GUIDE: Changing Engine Mounts fir 3.0 ZD30

Hi everyone, I just finished doing an engine mount on my own and since there wasn't a whole lot of info on it i figured I'd post a guide on how to do it for beginners. Credit to Mudski as I used his tutorial to get an idea of what to do. The mount that needed changing on my 'troll was on the opposite side however. Note my mount wasn't broken however while driving under high engine load the engine would cause a nasty shuddering to go through the car. Changing the mount has since fixed it.

**DISCLAIMER**
I will not be held responsible for any damage/injuries to you or your property as a result of you reading this guide. You do this at your own risk and its your responsibility to support the vehicle safely and use safe working practises.

So before you start the job, I highly recommend these tools as it will make the job so much easier for you. If you don't have the all of these I strongly recommend borrowing them, getting them second hand through gumtree or buying 'em new if you can afford them.

• Good head torch (this is invaluable so you can actually see the bolts your trying to undo)
• Spanners
• Deep and regular socket sets
• 1/2" drive uni joint and 3X 200-300mm long extensions
• Jack rated at a minimum of 2000KG
• Plenty of blocks of wood to pack between jack and car
• Rattle gun
• Heavy duty axle stands
• Crawler and/or wheelie chair
• WD40 and degreaser
• Some rags
• Step if your running a lift kit >2" ;)

These are the steps I took to change the mount:

1. Park car on level surface and chock rear wheels
2. Jack up front axle and support with axle stands, remove front wheels (Note you can probably still do the job with the non-affected side wheel still attached)
3. Remove the top engine mount nuts (17mm) on the affected mout. Loosen the opposite side engine mount's top nut but don't take it off completely. Using the uni joint and extensions makes this a lot easier
4. Carefully support the engine sump with the wood blocks and slowly jack it up. I recommend stopping to check if anything is getting caught and that the jack isn't going to slip out as you do so. Be careful not to lift the front axle off its stands, if its starting to lift then back off on the jack so most of the weight is back on the axle.
5. Remove the two bottom nuts (14mm) on the affected mount. Using a rattle gun and deep socket made this easy for me. (Rattle gun probably won't fit with lifts less than 4").
6. Note at this point the engine mount was loose and frustratingly close to coming out, however I couldn't remove it and there was no way the new one was going to go in without making more clearance.
7. Remove the 4 bolts (14mm) that hold the engine mount bracket to the engine. These are c***s to remove and put back in. Some degreaser and wd40 helped here. I found it was possible to get to a position where I could see with my head torch the rear upper bolt (the trickiest one to get in/out) which made getting a spanner onto it way easier. You'll also have to contend with the old mount getting in the way so I recommend wedging it out the way with something.
8. Note the position (take a photo) of the old mount then gently tilt the bracket upwards (there is a chunky wiring harness attached to the top of mine so I couldn't remove it entirely) enough to wiggle the old mount out
9. Put new mount in using photo as a reference
10. Put back the four engine mount bracket bolts. Once again your going to have a bad time fitting these but pretending to be an amateur contortionist worked for me. Patience and level-headedness is key here.
11. Thread the top stud on the mount through the hole in the chassis then shove something under the mount to hold it up. Start the top 17mm bolt so that the mount hangs from the chassis and remove whatever you shoved under the mount. This will help line the bottom studs up as you lower the engine back down.
12. Check the opposite mount is in straight and won't catch as the engine is lowered.
13. Slowly and carefully lower the engine back down, checking that all the studs have gone through their holes and that nothing else is binding/catching
14. Put back and tighten the lower nuts on the new mount (again uni joint and extensions help here)
15. Re-tighten the top nut on the other mount
16. Do a final check of everything, remove tools, clean chassis, ect.
17. Test drive to check if its fixed the issue

So there you have it. That's how I did my engine mount. If this was helpful or you have any questions or comments post them below.

Gotta do mine. Thanks heaps for this