Review on DEA Products A2839 Transmission Mount by Steven Murray

Looks like it's just another 'Made in China' despite the information on the DEA website. The smell of Chinese rubber is overwhelming. Fits as snugly as it does snugly, with bolt hole spacings listed in the specs that vary slightly from the OEM. Only time will tell if it will break down on its own in just a few years of operation, as other Chinese rubber products usually do. Replaced engine in excellent condition but used GM engine mounts combined with a DEA gearbox mount. Stuck to frame (new Cats/Y exhaust, new GM muffler/exhaust). Worked on other projects over the next few days after checking the exhaust and basic engine condition, even going back to verify the compression was equal in all 6 cylinders of the 2002 4.3 4WD Blazer (209-221 lbs) and emergency engine was bearing I finally focused on the DEA transmission bearing (which I hadn't paid much attention to before for smell and tightness despite correct part number and application). First thing I found was that the DEA rubber was over 3 times harder than a 12 year old fairly hard original GM. The distance and comparison to the old DEA height differential exceeded 5/16 of an inch (shorter), and where GM had intermittent linear gaps in the rubber design, DEA did not. Further investigation revealed that the DEA design appears to forgo transmission vibration and noise isolation (rather critical for decades-old torque converter lock-up transmissions) in favor of a near-solid mounting style to prevent potential separation? It wouldn't surprise me if it were cut in half, the DEA would show that the steel half of the transmission mount is in direct contact, or almost in direct contact, with the steel in the crossmember half. And/or the rubber is very, very difficult to mount on the engine/transmission. With the OEM GM mount, there was a difference between day and night. I just couldn't believe such a huge difference in handling and felt a huge sense of relief. Would have bought GM first but this part has been discontinued. How many hours have been lost in recent years on consolidated manufacturing products from companies that often fail visually. thorough inspection, not to mention a genuine product quality control program?