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4.3 engine mount-to-transmission bolts braces - keep 'em or lose 'em?

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  • 4.3 engine mount-to-transmission bolts braces - keep 'em or lose 'em?

    Have not run across these braces before. They run from the block side of the motor mounts to the bottom transmission mounts (automatic trans)

    '94 1500 Chevy Truck

    This is the engine that goes in the '48 Willys CJ-2A with a manual shift behind it.

    Keep the mounts or ditch them? Are they the equivalent of a starter brace - needed but often ditched?

    See them on each side of the oil pan.




    Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

  • #2
    they were used on 4x4s starting around 1980...to keep from breaking transmission cases. If you're putting it in a 4x4 that will see off road action, and have the matching transmission and dust shield, then you might ought to keep them?

    If you're using a manual trans bellhousing, there's nothing to connect them to.
    Last edited by squirrel; October 6, 2015, 08:20 AM.
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    • #3
      I've never have put them back and and havent had a problem.

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      • #4
        Had 'em on a Blazer, but w/ 350/700R4. My logic would be that if they used them then I should too, but there was a substantial dust-cover casting that went on the trans which they fastened to. I suppose it's a weight or resonance thing, having to do with the transfer case back there. Without the solid place to bolt to there might not be a point to using them.

        People used to forget to keep their (similar) engine-to-transfer case strut on 4x4s and the cast-iron adaptor between the trans and case would fatigue and crack.
        ...

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        • #5
          Originally posted by chevybuytroy View Post
          I've never have put them back and and havent had a problem.
          You obviously don't drive the trucks hard enough!
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          • #6
            I was kind of surprised to see them in a 2WD 1/2 ton with a V6.

            I expect to see extra braces on a 4x4, this was odd to me.
            Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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            • #7
              Interesting...maybe they have some kind of shaking problem with that application?

              Anyways, if there's nowhere to connect the end to, you can't use them, eh?
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              • #8
                That could be it. This is the pre-balance shaft 4.3, they were shakey by nature.

                I believe I will have a place though. Gladiator bellhousing is a full circle.
                Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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                • #9
                  A full circle bellhousing probably does not need the braces!
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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by STINEY View Post
                    That could be it. This is the pre-balance shaft 4.3, they were shakey by nature.

                    I believe I will have a place though. Gladiator bellhousing is a full circle.
                    1994 had both, with and without, balance shafts.
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                    • #11
                      Keep them if you can.
                      Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                      • #12
                        ...probably to strengthen the engine trans flange due to inherent balance issues known to these motors... they have destroyed many a motor mount on our s-10s

                        BALANCE SHAFTS
                        Any 90° V6 creates some strong, primary imbalance forces, especially in the vertical mode. The 262 is no exception. Chevy originally underbalanced these engines by putting about 46% on the bobweights instead of the usual 50%. This reduced the vertical imbalance that was trying to lift the engine up off the mounts, but created a strong horizontal imbalance that shook the engine from side-to-side instead. So, in order to eliminate a lot of the "noise, vibration and harshness" in the engine and make it into a world-class motor, Chevy added a balance shaft to the premium engines in '92 and included it in all of them by '95.

                        There are two balance shafts, a light one and a heavy one, and two versions of the light one. See photo. The light one is either a 10224542 or a 10172748 casting that comes with or without a metal wear sleeve installed on the back journal, depending on the application. The wear sleeve was used on the lightweight balance shaft when it was installed in a '92 "first design" engine with the needle bearings in the back, but it wasn't used when the lightweight shaft was installed in the "second design" engine that had a bushing in the back of the block.

                        This "first design" shaft should not be used in a "second design" engine because the wear sleeve shortens the surface area needed for the bushing. These lightweight shafts were installed in all of the engines that had the light pistons including the '92-'98 VIN "W," the '96-'98 VIN "X" engines and the "first design" VIN "Z" engines in '95 that were built with the lightweight pistons.



                        The heavy balance shaft is either a 10224541, a 10105902 or a 12550286 casting. It can be visually identified by the raised identification band around the middle of the shaft. It was used in all the '93-'94 VIN "Z" balancer engines and in the '95 "second design" VIN "Z" balancer engines with the heavy pistons. The heavy balance shaft weighs about 125 grams more than the light one, so it shouldn't be interchanged with the lighter one.

                        The balance shafts rotate at engine speed and are gear driven off the front of the cam. There are two different gear sets, one with "wide" teeth and one with "narrow" teeth. The ones with the "wide" teeth were used in the "first design" engines along with the needle bearing balance shaft. Some of these early balance shaft engines had a whine to them, so the gears were modified at the same time the block was changed over to the "second design" version with the sleeve bearing in the back. We recommend using only the "second design" gears to help avoid any possible noise problems.

                        Read more: http://astrosafari.proboards.com/thr...#ixzz3nvhrCzc6
                        Last edited by silver_bullet; October 7, 2015, 05:02 PM.
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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Scott Liggett View Post

                          1994 had both, with and without, balance shafts.
                          Thanks. Found casting number 10227196, internet info says that this is a '95 balance shaft block with the strut brace bosses cast in.

                          My strut braces bolt to a motor mount plate behind the actual mount, sandwiched in. So much for that.
                          Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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                          • #14
                            98 and up do not have them with the full bellhsg. Just the ones that use the dust cover. They were removable bellhsgs that bolted to case with torx bits, then to engine

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