How does the square upper torque mount work?

[howardc64]

On both of my V70 and XC70's square upper torque mount, the inner rubber bushing is completely floating within the metal bracket. I took one off and folded back the rubber flap to get the best look I could and noticed no visible wear nor do I see any attachment points between the rubber and the metal bracket.

Is this suppose to be just floating but in a cross shape to disallow to much clock or counter clockwise twist? I don't recall the bushing was floating when I purchased the mount. But maybe the molding process has a left over thin layer rubber in the middle that just gave away under load?

For a quick check, just loosen the bolt/nut through the middle of the mount and see if you can wiggle the bushing.

Both mounts has about 18k miles on them.

Since I was there, I took a look at my repacked coil wire loom with that cheap 3/8 plastic loom. Plastic is in perfect shape after 20k miles :D

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/howardc64/DSCF1569.jpg

[howardc64]

Here is the how the square motor mount wears

Got a new square motor mount today and took a close look at the difference from the one with 18k miles on it. Basically, it appears the rubber cross shaped bushing is designed to just floats in the bracket. However, the new one is in pretty tight while the old one "shrunk" by the wear toward the front. So the older bushing can be wiggled inside the bracket easily. I guess it is what happens if you continuously rub this rubber compound against the aluminum bracket surface. I can see bits of rubber dust clumped together here and there.

So when I push the old mount back and forth while on the car, I can hear the worn bushing squeak and see a bit of movement.

It doesn't appear the bushing in the new square mount tears or breaks like the older round design. But it still wears and increases the gap between the bushing and the bracket from when new. Here is the picture of the new

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/howardc64/DSCF1600.jpg

and the old

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/howardc64/DSCF1601.jpg

I don't know at what point of the worn bushing do you consider too much play and not good anymore.

[Volky_one]

Here is the how the square motor mount wears

Got a new square motor mount today and took a close look at the difference from the one with 18k miles on it. Basically, it appears the rubber cross shaped bushing is designed to just floats in the bracket. However, the new one is in pretty tight while the old one "shrunk" by the wear toward the front. So the older bushing can be wiggled inside the bracket easily. I guess it is what happens if you continuously rub this rubber compound against the aluminum bracket surface. I can see bits of rubber dust clumped together here and there.

So when I push the old mount back and forth while on the car, I can hear the worn bushing squeak and see a bit of movement.

It doesn't appear the bushing in the new square mount tears or breaks like the older round design. But it still wears and increases the gap between the bushing and the bracket from when new. Here is the picture of the new

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/howardc64/DSCF1600.jpg

and the old

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f258/howardc64/DSCF1601.jpg

I don't know at what point of the worn bushing do you consider too much play and not good anymore.

Did yesterday my lower transmission mount according to your fix instructions, and looked at the top mount(Engine mount) it looks like it has too big gap play, I decided to replace it and got a new one from dealer@ $94 after tax, put it in but I still wonder if the engine brace need to stay flex. can it be adjusted to give it more tight grip?

[howardc64]

Did yesterday my lower transmission mount according to your fix instructions, and looked at the top mount(Engine mount) it looks like it has too big gap play, I decided to replace it and got a new one from dealer@ $94 after tax, put it in but I still wonder if the engine brace need to stay flex. can it be adjusted to give it more tight grip?

The strut bar will still have twist because

- there are bushings on the strut tower attachment points.
- the rubber in the torque mount appears to float within the alloy bracket. The bolt that secures the strut bar to the torque mount just secures it to the metal molded in the middle of the floating cross shaped rubber bushing inside the torque mount.

There is aftermarket parts that eliminates the bushings on the strut tower attachment points. I don't have experience regarding add vibration and/or rigidity. You might ask around.

http://www.ipdusa.com/products/5037/115037-ipd-strut-bar-mount-conversion-kit

By the way, I had good success just sticking 1/8 inch pieces of rubber to take up the slack of the wearing cross shaped bushing. It didn't go anywhere even without gluing it down. A cheap fix :)

[Volky_one]

I figured out how to tighten the bar, I used 4 3/4" washers 2 on each side one on the top just below the bar and one on the bottom end. the brace seems to be tight enough you cannot wiggle it no more. the shifting is better, I still have to connect my Dice tool tomorrow and do TCM adaptation and see what hapen.

[stupidloose]

I did the IPD strut brace conversion and ended up selling the kit on Ebay. Too much vibration for me. You could really feel it in the steering wheel at an idle.

[TheDarkKnightt]

I replaced the square one with the poly round one some time ago...quite some time ago and have well over 100K on it with no visual wear and it's still tight.

There is a minimal amount of extra vibration, but there is more vibration from worn tires than from this.