im replacing my clutch, so i gotta take the transmission off the car
i only got 1 jack and i dont feel like buyin another, so do i need to support the engine? it seems like the motor mounts would hold it up just fine
The odds are that the fan will hit the radiator shroud. Some concrete blocks would be a good thing to put under the oil pan or a spare jackstand.
Whatever you do, don't get under the car when it only supported by the jack. None of us here want to hear that you have become a casualty of a car falling off the jack. Jackstands are a must have item.
You'd be crazy not to support the engine purely from a safety perspective. The cost of another jack is negligible compared to medical costs - penny wise; pound foolish. At least jack the back of the motor up and insert a piece of 2X4 between the oil pan and the cross member. It doesn't do the motor mounts any good to be twisted that way especially if they're original, and it certainly won't do your body parts any good if something lets go and you get something caught between a rock and hard place.
engine mounts seem to do a fine job holding the engine in place while driving, why not while the car is up in the air? i replaced my tranny and clutch by myself with 4 jack stands and one jack. put the car in the air on 4 stands and used the jack to lower down the tranny and had someone else balance it ontop of the jack. i dont see a reason to support the engine if you're just doing a clutch swap. the only time you'd be pulling on the engine is if you're taking off the flywheel. i dont remember my pressure plate being a problem at all either.
red93 - while driving, the tranny mount is also supporting the engine/tranny; not just the engine mounts alone. When you remove the tranny and let the engine be supported by the mounts alone, because they sit more towards the front of the engine, the weight of the engine torques the mounts from front to rear. They weren't designed to be stressed that way.