Hey guys after a long week of playing in the mountains, I found I broke the bearing retainer off the front of my trans. Not a huge deal but had to pull the trans/case. Georg@ Valley hybrids got me hooked up with a replacement. Now I'm about to put all back together and I've run into a snag! My trans mount was toasted so I ordered one from oriely's (I know, I know) well I didn't even check to see if it was the correct one. Well it is not. The correct one is quite a ways out and 120$ well for 120$ I can build a new cross member with poly bushings. This was my plan down the road as the stock mount just doesn't hold up. So what I'm looking for is any info on some home brew cross members maybe some of you have built or had built for ya. I need some ideas. I've looked at advanced adapters for the fj55 and 60. I like the 55 style that bolts onto the rear of the case and uses bushings on the frame mount but am unsure if that's a good idea on a 60. My Cross member is already customized to allow for clearance of the front drive line. I'd just assume not have to build one with a big cutout/drop to clear the driveline. Hence why I like the AA mount.
Custom Cross member help. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter 4runnered
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The crossmember AA sells that bolts to the back of the T-case is a horrible design and I’m amazed that more people who use it don’t shatter T-case housings. I guess they just don’t wheel hard enough of have low enough gearing.
It looks like you actually use your truck which means you’re going to have to be sort of careful with your design. The really key point is that you need to keep the “Triangle” of mounts. You’ve got from the fracture two mounts up front spread out wide and one center rear mount. This allows the powertrain to move around a little bit, you want this otherwise you would crack bellhousings, t-case housings, shear bolts, etc.
I used a single Ruffstuff “builder bushing” setup (Ruffstuff sells them as a pair and a piece of tube to go with them) centered under my transmission with the bolt going parallel to the frame rails. This setup has worked perfectly for me, everything moves back and forth just a little bit, but having the bolt prevents the motor from lifting itself of its mounts.
I have a different transmission then you and pictured is an FJ62 automatic crossmember so this design won’t work exactly right for you but I’m just trying to convey the concept.
It looks like you actually use your truck which means you’re going to have to be sort of careful with your design. The really key point is that you need to keep the “Triangle” of mounts. You’ve got from the fracture two mounts up front spread out wide and one center rear mount. This allows the powertrain to move around a little bit, you want this otherwise you would crack bellhousings, t-case housings, shear bolts, etc.
I used a single Ruffstuff “builder bushing” setup (Ruffstuff sells them as a pair and a piece of tube to go with them) centered under my transmission with the bolt going parallel to the frame rails. This setup has worked perfectly for me, everything moves back and forth just a little bit, but having the bolt prevents the motor from lifting itself of its mounts.
I have a different transmission then you and pictured is an FJ62 automatic crossmember so this design won’t work exactly right for you but I’m just trying to convey the concept.
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- #3
Nice, I was wondering about the AA setup, seems like you would shatter the case. Funny I just ordered 6 bushed Dom sleeves from ruffstuff.... Black Friday sale 25% off total purchase. Figured I'd buy 6 as here in the near future I'm gonna have to fab motor mounts also. Plus it's a PITA to get any poly bushings locally, just easier to have them on hand. I really like the simplicity of your mount. I could do it very similar. Here's a question, do you think it's better to use a center mount on the case as you have done, or a solid mount to case and bushed sleeves on both sides of frame? I initially thought about doing very similar to what you've done, but my stock Cross member is a hack job. So I was planning on making a complete new one and running the mounts up on the inside frame rail. Haha, yes I use my cruiser.... Ya know, for cruising the land... Lol. Pretty sure my broken trans issue was a direct result of bad motor/trans mounts. Here's a pic of my Cross member, notice the hack that was the PO's design.
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I would absolutely recommend a centered transmission mount rather then putting your bushings on the frame.
One thing I have seen done is tearing the top metal part of the transmission mount (that bolts to the transmission) off the rubber, wire wheeling the remaining rubber off and welding your bushings to that. Good way to get the bolt pattern and bends right, and I don’t think you’d have any issue using two bushings in the center vs one.
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- #6
Yeah I already planned to cannibalize the old mount for the top plate, it's 1/4" steel or really close to it. As you stated, already has the bolt holes and bends. I also thought that welding two bushings to it would work pretty good. Ok, good enough for me. I'll start cleaning up the plate, then I guess I'll wait for my bushings to show up and start building. I'll post up pics of what I come up with. Thanks!
