Avoid Anchor brand engine/trans mounts!

[Lolvoguy]

Don't learn the hard way like me and waste $30 and your time!

A few months ago I purchased a couple of mounts for my Focus. One for the Trans, and one torque strut mount. I had replaced the hydraulic front mount myself for a whopping $199 from Ford. I chose this since there was lots of info on the net of people getting the cheaper Chinese one that ended up failing, or not working properly from the beginning.

I decided since the trans mount and torque strut mount is simply a rubber bushing, what could possibly go wrong? it's a rubber bushing...I'm sure the Chinese can't screw that up. Boy was I wrong!

Anyway, the part number is Anchor 2939 for the torque strut mount. When I unboxed it and compared it to the original, the rubbed in the replacement was SOLID hard, with almost NO give whatsoever. It's housing was also alum, vs the stock Ford one where the rubber was soft and the housing was made of heavy guage metal.

After I installed it, i instantly noticed a banging noise (like metal on metal ) when cranking and shutting down the car. There was also a more pronounced vibration at idle. I tried torquing it down, but that didn't help.

After a quick google search, I found some Amazon reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/Anchor-2939-E...SQ962KP00RMRYV

Once I replaced the Anchor mount whht the old Ford one (which was in fine shape I just figured since I replaced the one, I might as well do the others) the noise went away and the vibration smoothed out.

Let this be a lesson to you, ONLY BUY OEM. There's a reason why Chinese stuff is cheap!

 

[DoubleWasp]

Anchor mounts were trashy even before they went Chinese.

 

[KingCake]

Some of the anchor stuff is made in india and is decent (but still nowhere close to OEM) only problem is it's a [censored] if you get the china version or india version.

OEM is the way to go if you want longevity and no vibes.

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: KingCake
OEM is the way to go if you want longevity and no vibes.

+1

 

[Chris142]

Ya those are junk.

 

[tenderloin]

We have a 2002 Focus ZTS 2.0 Zetec DOhC, 5 speed...with nearly 250,000 miles that all 4 out of 5 children used for their university car. After trying a few aftermarket mounts I replaced all with Motorcraft and the engine and tranny are as smooth as day 1.

 

[zzyzzx]

Sometimes Anchor is the only brand available

 

[Cressida]

I thought I'd go up in the price point to get better quality mounts and purchased the Beck Arnley brand.

They "market" their mounts to be OEM quality, etc. FALSE. I wasted a lot more than the cost of Anchor mounts but did not get any more in quality. Also, one of the mounts didn't even line up to the mounting holes until I enlarged the hole in the mount.

 

[Kool1]

Originally Posted By: Cressida
I thought I'd go up in the price point to get better quality mounts and purchased the Beck Arnley brand.

They "market" their mounts to be OEM quality, etc. FALSE. I wasted a lot more than the cost of Anchor mounts but did not get any more in quality. Also, one of the mounts didn't even line up to the mounting holes until I enlarged the hole in the mount.



I've tried Anchor mounts and they seemed to have a glossy coating and were not flexible. Literally I saw it rip in a few months. I then tried Beck Arnley, which was made in Taiwan. The mount had soft flexible rubber and I thought it would last a while. WRONG!! The mount also ripped in a few months. I now have OEM mounts and it's been over two years with no problems.

 

[DerbyDave]

I used to have a 2002 Focus ZX5. I too had aftermarket mounts fail in short order some in as little as a few weeks. The only aftermarket mount that was ok was the DEA Heavy Duty. The regular DEA mounts were [censored] as well. I still don't think any of them were as good as original equipment.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: mclasser
Originally Posted By: KingCake
OEM is the way to go if you want longevity and no vibes.

+1

The engine mounts on the 05-11 Focus are a bit weak, the original liquid filled trans mount went bad on the way home when I bought the car with 30k miles on it. The motorcraft replacement has worked for 60k miles now and 4 autocrosses this summer so maybe its just luck of the draw?
I do have a solid poly torque(dogbone) mount that keeps the engine from moving as much and has cured wheelhop that it had with the mushy original dogbone, which was very good at isolating vibration but made driving the manual trans feel awkward with so much engine movement.

 

[KingCake]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: mclasser
Originally Posted By: KingCake
OEM is the way to go if you want longevity and no vibes.

+1

The engine mounts on the 05-11 Focus are a bit weak, the original liquid filled trans mount went bad on the way home when I bought the car with 30k miles on it. The motorcraft replacement has worked for 60k miles now and 4 autocrosses this summer so maybe its just luck of the draw?
I do have a solid poly torque(dogbone) mount that keeps the engine from moving as much and has cured wheelhop that it had with the mushy original dogbone, which was very good at isolating vibration but made driving the manual trans feel awkward with so much engine movement.



Manual trannies bust mounts much quicker than automatic trannies.

 

[nobb]

Originally Posted By: Cressida
I thought I'd go up in the price point to get better quality mounts and purchased the Beck Arnley brand.

They "market" their mounts to be OEM quality, etc. FALSE. I wasted a lot more than the cost of Anchor mounts but did not get any more in quality. Also, one of the mounts didn't even line up to the mounting holes until I enlarged the hole in the mount.



Well that's disappointing. I always thought Beck Arnley was a quality supplier who chooses their manufacturers carefully. Was there an obvious physical difference between the BA part and OEM?

I can't see how aftermarket manufacturers are managing to screw up such a simple part!

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: nobb
Well that's disappointing. I always thought Beck Arnley was a quality supplier who chooses their manufacturers carefully. Was there an obvious physical difference between the BA part and OEM?

I can't see how aftermarket manufacturers are managing to screw up such a simple part!


BA has been hit or miss for about 20 years now. I used to buy a lot from them back in the day but no more.

And yes it is a simple part, but the quality of the rubber and how it is bonded to the steel mount apparently is not. I've seen similar stores as in this thread for my cars, the (usually double cost or more) OEM mounts are the only way to go unfortunately.

 

[GMBoy]

Ordered an Anchor motor mount once for an Avalanche and it looked so horrible right out of the box (crooked rubber) I sent it back and got a DEA and that fit perfectly and is still in use a year later with no issues.

 

[artificialist]

I can't think of any aftermarket engine mount that lasts more than one year.

I have seen a few that are carelessly sprayed with cheap paint that is already flaking away. That is always a sign of a part that doesn't last.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Ordered an Anchor motor mount once for an Avalanche and it looked so horrible right out of the box (crooked rubber) I sent it back and got a DEA and that fit perfectly and is still in use a year later with no issues.


Those are generally just as bad. I went through a couple on an old Malibu I had. The center rear mount tore very quickly both times. After that, I put in a new OE GM mount and no more issues up until the car was sold.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: KingCake
Some of the anchor stuff is made in india and is decent (but still nowhere close to OEM) only problem is it's a [censored] if you get the china version or india version.

OEM is the way to go if you want longevity and no vibes.


NAPA introduced a new line that is supposed to be OE quality- not to be confused with their Balkamp line which is no better (or made by) Anchor.

The only issue is that they cost basically what an OEM mount would- at least the ones I've seen so far. For that reason I've just used the OE part.

 

[bowlofturtle]

I ordered Anchor and filled it with POLY. Its been a week but so far so good.

OEM broke within a year, DEA branded lasted 6 months. Anchor cost me $10 and $10 for the poly.

 

[quint]

I have two $15 Anchor mounts in my Corolla and they have been pretty decent for going on four years now. Didn't want to spend 5x as much for the OEM because the OEM's were garbage too, that's why they went bad so quickly. That car started buzzing and rattling just a few years after my dad bought it new.