Another thumbs Up for Brown Dog motor mounts

I needed to replace my motor mounts and after waiting long enough I went ahead and bought a set of brown dog poly mounts. It should be noted that I just recently replaced the transmission mount with a stock rubber one.

My sudo review / opinion:

Customer service was excellent with quick communication and great delivery time right to my door(nice being local). The mounts look great and obvious high quality right out of the box, made in america only seals the deal further. I had a small tech question which I emailed on a friday evening and got a reply within minutes. You can't beat that for tech service with any company, shows they really care and stand by the products I think. The actual install was as straight forward and easy as all the write-ups show. I did take it slow having never done any motor mount work before but everything worked out great.

My initial test drive was perfect, the vibrations are there but nothing I am complaining about. I only notice the vibration when at a dead stop with the auto trans in D, shift to N it reduces the vibration a small amount. I got on the freeway and it was smooth at any speed/rpm I tried. I certainly do not have the vibration I see some people describe as vibrating the mirrors or so loud you can't have a conversation. I do have a couple small plastic rattles(in my door and dash) now that I plan to fix, certainly not the fault of the mounts for making them show up though. Again, the vibration and rattles are only there at idle as soon as I'm moving everything is smooth. On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being stock no vibrations, I would put these mounts at 3 at idle on the vibration scale. My test drive was in some cold(for me) weather and I figure the poly feels that much harder in the cold? I've also seen some people say after a few days the mounts wear in and the vibration starts to lessen so well see after a few days...

Seat of the pants performance reaction tells me the throttle response is better now. You can definitely feel the motor working under acceleration. If that is a placebo effect or not who knows, but it makes me feel all the better about my purchase with a smile every time I jump on the gas. With my old mounts the motor would rock a few degrees with throttle applied so there has to be some performance restored now.

Overall I can't find anything bad to say. Great price, customer service, quality product and a company that is in the USA to back it up.

I am now planning the full motor mount bracket setup they offer as well and hopefully a transmission mount down the line :idea: .

Nice review :cheers:

Did you follow the instructions to not over-tighten the through bolts?

iwannadie said:

I've also seen some people say after a few days the mounts wear in and the vibration starts to lessen so well see after a few days... .

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my M.O.R.E's took longer than a couple days! more like a month or so, but i still get the basic rattles. but as youve said, its a compromise. id rather feel the motor shake the chassis a little, than have the motor move around in the engine compartment, chewin up radiators and such

joe_peters said:

Did you follow the instructions to not over-tighten the through bolts?

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That was the question I emailed them actually, I didn't seem to get any paper step by step instructions with torque specs. I looked on all data and it said to torque the through bolt to 48ft pounds. I emailed brown dog and they said just tighten snug.

iwannadie said:

That was the question I emailed them actually, I didn't seem to get any paper step by step instructions with torque specs. I looked on all data and it said to torque the through bolt to 48ft pounds. I emailed brown dog and they said just tighten snug.

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Yeah, I think I had read their comments here on about not over-tightening as I don't remember any special instructions coming with them. I went with the natural rubber engine mounts and used a poly Daystar for the trans mount.

iwannadie said:

I am now planning the full motor mount bracket setup they offer as well and hopefully a transmission mount down the line :idea: .

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Nice review. I've been very happy with my dealings with Brown Dog. He really went out of his way to provide me with great customer service. Build quality is excellent but I can't comment on the performance as I have yet to install them. Make sure you call and talk to them about the brackets before you order them. They are designed to be used with his standard motor mounts, not the XJ specific mounts. If I recall, Brown Dog said they would work, just that the fit is not perfect. In the following pic, a standard mount is on top and the XJ mount is on the bottom. As you can see, the XJ specific bracket and bushing are a little narrower and the inner sleeve extends past the surface of the bushing so it can be installed in the factory brackets without trimming, grinding, etc.



I would also love to see a tranny mount from them...

Just though I would update this after driving a while and temps warming up. The vibrations have decreased so that now it's barely noticeable from stock mounts. All the rattles I had are gone as well with the decreased vibration.

fyrfytr1717 said:

Nice review. I've been very happy with my dealings with Brown Dog. He really went out of his way to provide me with great customer service. Build quality is excellent but I can't comment on the performance as I have yet to install them. Make sure you call and talk to them about the brackets before you order them. They are designed to be used with his standard motor mounts, not the XJ specific mounts. If I recall, Brown Dog said they would work, just that the fit is not perfect. In the following pic, a standard mount is on top and the XJ mount is on the bottom. As you can see, the XJ specific bracket and bushing are a little narrower and the inner sleeve extends past the surface of the bushing so it can be installed in the factory brackets without trimming, grinding, etc.

I would also love to see a tranny mount from them...

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A little secret....if you already have our mounts for OE brackets, then decide to order Brown Dog brackets, let us know. We'll replace the narrower mount (made for the narrower OE bracket) with one of ours. No charge. Just be sure to let us know....

And thanks for the kind words!

Now THAT is customer support!

Brown Dog said:

A little secret....if you already have our mounts for OE brackets, then decide to order Brown Dog brackets, let us know. We'll replace the narrower mount (made for the narrower OE bracket) with one of ours. No charge. Just be sure to let us know....

And thanks for the kind words!

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And to think I held off on installing my mounts that whole time because I was debating whether or not I wanted to get the brackets. I just assumed you wouldn't exchange them after they'd been installed. I guess I assumed wrong. Thanks again!

Serious Customer service!!!! American made too!:guitar:

Ordered my blocks of yellow goodness on Monday and received them yesterday. Throwing them in this weekend with a new stock tranny mount. Went for the Ultra-Flex Rubber. Can't wait to have some feedback to share.

FunWun said:

Ordered my blocks of yellow goodness on Monday and received them yesterday. Throwing them in this weekend with a new stock tranny mount. Went for the Ultra-Flex Rubber. Can't wait to have some feedback to share.

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I'm running the UFR with a Daystar poly trans mount--very happy with the results.

Well..

Guess they have a new insert, I noticed "ultra flex rubber". I bought a set of these about 3 years ago and they had poly inserts and they made the Comanche vibrate like crazy. back then I had to grind the factory mounts for these to even fit. I asked them back then for some rubber inserts and they said they wouldn't use rubber because it would break down from engine oil.. anyway good to see they came around and made a better insert. I may get another set now ..sold my set after 3 months of vibrations.

I do agree you get instant transfer of engine power. that I did like about the mounts. but I also thought that the constant vibrations would take a toll on the unit body and possibly cause cracking sooner that it would normally happen? always good to see a good product improved.

FYI - All Brown Dog products backed by life-time warranty. Don't like em and talked to tech for assistance, return em for full refund. No hassle.

I finally installed mine today. Took me long enough, they've been sitting in my garage for months now. I went for the full package and got the Super Brackets and Mounts with the Ultra-Flex Rubber Bushings. My factory mounts hadn't failed yet, but upon removal I found that my driver's side was getting ready to give up the ghost. Glad I replaced them now, before my radiator got chewed up...

Fit and finish is top notch on the parts and hardware. Bolt access is great on the Super Brackets in comparison to the factory brackets, but there were still a pair of bolts on the passenger side that I couldn't get my torque wrench on. Clearance (at least for me) was just really tight between the frame side bracket that the mount sits on, and the new Super Engine Bracket. I imagine this is unavoidable due to the shape of the frame bracket. I also had a slight issue with getting the through bolt to line up on the passenger side. I couldn't find a "sweet spot" where it would just slide through. I ended up lining up the entry side and sliding the bolt through as far as it would go. I then jacked the engine up a little higher until I was able to tap the bolt through the exit side. The bushing still looks a little tweaked in the bracket, but I'm hoping this corrects itself after I put a few miles on them and everything settles in. If not, I'll tinker around with mount bolts to see if I can improve things. They have slotted holes so you have a certain degree of adjustment available.

First driving impression is that I'm experiencing noticeable vibes when I'm completely stopped, more so when I'm in gear. I can't say that I really feel any unwanted vibrations while moving. Engine response definitely feels firmer. I'm curious to see if the idle vibes mellow out after the mounts get broken in. Overall, I'm a happy camper...

Also thought I'd mention, while the Super Brackets seem pretty pricey (especially since I bought mine before the discount came to be) there's a lot more to them than the pictures on Brown Dog's website would lead you to believe. They're a lot bigger than I was expecting and the mounting surface is not just a flat piece of steel.

Brown Dog's customer service continues to impress me. After reading the above post, Brown Dog PM'd me! They were concerned with the mount not sitting squarely in the bracket and wanted to know when the earliest convenient time was that tech support could call me. I spoke with them at length and confirmed my suspicions that my mounts simply needed to be adjusted.

Somehow, after finishing the driver side mount, my engine was pushed all the way over toward the passenger side. I'm thinking it's because I inserted my jack from the side of the vehicle, causing the arc of the lifting arm to push the engine off to the side. Not only did this make it difficult to get the passenger side mount in place, it also resulted in my bolting the engine up crooked. Further inspection revealed that my driver side mount was also tweaked, opposite the direction of the passenger side mount. I simply loosened the two nuts/bolts on each mount, and used a small pry bar between my frame and alternator to push the engine back into alignment. Snugged everything up and the bushings now fit squarely inside the brackets.

The vibrations are still there at idle, especially while I'm in gear. However, I put a couple hundred miles on them yesterday and they seem to have softened up a little. It's really only when the engine is idling at about 750RPM and the transmission is in gear that you notice it.

Thanks again to Brown Dog for their excellent customer service! :thumbup:

Hmmm...

My wife's 2000 is needing mounts. Once in a while, I hear the fan rubbing on the shrout of my 3 core radiator under full throttle :shocked: so I know its time for new mounts.

I was holding off on these but this thread has pushed me over to ordering from Brown Dog.

:thumbup:

i'm sold. i like everything i've read.

i'm in the market for some motor mounts for my 87, mine are deteriorating.