87 plymouth reliant le (where is the dogbone strut?)

[acannell]

I have an 87 plymouth reliant le with the 2.5l motor and I need to replace the motor mounts. I cant find the dogbone strut! Where the heck is it?

 

[shiden_kai]

I have an 87 plymouth reliant le with the 2.5l motor and I need to replace the motor mounts. I cant find the dogbone strut! Where the heck is it?

What are you talking about? There is no "dogbone" strut on a Reliant. There is a "front" engine mount.

Ian

 

[Dave Gower]

What are you talking about? There is no "dogbone" strut on a Reliant.

One of the more common forms of troll activity is to ask nonsensical questions to see who bites. It's best to ignore them. They'll (hopefully)
grow up some day.

 

[acannell]

I'm not a troll. The haynes manual shows three motor mounts that have rubber, and a "strut" mount connected to the "rear crossmember". I have seen this type of strut on a transaxle called a "dogbone strut". Its short, all metal, and looks like a dogbone. I have looked everywhere under the car and cannot find anything connecting the rear of the enginer or transaxle to the chassis.

 

[hartless]

Wow, haynes showing something that doesn't exist? Now lets see who made the car, haynes, or chrysler? That's right must be haynes is always correct.
Troll!

 

[Ed.Toronto]

I'm not a troll. The haynes manual shows three motor mounts that have rubber, and a "strut" mount connected to the "rear crossmember". I have seen this type of strut on a transaxle called a "dogbone strut". Its short, all metal, and looks like a dogbone. I have looked everywhere under the car and cannot find anything connecting the rear of the enginer or transaxle to the chassis.

I am not going to dig out my Haynes or (much more useful--ditch the Haynes) Chrysler shop manuals--my '87 Reliant passed on last November.

I vaguely recall that there may have been some kind of stabilizer strut such as you mention for high-performance manual-transmission cars. If your Reliant is a 2.5 then it is one of the 95% of Reliants with an automatic transmission, and there is no such strut on your car. Which mostly explains why you can't find it.

For all I know, 1981 Reliants may have had such a strut, but then your car is not a 1981 Reliant. This is one of the big problems with the Haynes K-car manual: it is based on the early cars, with a slapdash amendment chapter for the later cars. (Don't trust the electrical diagrams!)

There is a strut on your car, running from the crossmember to the back of the control arm. I think it's called the "stub strut". While you are down there, take a close look at the crossmember--they are notorious for rusting and cracking. I had to replace my crossmember, which cracked around one of the control-arm pivot points, with a much-better designed crossmember from a '90 Spirit.

.....Ed

 

[Ed.Toronto]

I'm not a troll. The haynes manual shows three motor mounts that have rubber, and a "strut" mount connected to the "rear crossmember". I have seen this type of strut on a transaxle called a "dogbone strut". Its short, all metal, and looks like a dogbone. I have looked everywhere under the car and cannot find anything connecting the rear of the enginer or transaxle to the chassis.

I am not going to dig out my Haynes or (much more useful--ditch the Haynes) Chrysler shop manuals--my '87 Reliant passed on last November.

I vaguely recall that there may have been some kind of stabilizer strut such as you mention for high-performance manual-transmission cars. If your Reliant is a 2.5 then it is one of the 95% of Reliants with an automatic transmission, and there is no such strut on your car. Which mostly explains why you can't find it.

For all I know, 1981 Reliants may have had such a strut, but then your car is not a 1981 Reliant. This is one of the big problems with the Haynes K-car manual: it is based on the early cars, with a slapdash amendment chapter for the later cars. (Don't trust the electrical diagrams!)

There is a strut on your car, running from the crossmember to the back of the control arm. I think it's called the "stub strut". While you are down there, take a close look at the crossmember--they are notorious for rusting and cracking. I had to replace my crossmember, which cracked around one of the control-arm pivot points, with a much-better designed crossmember from a '90 Spirit.

.....Ed