Home | My mechanic is telling me that I need new engine mount cushions on my IO360. It sounds like they are very expensive. How can I tell where I am getting good advice? Search strings: engine mounts, Lord mounts, Lord cushions, Barry mounts

My mechanic is telling me that I need new engine mount cushions on my IO360. It sounds like they are very expensive. How can I tell where I am getting good advice? Search strings: engine mounts, Lord mounts, Lord cushions, Barry mounts

My mechanic is telling me that I need new engine mount cushions on my IO360. It sounds like they are very expensive. How can I tell where I am getting good advice?
Search strings: engine mounts, Lord mounts, Lord cushions, Barry mounts

Technical Editor:

If you do a search on BAC, you will find a lot of info about the IO360 engine mount cushions. Here is a link to the most relevant post:
[url=https://www.beechaeroclub.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=PNphpBB2&file=viewt
opic&t=3460&highlight=mount]Engine Mount Cushions

My recommendation is to go with four of the Barry #96068-01, which have all solid center spacers (rubber coated aluminum). If your technician insists on the gel package, you can use two of the Barrys, but will have to get two of the Lord sets having the gel-filled spacers. And as noted, those two kits, for the UL and LR mount positions, are probably the most costly mount cushions in piston GA.

Some observations:

The gel spacers were intended to help dampen start-up and shut-down of the IO360; they serve no in-flight function. They may help with damping when new, but their durability is almost nil. Within about six months, all the gel will have leaked out, leaving a sticky mess on the upper left and lower right mount areas. I have tried to address this with Lord, with no success. Barry won’t make the gel spacer, because it isn’t possible to make it durable enough to have a reasonable lifespan. So they use the same rubber-covered aluminum spacer on all four positions.

Make sure the mounts are really needed. These particular mounts are indexed, via a roll pin in the mount ear, plus a hole in the cushion washer. They are often improperly installed. In addition, they come with a pre-existing ‘sag appearance’ built-in. It is common for an inexperienced technician (relative to our planes) to order a brand new mount, only to discover that it has almost exactly the same ‘sagged appearance’ as the one on the plane. Other than the gel running out of the UL and LR spacers, these particular mounts will normally last to TBO. They should be replaced at each overhaul. Only if there is hard evidence of deterioration (oil rotted rubber separation), or of the engine being out of position (such as inappropriate contact between parts), should the mounts be replaced just on speculation. Another example of evidence is a spinner that is markedly out of alignment with the cowling nose opening. Another common error that leads to sag is incorrect orientation of the cushions (see the Forum Topic link, above).

If there is any doubt about the need, I’d get four of the Barry’s, but then just eyeball them against the existing mounts, before automatically changing them all. They have a very long shelf life.

Updated July 17, 2008, by the original poster. Some of the following is duplicate information.

The J-10778-1 was the very first engine mount set, which came on the plane. It had two identical cushions (the J-10776-4) and a coated plain spacer. The original -1 mount set superseded to the J-10778-16. The -16 is an asymmetrical cushion set. It contains a J-10776-7 pad and a J-10776-16 pad, with a rubber-coated plain spacer. The asymmetry makes one side of the mount more firm than the other side (front to back). The Barry 96068-01 does replace this -16 set, but only this set (see below).

The superseding combination includes two of the J-10778-14 and two of the J-10778-16 kits. The J-10778-14 contains the same J-10776-7 and J-10776-16 pads But instead of the coated spacer, it includes a spacer having a silicone gel-filled jacket. The gel spacers (-14 kits) were installed in the upper left and lower right positions. They were intended to hold down the impact forces on the spacers, during start-up and shut-down. They supposedly played no role in cruise. The asymmetric pads also get installed differently. On the top two mounts, the pads having the most ‘layers’ go aft, on both the LH and RH sides. On the bottom two mounts, the pads having the most layers go on the forward side of the mount. Since the pads with the higher ‘layer count’ are effectively firmer, orienting them this way makes the engine more sag-resistant. Please also note that the ‘clocking’ is critical on these cushions. A brand-new kit will appear to be sagged, if viewed from the side. The ‘sag’ is a molded-in shape. The sides of the pads that face the mount have holes for indexing. There is a short 1/16” roll pin that protrudes from the steel ring. It is a very common error to install the pads without aligning the pins with their mating holes; in part because it can be hard to keep them all lined up, while tightening the bolts. Many of these mount kits have been unnecessarily replaced over the years, due to the appearance of having sagged, when they were in fact just fine. If the pins are engaged, and the rubber layers have not cracked and wrinkled (and over-compressed), the pads are good to go. They really cannot sag like the single-layer pads used on the lighter and less-powerful engines.

The Barry mount has been incorrectly listed as a replacement for both the -14 and the -16, in many publications; but they are wrong. Barry doesn’t even seem to have the Model 55 Barons on their website application list anymore. Maybe they are trying to figure out what is wrong. Look at this listing from Spruce:
Baron A24, A24R, B24R, C24R, D55, D55A, E55, E55A, 58, 95-C55, 95-C55A
96068-01
All
08-96068-01
$344.95
It implies that the 968068-1 replaces all four of the cushions on the A24-C24R; but that’s not true. It can legally replace all four only on the Barons. On the Model 24 series, it can only replace the two -16 kits. If you call Barry, they will tell you that it is not approved to replace the -14; AND that they have no approved replacement kit for the -14. I don’t know why, since they do make the gel-filled spacers; but they never applied for the PMA for a -14 replacement.

The gel spacer is the weak link in this whole system. It may do some good when new; but in my experience they crack and leak out the gel in a 6 to 12 month timeframe. At that point you are operating with the equivalent of four -16 kits (or four Barry 96068-01 kits). Just to make your day, Lord will not sell just a pair of gel spacers. Though if you bitch to them about the short life, they may send you a spare pair (or give you a pair at Oshkosh, hint-hint). I have not approached Barry about selling only gel spacers, by the box or something. Many a shop has found the leaking gel, and forced the owner to buy two sets of the most expensive cushion kits ever used in a light aircraft. If not all four kits, because they don’t know that the apparent sag is molded-in. And then, just to make your day, they will likely misalign the roll pin positioning holes, because they don’t realize they are there… and they fail to notice the stubby pins. No telling what your thrust offset winds up being, when this happens.

Barry used to be a viable (money-saving) competitor for Lord, for the -16 mounts. But recently it looks like a set of four 96068-01s will actually cost more than two Lord -14s and -16s, based on the Spruce pricing anyway.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If anyone tries to save money by using four of the -16 kits, foregoing the gel spacers, please be alert for any different ‘banging’ during start-up and shut-down. Also for any new vibrations in cruise, though they supposedly don’t affect cruise. I have written before that the function of the gel spacer has to be very short-lived, based on its relatively rapid failure and subsequent leakage rate. But having said that, a cracked engine mount can easily eclipse the cost of cushion pads, if you introduce a harmful vibratory signature and fail to recognize it. Keep a sharp eye out on the steel mount structure, watching for any signs of incipient cracks.

Thank you for adding to the resources available for your Fellow BAC Members.