Motor Mount

Touring Model Front Motor Mount Replacement

Easy guide to replacing that sagging, ragging and nagging front motormount!

About a year before this job was done, I suspected that I might be having some problems with my front motor mount on the 2002 Road King, because I rode a friend's bike with a similar stock setup, and his bike just "felt" different. It felt softer somehow, while mine seemed to have a hardness about it. I probably would not have given it a second thought, had I not ridden the other bike. However, recently I developed a loud rattle at idle and deceleration that I was able to track to a point where the left side exhaust header was actually TOUCHING my primary chain case! I could not adjust the space by working with the exhaust, so I suspected that the front of my engine was sagging, closing that gap between the rear and my exhaust. Since my bike was fitted with a low mounted HD oil cooler, I had virtually no clear view of the front motor mount, but was sure that it had to be the culprit, so I ordered the parts and set aside a nice afternoon for some shop therapy. :-)

As you can see from the photos, surgery was DEFINITELY in order! The top side of the motor mount had collapsed, and had literally punched through the plate. leaving most of the rubber isolating material hanging uselessly from the bottom!

Replacing the front mount is a relatively simple operation, requiring no special tools, other than a few wrenches, socket set and a small jack for supporting and lifting the engine, along with a couple hours of relaxed shop time. Don't expect to find instructions for this job in the service manual. It's just one of those little things that they assume we already know. ;-)

Tools Required:
For Regulator Removal: 7/16 deep well socket and extension.
For Motor Mount-to-Bike Bolts and Motor Mount Center Bolt: 9/16 wrench and 11/16 wrench or socket.
For Stabilizer Link bolt: 9/16 wrench or socket
For Plate-to-Motor bolts: 9/16 Wrench and 9/16 socket or additional 9/16 box wrench.

As you can see below, the motor plate has destroyed the top side of the rubber isolator and eaten its way almost completely down to the metal base plate.
The first order of business is partial removal of the Voltage Regulator to gain access to the mount. Simply remove the two 7/16 nuts that secure the regulator to the frame cross member (notice the bare studs in each photo that the regulator sits on). The regulator can supported to the right hand side by a bungie or hanger wire, but will need to be disconnected from the harness on the left side (connector lies directly beneath the regulator).

There are a total of six bolts that must be removed to replace the motor mount. Shown in the photo here with yellow dots, remove the lower three bolts first, then remove the stabilizer link bolt, and finally the two upper plate-to-engine bolts.

Those upper plate bolts are a bit tricky to get to if your engine is sagging as much as mine was, but I was able to "stand" an open end 9/16 wrench on the bottom nuts, and break the bolts loose from the top with a second box end 9/16 wrench.

NOTE: Due to the severity of my collapsed mount, it was necessary to remove the engine support plate. You may find it only necessary to loosen the plate bolts in order to pull the mount out from underneath the plate.

BEFORE YOU REMOVE THE UPPER BOLTS, you need to place a small jack under the engine case to support the engine and lift it lightly off the old motor mount. I used a scissor jack from the trunk of my car and a small block of wood to protect the engine case from the jack. At this point, you only want to lift the engine enough to know that it is supported by the jack (you'll see the engine plate begin to lift off the motor mount).

Now you can safely remove the two plate-to-engine bolts, and slide the plate out free of the bike.

After the engine plate is removed, the already unbolted motor mount will lift off the top side of the cross member. You'll have to carefully lift the engine with the scissor jack until the old mount will clear the cross member. Don't go any higher than you HAVE to, or you'll cause problems somewhere else on the bike!

During re-assembly, leave all bolts slightly loose until you have them all in place, then tighten the two plate-to-engine bolts first, the stabilizer link bolt second, the motor mount center bolt third, and lastly, the two motor mount-to-cross member bolts. Reconnect the regulator to the harness, and replace the regulator. A little blue Loctite is never a bad idea for external bolts and nuts.

Some Techs suggest leaving all mount bolts slightly loose, then running the engine for a brief period to "center" the engine and parts, THEN tighten to specs. Proceed at your own risk here.

Note: Some early models had a problem with dangling connectors getting beaten up by the bouncing engine. If yours isn't snapped to the bottom of the regulator, run a black plastic zip tie around the regulator, securing the connector to its underbelly so it doesn't come in contact with moving motor parts.

The new mount on the left certainly looks nicer than the old worn out one! :-) Notice how the rubber center material has been forced through the plate leaving almost nothing between the engine plate and the mount base plate! (Sorry, the new mount is shown upside down in these photos) Want to keep that softer ride?: See alternate part number note at bottom of the page!

This is what they are SUPPOSED to look like!

I spent about two hours on this project, but knowing what tools I needed ahead of time and what the sequence of steps were would have saved me a lot of that time. Even still, I'd recommend that unfamiliar do-it-yourselfers allocate themselves a nice afternoon under the shade tree or an evening in the shop for the job.

I used a bike lever jack to stand the bike upright for this project, but if you have no means of keeping the bike upright, I'm quite sure the job would work almost as easily if done on the sidestand. You might need to be a bit more cautious with the scissor jack to make sure it can't slip if it has to lift on an angle.

ALTERNATE PART NUMBER: The new part number for HD touring bikes (16207-79D) is a much harder compound than the early versions, and changing to this new mount will increase the felt vibrations on the bike. The new mounts were beefed up to reduce deterioration from oil contamination, which sometimes occurs during oil changes. If you prefer the softer feel of the early mounts, you can purchase a BUELL motor mount, part number L0501.2, which is the same part as the early touring model mounts ending in "C". If you use the Buell mount, it installs exactly like your old one, and in the same upright orientation.