Motor mount, engine wont move, MM&TM both unbolted

WORKING ON AN 88 XJ LIMITED 4.0 4DR 4WD
MM=motor mount TM=trans mount

My mounts are bad, very bad. like dropped from the top of the triangle on the MM 1-1/2". not sure on trans mount, but imagine the same.

As the title says, started off by putting a jack W\ wood, under the front of the oil pan, took out the nut and bolt out of both MM, than loosened the crossbolt, still really tight, tried to lift the Motor, but the slightest movement would lift up the jeep as well, than i remembered the TM, took OFF the crossmember.

Motor will still not move. put a pry bar under the driver side mount and i can barely move the engine around, lift the mount a 1/4 inch, like that.

but it will not budge, even under the trans will a bottle jack at the same time, and it just will lift the jeep, like the trans\motor are resting against the jeep. they will not lift at all.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Without being there and without pics I have two thoughts to offer. One, even though the bolt is out of the motor mount is it possible that the mount is still bound up against the brackets? What if you remove the block side brackets? What would happen then?

And then secondly, just how far have you gone with the jack in your effort to lift the engine? Could it be that so far all you have done is to just take the weight off the springs? Figure you are going to go up an inch or two (this could vary a good bit depending on the springs) without any change in relative position of the engine to the mounts simply in the process of getting the weight of the engine off the suspension. (I hope that phrasing makes sense.)

ive pryed at the mount, and ccan lift it, but it goes right back without pressure being held on it, and can only move it a small amount, but seems like the mount is loose in there.
I lifted it up a good bit, ill try more tomorrow if i dont come up with another solution, but probably a good 4-5 inches. stock springs with 2inch spacers.

its almost like the engine is stuck in that single position, by something, just cant figure what,,,,,

Reality is, you don't want the engine to move all that much anyways. All you need is enough room to get the old mounts out and the new ones in, and at that, you are probably best off replacing the mounts one at a time. I believe you should be able to replace one mount while still leaving the through bolt in place on the other mount.

Maybe I'm doing more work than is unnecessary. but I always unbolt the bottom of the mount from the frame. I loosen the cross bolt nut before taking the bottom loose (raising the engine). Sure makes fishing the cross bolt through the holes a lot easier IMO.

I use a block of wood on the pan flange (not the pan itself) on the side I've loosened up. Jack up one side at a time.

If you have A/C one of the bottom mount to frame bolts can be a pain.

I've never had any real issues.

One sure thing to check is the top bolts of the mount to the engine block. They sometimes snap off or even sometimes come loose and fall out.

Remember to check for clearance on your fan shroud. Don't jack it any higher than necessary.

yeah, i hear ou guys, but the engine doesnt move at all, i cant get the crossbolts out withou poundiing them out, and then the new mounts have new rubber which is much higher than the old mounts, they will never go in. without the engine lifting up at least a little bit, and with the jack under the oil pan, it wont move at all. just lifts the whole jeep.

no AC anymore, i was sick of my alternator going out from being down in the mud, i removed the ac, and put the alt in its place. i love how my belt runs now. in a good V, with all the pulleys being wrapped by the belt alot more than stock

trying to lift the motor, with a 4x4 across the front of the pan, not touching anything else, the crossbolts dont even move around inside the mount AT ALL. and the mount itself is shot, theres no rubber left in the top portion of the triangle, the crossbolt is dropped halfway down the mount.

bout to start back up out there, ill try to take some pics, not sure what good there gonna do.

I put my wood on one side of the pan or the other, right on the pan bolts. If you lift one side at a time you are lifting around half the weight, it's called leverage.

You do realize as you lift the motor, you are taking a load off of the springs and they will push the body upward. It might move a couple of inches before reaching equilibrium again. That means you might have to lift the engine a couple of inches before it starts to separate from the motor mounts.

Lift just one side at a time, letting the engine rotate out of the old mount, instead lifting the front which will bind up the engine-mount area, makes a lot more sense.

I have seen where the motor support brackets are bent inwards so you have to pound the mount down to get it to free up, otherwise it just raises with the brackets. This job is much easier if the Jeep is on level ground. Transmission crossmember should be removed.

Ideally you loosen one mount at a time, remove the through bolt, remove the mount, insert new mount, tighten things up, and go to the other side. But not all Jeeps are ideal particularly if they've been hit. You may need to use persuasion in the form of a hammer, or even ratchet straps and centering punches to move things around.

I would be very concerned having the transmission mount out and both engine mounts (bolts) out all the same time with out using an engine lift as the entire thing could suddely shift freely and do damage and fall.... and damage all the connected stuff. Seems to me pulling the tranny mount bolts (take the crossmember off) and one engine mount at time and use the other engine mount to rotate the assy would be the only smart and safe way to it with one floor jack and a 4x4 wood piece on the oil pan bolt flange area.

I will say that when I did my MM recently, I felt I was in the same boat. I had to jack my motor up an obscene amount before things even came close to lining up. Mine were still stock motor mounts from 185k miles ago with pretty much no rubber left, and to line back up with my new rubber Brown Dogs seemed impossible.

Jacking up under the pan would make the car rise with it and all sorts of popping and creaking noises. I finally did a 2 jack system like people are saying here (with 1 motor mount out at a time) - floor jack under the pan to hold the weight, and a bottle jack with a 2x4 jammed up on the oil pan bolts lined up as good as possible (front to back) with the motor mount.

Then I just went back and forth jacking each side up a bit at a time. I really had to go out of my comfort zone to get them lined back up - my jeep was making all kinds of noises.

But point is, I kept reading about how you should "Barely move the engine" when installing new mounts and that you are really just supporting the weight. Maybe if you are going from OEM to OEM, or a not so worn mount to a newer one. But if you are going from nothing to something like Brown Dog, then you will probably need to go further than you think. And absolutely come from the side, that was the only way I could make it line up after 2 days of trying...