Transmission movement?

I recently had an issue (yesterday) where my clutch linkage was getting hung up on my proportioning valve. I fixed that this morning by re-securing the proportioning valve to the frame. Then I drove the Jeep to my son's baseball game. Well, there and back, I noticed a big shifting of the transmission to the right when the revs were high. When in first or second and accelerating, the gearshift will move to the right a number of inches. Then when the clutch pedal was released and the revs went down, the gearshift would move back to the left. I have had the Jeep 5+ years now and have had a little movement under torque before, but not this much.

Am I crazy, is this normal? Should I worry? I plan on checking the motor mounts tomorrow to make sure they are secure. Anything else to look for?

Sounds like the transmission mount is broken.

The torque arm that connects the transmission to the belly pan. There are a couple points there that can get worn - the torque arm stud and the transmission mount.

You're probably hypersensitive, but those are some things I'd check.

Thanks. And Walkerhound, I will need to look up what those items are so that I can check them. Thanks.

Torque arm stud looks like a bolt with a bushing on it on the drivers side of the transmission mount.

Thanks gentlemen. I will take a look tomorrow.

So I am out looking at the Jeep. First thing, I think the engine is leaning toward the driver side based on the position of the gear shift in first. I am hitting my knuckles on the air controls. I don't remember that.


Then I pull it into the garage, jack up the rear axle to "drive it" to see if I can recreate the movement. It seems jumpy, but not much. Then I go under the hood. First off, the air cleaner was jammed under the master cylinder. Bad sign. I took the air cleaner off. Looking straight on, it would appear that the engine IS leaning.



Going to check the motor mounts.

When is the frame swap?

Ok. My tranny mount looks like this from the rear facing forward

jims chop shop said:

Click to expand...

Ok. Mine looks like this



From the back

Your engine is leaning - take a pic of the D side engine mount - at its attachment to the engine and to the frame.

That's a little too much lean to be the trans alone.

Here they are.





And from the rear.

I will be buying a motor mount and trans mount combo. I also noticed that the trans mount is only bolted to the plate crossing the frame. It is not bokted to the transmission at all. I assume it should be. What a mess I have.

Important question. Is is OK to drive it until the new ones get here.

Sorry if the pics are hard to see. Between the lighting and the Lifeproof case, the pics suck.

Your motor mounts look pretty good, I was expecting complete failure.

So the torque arm is mounted to the skid plate - I can't see if there are bolts securing it from the underside of the skid plate. To me it looks like your torque arm is mounted to the transmission - it's often hard to tell because the transmission mount semi-obscures the bolts connecting the arm to the transmission.

Something's not right - how does the passenger side engine mount look? Is it intact?

Both of these jobs take about a day to do (total). There are instructions online for replacing the motor mounts that I found - be prepared and have help nearby in case you get in trouble. I found the job easier to do with someone either helping to raise and lower the front end or placing the bolts while you raise and lower the front end. Always support the front of the engine with something when you have one mount off - like a 2x4 or something, don't trust that the one engine mount will hold everything together.

The transmission mount is also a bear to replace. It's often greasy and bolts tend to be difficult to remove down there if they've never been touched. Again, make sure you have the trans/TC supported by a 2x4 and someone around to yell for help when you're removing the skid plate. And a warning - the skid plate can be a second bear to get back on. I had to thread the bolts one at a time, a little at a time until all the bolts were in, then get them snug. And pay attention to which holes they were in to start with so you put it back together the same way

The engine is a couple inches lower than it should be, right? The bolt for the motor mount snapped off? Just wanted to make sure I was seeing this right

regular guy said:

The engine is a couple inches lower than it should be, right? The bolt for the motor mount snapped off? Just wanted to make sure I was seeing this right

Click to expand...

Your eyes are much better than mine - very good catch. I was focused on the rubber mounts and completely ignored the mounts themselves.

The good news is that I think that bolt has a bottom, so if you're very patient, Dain, you might be able to walk it out with a hammer and screw driver, or just your finger.

As it sits, I would not drive it until you get it fixed.

Dang it. Thanks guys. That definitely makes a lot of sense. Ugh. At least I know. I will go out and see if I can get that bolt out.