Motor mount install

Have motor mounts to install, but I don't have anyone to help shove the engine around to get the holes lined up. Made an attempt on the passenger side, getting as far pound out the main bolt most of the way, but chickened out and pounded it back in. The weight was taken off.

Having looked online, most seem to advocate doing the passenger side first, but I'd assume that loosening the driver side would help me get things lined up.

I don't need to create a problem with it all going wrong, but I also don't want to pay someone to do it, since it's a pretty easy gig. I just haven't done them before and don't have confidence from experience.

Appreciate some advice, tips and tricks. Thanks!

I've done them before on other folks rigs, using an engine hoist to help pickup or move around the weight to get holes lines up or to move stuff up out of the way.. another way I've done it before, is to use a floor jack either on the oil pan (with a board between them) to do similar as the hoist.. or use a floor jack with a 2x4 going from the jack up to the bottom of each mount @ the block... and use that to tilt/lift the engine a bit to swap them out.. usually doing it that way will cause a bit more of a struggle as you'll have to work around the board being there.. and doesn't give much wiggle room at all.. Got new HD mounts for mine, and have been putting it off for the same reason, not wanting to struggle with it.. but has also been the weather keeping me from messing with it.. was too cold... and now it's way too hot.. lol.. so kind of putting mine off for a bit as I don't currently need the new ones in there..

I used a block and jack to raise the engine, but was having a lot of difficulty getting the cross bolt out, even with adjustments to the height, that I backed off and stopped. Since I didn't have any help shoving the engine around, it seemed unwise to keep at it at that time. And yes, too damn hot.

I think the loosening up all of the bolts a little bit, and maybe the new tranny mount as well, might give me more movement to line things up.

Can you confirm that when taking the weight off the engine bearing down that it's just slightly, maybe hardly noticeable? I was getting tilting on the front side when I was trying to get the cross bolt out, which made it seem like I need the engine raised more, not less.

You should be able to do them both by yourself without much hassle. Just do one at a time so you're not trying to line up too many bolts at once, at least that's what I did.

Before starting you should completely unbolt the transmission mount from the cross member or else I've read you can get excess engine vibrations. You also want to make sure that the trans mount is the same material as your engine mounts (rubber-rubber, polyurethane-polyurethane). Put a floor jack with a board on top to distribute the weight better and jack up the engine to remove the weight from the bolt, I did driver's side first. Reinstall, but remember to not fully tighten the through-bolt, I think mine said to tighten it snug and then back-off like 1/2 a turn. You might need to use your jack and maybe a prybar to raise/lower enough to get all the bolts to line up correctly. I was a little nervous doing this at first too, but it turned out to not be too bad.