The bushings on my dampener are gone and it needs to be switched out. The easiest route I see so far is to remove the motor mount to switch it out. I've never taken one off a Mini and was wondering if I need to support it anywhere or if I can pull it and switch out the dampener.

Thanks, Michael

 

It's tight, but I followed the instructions from a thread posted here and removed the tensioner from below. No need to remove motor mount.

Jack up car, remove wheel and you'll have more room to reach in there and coax the tensioner out.

 

If you do decide to go from the top and remove the upper mount, support the engine from underneath, near the front, with a floor Jack. This will give you the support you need and some up and down movement of the engine to help with extra space for the removal.

Also, I've found that using a socket and a socket cap with a ratchet wrench works really well for getting in between the tensioner and the frame.

Socket Caps:

 

I just changed my damper, I did not pull the belt tensioner----all was good except the damper. It is doable with a ratchet wrench in place from underneath with the fender liner removed.

 

Just take off the rt front wheel. Then pull back the fender liner and use a 13mm ratchet wrench to pull the shock damper off the tensioner. This way you don't need to do anything else to get to it.
We always recommend our WMW delrin bushings as they won't fail again.

 

I just pulled the dampener from my belt tensioner in order to replace the bushings with Delrin bushings from WMW. Will put in the new bushings, but the originals don't look too bad. I'm wondering, however, about the condition of the dampener itself.

Can anyone describe the action on the dampener when it's off the tensioner? Mine slides easily with little to no resistance. It doesn't slide smoothly and seems to catch a little where the strut shows the greatest wear. How should the dampener move? Should it provide a little resistance when the strut is pulled in and out? Has anyone been able to source a replacement, aside from pulling the dampener from a new belt tensioner?

 

It sounds like yours has failed, as was mine when I replaced the entire belt tensioner. There was no resistance at all; the piston rod just slid in and out of the chassis loosely. There should definitely be firm resistance when pushing in the shock.

Only outfit I've found that supplies just the damper shock is in the U.K. (HERE). For the £69.00 price (about $95 USD without shipping) of just the damper shock, I'd instead recommend that you replace the entire unit and purchase one of the accessory belt kits available from several online vendors which at about $150 USD includes a complete new belt tensioner unit, new serpentine belt and new idler pulley.