3rd gen Explorer. Let me apologize ahead of time...I had pictures taken and I don’t know how, but I managed to delete them in the process of transferring to my computer. I may go back later and get some pictures but I’ll still write this and try to provide as good of detail as possible. Ford did a good job making this more difficult than it needs to be so be patient
Tools Needed:
-various sockets (10mm, 15mm, 18mm) will be used the most
-various sizes extensions
-jack and jack stands
Process:
First thing you’ll want to do is unhook negative battery cable. Next you’ll want to disconnect and remove the upper fan shrowd. There is a 10mm bolt on either side holding it on. Make sure to also undue the AC line that is clipped on the top on the passenger side. After you do this loosen your lug nuts on your wheels while the car is till on the ground unless you have an impact.
Next you’ll want to put the front of the car on jack stands. Just jack the car up high enough to give yourself a little bit more room but keep in mind you’ll be raising the engine up some later on to remove mounts so make sure you have a jack that will be able to provide the clearance to remove mounts. Go ahead and remove both wheels now.
Now that the car is up on stands and the wheels removed the next step is to loosen your trans to crossmember bolts under the car. You do not need to completely remove but just loosen. Both bolts are 18mm.
Now coming from the right wheel well you will be able to see the two top nuts holding the passenger side mount directly behind the strut assembly. They are 18mm bolts and a wrench is the easiest to fit in there if you have a ratcheting wrench even better. If extra leverage is needed just use a second wrench on the end to gain leverage. Remove both of these nuts.
After this you’ll need to remove the sway bar bracket on both sides of the car and you can let the sway bar just rest on the control arms. I’m talking about the bracket holding the bushing to the frame not the sway bar link and bushings. 4 bolts total. This just allows for more clearance for the rest of the removal process.
Next step is to remove the axle housing bushings that are holding the front differential to the frame. There is one on the passenger side and two on the driver side. Remove the one on the passenger side first. This is 15mm bolt with a flag on the other side that catches automatically. Before removing the two right side bolts I put a jack with a block of wood under the differential just to support it. The two bolts on the driver side are pretty much in the same place as passenger side just look for the bushings that are directly involved and attached to holding the differential. Once you remove the last bolt you can use the jack to help you lower the differential down. It will still be connected to the drive axles so you don’t have to worry about keeping a jack on it I just put one there to have a more controlled process lowering it down. Then it will rest just fine on the control arms. You have to do this because the lower bolt for both mounts is pretty much directly above these bushings. It sounds a little iffy lowering the differential at first but it’s really not that big of a deal. With the diff lowered you will see the lower bolt, look directly up in the housing where the bushing sits and you will see it poking out....remove them on both sides. Extensions are a must to get these. The final bolt to remove before jacking up the engine is the through bolt on the driver side mount. Reach up from the bottom and you should be able to get a 15mm socket on it and remove completely.
Now that you have the engine completely unattached to from the mounts you can jack it up. I found using a bottle jack was much easier to get it exactly where you wanted it. Put a couple block of wood between the head of the jack and the car to spread the load and protect important parts of your engine (it probably won’t run very well if you crush the sump but go for it if you think you’ll gain a few HPs from it. Kidding. Don’t crush your oil pan.) What I did though is place the jack towards the right side under the oil pan first and using a block of wood that spanned the area that is open between control arms I started jacking up the engine. You don’t want to have part of the wood block under the control arms obviously or you will be raising the car up with the engine and that’s not what you want. But SLOWLY jack up the engine. If it doesn’t look balanced or you feel uneasy about it, lower and reposition everything. When done right it goes smoothly and there’s no scary noises like your oil pan about to snap. Jack up only enough to gain the clearance to remove the passenger side mount. The mounts have guide pins and will only fit one way. Once you put it in place go ahead and lower the engine SLOWLY, making sure the bolts on top fit through their designated holes.
Now do the same thing for the driver side mount. Place the blocks of wood across the entire oil pan and position your jack a little more towards the driver side this time and once again SLOWLY jack engine up. If your mounts are anything like mine were you are going to have to raise the engine up higher to gain the clearance to put the new mount in than you did taking the old mount out. Now that you have positioned the driver side mount once again SLOWLY lower engine back down ensuring everything has lined up.
Putting back together is just the reverse of removal. Put your through bolt on the driver side mount in first followed by the bottom nut for both mounts. You need to remember to put those back on before lifting the differential back into place. To raise the diff up you can lift on your own in a bench press like motion (or just use the jack to help you raise it back in lol forget lifting at this point I was ready for some adult beverages) I found it was easier to raise the passenger side first and throw a bolt through then get one of the two bolts on the driver side and the jack can go you’re on the home stretch.
Final steps just involve attaching sway bar brackets to the frame and then putting your wheels back on you’re good to go. The biggest P.I.T.A. Is having to lower that differential down to access those bolts but once you do you’ll see have decent access to them with a couple extensions. This improved the ride quality on my Explorer dramatically. After 300,000 miles and 20 years my mounts were shot, especially on the drivers side you could physically see that side of the engine sitting lower in the engine bay. I apologize again about the pictures I may go back under and just take some pictures with some arrows to show exact positions I just was not about to crawl back under the car tonight. But hopefully this helps. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll be happy to do my best to answer.
Cheers
Tools Needed:
-various sockets (10mm, 15mm, 18mm) will be used the most
-various sizes extensions
-jack and jack stands
Process:
First thing you’ll want to do is unhook negative battery cable. Next you’ll want to disconnect and remove the upper fan shrowd. There is a 10mm bolt on either side holding it on. Make sure to also undue the AC line that is clipped on the top on the passenger side. After you do this loosen your lug nuts on your wheels while the car is till on the ground unless you have an impact.
Next you’ll want to put the front of the car on jack stands. Just jack the car up high enough to give yourself a little bit more room but keep in mind you’ll be raising the engine up some later on to remove mounts so make sure you have a jack that will be able to provide the clearance to remove mounts. Go ahead and remove both wheels now.
Now that the car is up on stands and the wheels removed the next step is to loosen your trans to crossmember bolts under the car. You do not need to completely remove but just loosen. Both bolts are 18mm.
Now coming from the right wheel well you will be able to see the two top nuts holding the passenger side mount directly behind the strut assembly. They are 18mm bolts and a wrench is the easiest to fit in there if you have a ratcheting wrench even better. If extra leverage is needed just use a second wrench on the end to gain leverage. Remove both of these nuts.
After this you’ll need to remove the sway bar bracket on both sides of the car and you can let the sway bar just rest on the control arms. I’m talking about the bracket holding the bushing to the frame not the sway bar link and bushings. 4 bolts total. This just allows for more clearance for the rest of the removal process.
Next step is to remove the axle housing bushings that are holding the front differential to the frame. There is one on the passenger side and two on the driver side. Remove the one on the passenger side first. This is 15mm bolt with a flag on the other side that catches automatically. Before removing the two right side bolts I put a jack with a block of wood under the differential just to support it. The two bolts on the driver side are pretty much in the same place as passenger side just look for the bushings that are directly involved and attached to holding the differential. Once you remove the last bolt you can use the jack to help you lower the differential down. It will still be connected to the drive axles so you don’t have to worry about keeping a jack on it I just put one there to have a more controlled process lowering it down. Then it will rest just fine on the control arms. You have to do this because the lower bolt for both mounts is pretty much directly above these bushings. It sounds a little iffy lowering the differential at first but it’s really not that big of a deal. With the diff lowered you will see the lower bolt, look directly up in the housing where the bushing sits and you will see it poking out....remove them on both sides. Extensions are a must to get these. The final bolt to remove before jacking up the engine is the through bolt on the driver side mount. Reach up from the bottom and you should be able to get a 15mm socket on it and remove completely.
Now that you have the engine completely unattached to from the mounts you can jack it up. I found using a bottle jack was much easier to get it exactly where you wanted it. Put a couple block of wood between the head of the jack and the car to spread the load and protect important parts of your engine (it probably won’t run very well if you crush the sump but go for it if you think you’ll gain a few HPs from it. Kidding. Don’t crush your oil pan.) What I did though is place the jack towards the right side under the oil pan first and using a block of wood that spanned the area that is open between control arms I started jacking up the engine. You don’t want to have part of the wood block under the control arms obviously or you will be raising the car up with the engine and that’s not what you want. But SLOWLY jack up the engine. If it doesn’t look balanced or you feel uneasy about it, lower and reposition everything. When done right it goes smoothly and there’s no scary noises like your oil pan about to snap. Jack up only enough to gain the clearance to remove the passenger side mount. The mounts have guide pins and will only fit one way. Once you put it in place go ahead and lower the engine SLOWLY, making sure the bolts on top fit through their designated holes.
Now do the same thing for the driver side mount. Place the blocks of wood across the entire oil pan and position your jack a little more towards the driver side this time and once again SLOWLY jack engine up. If your mounts are anything like mine were you are going to have to raise the engine up higher to gain the clearance to put the new mount in than you did taking the old mount out. Now that you have positioned the driver side mount once again SLOWLY lower engine back down ensuring everything has lined up.
Putting back together is just the reverse of removal. Put your through bolt on the driver side mount in first followed by the bottom nut for both mounts. You need to remember to put those back on before lifting the differential back into place. To raise the diff up you can lift on your own in a bench press like motion (or just use the jack to help you raise it back in lol forget lifting at this point I was ready for some adult beverages) I found it was easier to raise the passenger side first and throw a bolt through then get one of the two bolts on the driver side and the jack can go you’re on the home stretch.
Final steps just involve attaching sway bar brackets to the frame and then putting your wheels back on you’re good to go. The biggest P.I.T.A. Is having to lower that differential down to access those bolts but once you do you’ll see have decent access to them with a couple extensions. This improved the ride quality on my Explorer dramatically. After 300,000 miles and 20 years my mounts were shot, especially on the drivers side you could physically see that side of the engine sitting lower in the engine bay. I apologize again about the pictures I may go back under and just take some pictures with some arrows to show exact positions I just was not about to crawl back under the car tonight. But hopefully this helps. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll be happy to do my best to answer.
Cheers
