Anybody ever replaced motor mounts on a Ditchwitch sk650??

[Sfoppema]

I have an 06 sk650 with 4000 hours on it. She runs like a top, and is durable as hell, but you can push the motor around quite easily, which isn't good. We decided to pull some things apart, clean it, and sort the issue out. After spending lots of time cleaning the 3" of organic matter, oil, and grease out of the bottom, we discovered that there is a plate holding the motor to the frame, or moreso exo-skeleton. There are two more standard looking mounts under the pump, which of course were also loose/need replacing. We quickly discovered the plate was cracked, and removed what seemed like every nut/bolt that was associated with the plate. This was no small task.... but still can't get it out. It's pretty busy down there with all of the hoses. We had to remove the starter to access most of the bolts holding the plate to the motor/exoskeleton. It's the end of the day, and I figured there had to be some videos or information about someone else doing this, but have found nothing. Figured I'd see if anyone has been down this road before. Our next move was going to be remove the radiator to get a better view of what is going on, and then anything else that was in our way, which I'm hoping will be minimal.

I love the sk's but they're damn difficult to work on. Vermeer you can pull all of the sides off in five minutes, and it has "normal" motor mounts instead of a 3' long plate that stretches from the front of the motor to the radiator. The Ditchwitch sides cannot be removed unless you want to start cutting, which we considered doing.

Any advice from anyone who has been there? I'm assuming the larger models have a similar design as well...

 

[Sfoppema]

Found a diagram...Probably would have been wise to look at it beforehand, but it appears there is an easily accessible bolt that we missed somehow. Once we get that out, it will be tricky to get the plate out with all the hoses and etc in the way. I'll check back tomorrow night. Maybe we'll take some pictures for folks in the future!

 

[Sfoppema]

Seems strange that the motor has a metal bracket to the metal frame with no rubber spacers anywhere. According to the diagram, this is the way it is supposed to be, which is strange.