L&L Mounts... anyoen use them ?

[Grumpy]

if anyone here has used the L&L mounts on they 2gen ranger... i got a couple questions... when you installed them......... did they use existing holes in the cross member or did you have to drill holes??? if ya got pic of them installed that would be GREAT............. thanks.........

[Chris]

I had to drill some new holes but I also placed my engine as far back as I could. It is so far back that I was able to use the stock trans crossmember in the stock location. I don't have any pictures because at the time my camera was broke.

[cgrey8]

I use the L&L mounts. I used to have pics of the bottom parts mounted to the crossmember, but I don't seem to have them anymore. For me on my 89 Ranger, they were a perfect bolt-in solution. They aligned with existing holes in the crossmember and located the engine low in the engine bay as well as pretty far back. Although Malcolm used them on his 91 Ranger and he found they didn't align with any holes in his crossmember and thus he had to drill. My guess is Ford changed the crossmember hole sequence at some point and that from about 89-back, the mounts should work just fine.

Are you having some kind of issue with L&L mounts or are you asked if you should expect any?

[Grumpy]

im having a small prob with mine.... i had to drill holes to mount them ... the mounts are all the way back as far as i can get them without the engine rubbing on the firewall and the front steering arm hits the bottom front of the oil pan when i turn it to the right ..... left is fine it clears everything .... im goin to go bring it back home today so i can work on it more... i cant afford to drive back and forth to work on it where its at ... so.... its coming back home ....when i get it here.... ill try to get some more pix and let yall see what i mean ...... the rep at L&L said it was a perfect bolt in with no drilling required on my 90 ... but i dont see how..... lol

[MalcolmV8]

I used L&L on my red truck which was a 92. They also told me it was a bolt in solution and it was nothing at all. It didn't even remotely line up with anything so I had to drill my own holes.
You may look into a different pitman arm. Maybe one of those longer extended ones that raised 4x4 trucks use. It'll put your drag links lower and hopefully not hit your oil pan anymore.

[Grumpy]

i didnt think about the dropped pitman arm .......... but i got my truck at home now so i can work on it more.... since i could never get anyone to help me at my dads shop in over a year ... so i brought it home so i could just walk out the door and work on it .... im goin to pull the engine and see if i can move the mounts back about another inch or so.. if so.. that will let it clear...... if i cant.. then ill try the pitman arm.... GOOD idea Malcolm .. thanks ..........

[fordmike]

I made my last set of engine mounts for my 83 Ranger. I was into my custom made mounts for less then $30 and I will never go back to store bought mounts again. The nice thing was I set my engine to where I wanted it and built them from there using all the holes that were already there. Easy to make and can replace the bushing for 8 dollars if I ever have to.

[Grumpy]

NICE mounts Mike..... what you charge me to make a set and send them to me ????

[fordmike]

NICE mounts Mike..... what you charge me to make a set and send them to me ????

You can make them just as easy as I did. I didnt have any special tools to make them. I used a harbor freight die grinder with cutting wheel, stock V8 Explorer upper motor mounts, 1 1/2" tubing .095 wall, 3/16" mild steel plate, 1/4" steel plate & 1 1/2" poly leafspring bushings w/steel sleeve. I first made a cardboard templet by tracing around the poly bushing and making it triangler shape. Then I cut the cardboard to fit into the stock Explorer motor plates and then cut the plates down to the tips of where the templet will set. Then I made a cardboard templet of the stock motor mount holes in the frame and made that templet a rectangle shape. I then cut the 3/16" plate steel into four shapes of the first templet and cut the 1/4" plate steel into the shape of the second templet. I transfered all the holes into the steel from both templets and drilled my holes in them. I then bolted them together (the four triangle ones) and grinded them down all at once to make them all the same. Cut my 1 1/2" tubing to the right size of the two poly bushings put together and then bolted two triangle plates together with the poly bushing in the middle and welded them centered to the stock Explorer plates. Bolted my two rectangle 1/4" plates to the frame and set the engine in and set it where I wanted it and measured from the 1 1/2" tubing that was holding the poly bushings to the 1/4" plate bolted to my frame. I cut some more of the 1 1/2" tubing to the measurments that I got and cut them. I notched one side of the 1 1/2" tubing to fit 90* to the other one and tacked them together good. Unbolted the poly bushings lifted the engine up a little and took all on my mounts out so I could get them welded. My neighbor across the street welded them all up for me. I cleaned them up and paintedthem with the paint I had sitting around and here they are. Ok you might say that its alot of work but it wasnt at all and it only took a few hours to do with the tools that I was using. I had nothing but time so it was alot of fun making them myself instead of just buying them. I can make them exactly like mine but I cant say that your engine will fit the same as mine does.

[Grumpy]

well after a couple days of fitting and removing and refitting an spacing up and removing and re-spacing with diff things... an trying to get the headers to clear the frame and steering shaft... i finally got it set... had to space the engine UP 1/2 inch to get clearance and now its bolted down and headers on and all clear except for the back tube on the pass side... it barely touches the frame... so a small dent will fix that.... the collectors clear the radius arm cross member and trans and all... clutch setup is on and it also clears well !!!!! so i guess the wiring is next.. then the cooling system and finish the clutch line and fuel lines and some more small stuff..... like all the fluids and bleed the clutch system and trans fluid......then the intake system and hopefully at least fire it off in the next weeks or so... its moving SLOW .. but hey....... im gettin there !! ... having to do EVERYTHING alone too REALLY sux !!!!!!!!!!!

will post some pix of where im at on it ... as soon as i can get a few transferred to the pc....

BTW...... L&L Mounts are NOT a bolt in !!! no matter what the guys say !!!!!!!!!

[Dave]

Hey there "old" Grumpy one. Know how dry it's been but here you might be getting a good dumping on real soon. Forget the Mustang/truck, build an Ark!
Dave

[Grumpy]

Dave... yea... if this tropical storm does move in like it supposed to do...... we will get wet... and they calling for about 7 or 8 days of it too !!!!... so i might take ya advice an drop the Ranger for now and build an ark .,........lol.. we will just have to see how it turns out... hahahah .....

i got some pix of the engine in and bolted down and all... and the spacers i had to make to life the engine up 1/2 inch and the trans spacer i had to make so it would level out the engine some... so it isnt leaning backwards... that spacer is ONE inch thick ...... lol.. as soon as i can get the pix off my phone an on the pc ill post them too .... them Kaufman headers fit GREAT !!!!!!!!!! i love them !!!!!!!!!and EASY to put in too ... they come apart.... so ya put them in one tube at a time ...

[Dave]

Word of caution on making the motor exactly level, they are supposed to tilt back at a 4.5 deg angle, have for a long time. Got a carb intake laying around, take a look at the carb mounting surface and eaasier to see on them.
Dave - Nasty storm just came thru here. Trees and power lines down not far away.
Dave

[Grumpy]

yea .. it will still be angled back some... i dunno how much th0 ................ its not level so i guess i need to find me a angle gauge to see what it is exactly ... but with out teh spacer under the trans mount ... it was WAY MORE then 4 degrees ....lol was more like 7 to 9 or so ... bu t think i got it ll figured out now.......lol