Technical > Installation Guide
Daystar Install
The $275 Solution: Installing Daystar products for improved reliability
story and photos by Harry Wagner
All of the telltale signs were there. The clunking noises; the way the transmission shifter would lurch to the side when the clutch was let out. Our fears were confirmed when the transmission crossmember was dropped to install an Advance Adapters fixed yoke kit in the transfer case under our ’87 Jeep MJ Comanche. The rubber transmission mount was soaked with oil and had practically disintegrated. Since this vehicle is employed as a daily driver, we headed to the local auto parts store to get a replacement mount and get the rig back on the road as soon as possible. After visiting every parts house in town, we learned that no one makes an aftermarket mount for our Peugeot BA-10 manual transmission. Aftermarket mounts are only available for the later model Aisin and New Venture transmissions.
This limited our options to the dealership and the junkyard. Not interested in rolling around in the dirt only to come up with another hashed mount, we headed for the dealership. In an effort to get the vehicle back on the road we anticipated inflated factory prices for a new mount, but even we were shocked to find that the dealer cost was an astonishing $275! When life gives you lemons, some people make lemonade. If you are like us, you take a few thousands off, paint the lemon green, and call it a lime.
Since a quick fix was out of the question, we headed straight to our nearest 4 Wheel Parts Wholesalers intent on doing the job right. Daystar polyurethane motor mounts (PN KJ01004) and a low profile transmission mount intended for a TJ Wrangler (PN KJ01006) were chosen for this task. These products are superior to their stock counterparts and the total cost was far less than the factory transmission mount.
The biggest complaint of polyurethane is that it is stiff and transmits too much vibration into the cab. Fortunately Daystar has really done their homework on these mounts. They have found just the right durometer to provide a mount with increased resistance to the torque of low range maneuvers, but doesn’t rattle your fillings at idle. Polyurethane is also much more resistant to oil, road salt, and ozone than rubber, which is a tangible benefit considering that we have yet to fix the leaking rear main seal on our Comanche’s 4.0L mill.
We started our install with the motor mounts, which are the same as the XJ Cherokee and YJ Wrangler. They are barely visible beneath a canopy of hoses and brackets in the engine compartment. MJ must stand for Metric Jeep, because all of the motor mount hardware was sized accordingly (16mm and 18mm). We loosened up all of the bolts and then raised the motor using a block of wood on a floor jack placed under the oil pan. On the passenger side, the bolt through the motor mount could not be removed without taking off the oil filter and the boss that it threads on to. With those parts out of the way, installation was a breeze. With the passenger side done, we continued to the driver side. A K&N conical air filter gave us enough room to work, however, if you are still running the factory air box, plan to remove it in order to complete this installation. Removal of the driver side mount revealed that the stock rubber bushing was torn completely in half. Clearly, the new Daystar motor mounts were long overdue. They dropped right into place and we maneuvered the floor jack up and down to align the bolt through the mounts. With the motor mounts installed and all related components put back in their proper places, we moved on to the transmission mount.
As mentioned previously, the transmission crossmember mount was not a bolt-in affair. The Daystar mount we purchased had the correct bolt pattern to affix to the Comanche’s crossmember and was one quarter inch shorter than the stock mount, but the bolt pattern on the transmission side was much wider than that of our Peugeot five speed. To account for this discrepancy, we made an adapter to mate the transmission to the new mount. This was done with a Promax mill and a vertical bandsaw (this helps us justify this machinery to our spouse...) but could have been completed with a simple drill press.
We started with a 6”x12” piece of one half inch thick 6061-T6 aluminum that was trimmed on the saw to 6”x8”. 7/16-14x 1 1/2” countersunk flat socket cap screws were purchased at our local fastener store to replace the stock tranny hardware and allow the Daystar mount to sit flush on the adapter. The bolt pattern on the transmission was transferred from the old crossmember to the adapter, and then the necessary mounting holes were milled and countersunk for the fasteners. At this point the adapter was bolted to the transmission and the Daystar mount was bolted to the crossmember. The two were sandwiched together to mark the locations for the hardware used to affix the mount to the adapter.
The parts were disassembled one more time and 7/16” holes were milled and tapped with 1/2”- 13 threads into the aluminum adapter and 1/2” long 1/2”-13 studs were then used to affix the Daystar tranny mount to the adapter. A more finished appearance could have been accomplished by trimming the adapter to contour exactly around the mount or polishing the aluminum, but these steps were not deemed necessary to get our Comanche back on the road. The parts were bolted together one final time in order to take the vehicle for a test drive.
The improvement was immediately noticeable; gone was the clunk and shifter movement present with the old mount. After the parts were procured, a day’s effort was all that was needed to save money and improve the performance of our Comanche both now and in the future. These are exactly the sort of benefits we strive for when we make upgrades to our vehicle.
Source:
- Daystar Products
- 841 S. 71st Ave.
- Phoenix, AZ 85043
- 623-907-0081
- www.daystarproducts.com
Tools Required:
Wrench Rating:
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1. The new mounts are well constructed and affordably priced. Daystar chemically bonds the polyurethane to the cad plated steel bracketry for superior strength and longevity. |
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2. You can see how the stock motor mount tore apart due to the torque of the motor. With a superior design and improved materials, the Daystar motor mounts will be the last pair we ever buy. |
3. We removed the intake in order to get a clear picture of the driver side motor mount. Here you can see its relative position next to the steering shaft. |
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4. New Motor Mount- The new mount dropped right into place, although we did have to manipulate the floor jack up and down in order to line up the mounting holes on the motor and the mount. |
5. On the right is the mess that came out from underneath our Jeep. After seeing the condition of the stock transmission mount, we wonder how the vehicle even functioned anymore. Without the tranny mount performing its job, the brunt of the torque was transferred to the motor mounts. |
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6. The dimensions for the adapter were obtained by taking measurements from the old transmission mount, new mount, and the crossmember. Remember not to throw the old parts away until the new pieces are securely in place. |
7. We transferred the bolt pattern on the transmission from the stock mount to the adapter so we could mill and countersink holes in the aluminum. |
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8. Flat head cap screws, when combined with the countersunk holes in the adapter, allow for a flat surface that the Daystar transmission mount was then bolted to. |
9. We bolted the adapter to the transmission and the mount to the crossmember and then sandwiched the whole thing together to get an idea of where we needed to add mounting holes to bolt the adapter to the tranny mount. |
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10. After the correct locations for the mounting hardware were determined, we milled holes and tapped threads for the studs. |
11. We cut the excess off of the adapter and rounded the corners with a belt sander since we were working from a piece of scrap. You could buy a piece of metal in the finished size if you do not have access to a sander or grinder. |
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12. The adapter was bolted to the transmission and then the Daystar mount was bolted to the adapter. The final step involved bolting the crossmember to the transmission mount and unibody with the stock hardware. |
13. The finished product is much more cost affective than the dealer alternative and positions the drivetrain more rigidly than the mount we replaced. |
