God damn son of a b*tch droplinks!!!!

LeeDJC · Post by **LeeDJC** » 08 Jul 2006, 19:36

I'm a bit sick and tired of these now! I replaced both of them in april because they were shot. The o/s one has been knocking again now for two or three weeks.

Today I've been replacing my strut tops so seeing as I had to undo the droplinks I thought I may as well replace the o/s one.

I packed this new one with grease as I didn't previously. put it on, looking all nice and shiny. Good job done methinks. How wrong was I!

After doing some citerobics after replacing the strut tops, I jacked the car up to start bleeding the brakes. To my horror I noticed that the bottom section of the drop link had broken off!

After a lot of swearing, I had to put the old one back on as the motor factors was closed.

I'm going to go back and get a refund on both droplinks now and go and buy OE Citroen ones I think. I just can't be arsed with this hassle all the time.

Does anyone know if the OE ones are any better though? I don't want to pay through the nose for them (no idea how much they are at the minute tho) and find them to be just as bad.

I know a lot of people say that the aftermarket droplinks are poo, I think I may know the reason. I noticed that the droplinks were invoiced by the motor factors as AX ones. I assume that they are the same pattern as the AX, but obviously can't be made to handle the abuse that the Xantia gives them with the suspension going up and down a lot compared to the AX. If this is the case then I am deffo going to stay away from these aftermarket ones.

Sorry about the long rant, but it's really been doing my head in!

Lee

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 08 Jul 2006, 19:55

Out of interest... what make were the 'duff' ones....

deian · Post by **deian** » 08 Jul 2006, 19:56

well from what i know, aftermarket product can be funtion and look the same as the OE made by othe manufacturers, obviously you got companies doing parts for the car manufacturer,

if you can find out who made the droplinks and then maybe you can track down who stocks the orginal quality parts rather than taking a stab in the dark by avoiding citroen with a random company like gsf or eurocarparts, maybe another aftermarket parts seller like unipart or halfords may have the droplinks from the OE manufacturer, so you get the quality but not the price u'd get by going to citroen.... of course as the old saying goes.... "buy cheap, buy twice"

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 08 Jul 2006, 20:06

Both the genuine & aftermarket parts will probably be Lemförder manufactured.

Anyway a genuine Citroen part is only some £20 (exvat) - worth trying.

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 08 Jul 2006, 20:41

AndersDK wrote:Both the genuine & aftermarket parts will probably be Lemförder manufactured.

Hmm my thoughts exactly... ZF Llemforder make parts for most vehicle manufactures.... Ford, Jaguar (same ones as Ford only annodised a different colour) Landrover, Toyota etc etc

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 10 Jul 2006, 00:46

I read the other day about OE parts being pattern parts just in proper packaging & at a inflated price.

I've missed what you actually mean, has the bottom of the drop link actually snapped off? If so at which point, the centre bar or on the thread?
Maybe the guy has actually given you AX parts, I can't even imagine they'd fit or he'd be that stupid but the question as to be asked I suppose.

Me & drop links never get on either, I've never been able to change the front legs or remove the front legs without damaging them, normally the hex bit in the end on the eairly ones. I am swapping the front legs on the ZX & already have a new set of drop links here ready, this time I've done for plastic 306 ones as I've heared they last longer - we'll see.

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 10 Jul 2006, 05:44

I had a drop link snap when I was tightening it. I was using a torque wrench correctly set, the other three nuts tightened fine, the last one snapped the stud before reaching torque! These were pattern parts, the next time I replaced them I used a different make.

LeeDJC · Post by **LeeDJC** » 10 Jul 2006, 08:14

rossnunn wrote:I read the other day about OE parts being pattern parts just in proper packaging & at a inflated price.

I've missed what you actually mean, has the bottom of the drop link actually snapped off? If so at which point, the centre bar or on the thread?
Maybe the guy has actually given you AX parts, I can't even imagine they'd fit or he'd be that stupid but the question as to be asked I suppose.

Me & drop links never get on either, I've never been able to change the front legs or remove the front legs without damaging them, normally the hex bit in the end on the eairly ones. I am swapping the front legs on the ZX & already have a new set of drop links here ready, this time I've done for plastic 306 ones as I've heared they last longer - we'll see.

They were labelled as 306 ones on the packet, but invoiced as AX ones. The drop link snapped at the end of the centre bar. The ones which I put on there before had some weld to reinforce where the bar meets the joint piece, but these new ones didn't.

Post by **user_3150** » 11 Jul 2006, 19:49

N42265 ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA 98> 13.25
N42265A ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA 98>; 18.50
MK II

N42264 ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA (1/95>98) 18.50
N42264A ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA (1/95>98) 12.75 MK I

These are the price differences between genuine and non genuine on GSF website. I believe they are different as my original ones that I took of looked beefier and looked better quality. I also had the same problem with non genuine and will try genuine next time I think. Also my originals lasted 50 odd thousand miles and the new ones have only lasted 5 and 10,000 mile respectively. For the sake of £7-£8 it's got to be worth getting the genuine ones if they will last say 40,000-50,000 miles more.

Post by **user_3150** » 11 Jul 2006, 19:51

[quote="Alec"]N42265 ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA 98> 13.25
N42265A ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA 98>; 18.50
MK II

N42264 ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA (1/95>98) 18.50
N42264A ANTI ROLL BAR DROP LINK XANTIA (1/95>98) 12.75 MK I

How the hell I got two smilies in there I don't know. It should say 98

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 11 Jul 2006, 22:16

Alec wrote:[How the hell I got two smilies in there I don't know. It should say 98

Your just such a friendly guy is all lol

DoubleChevron · Post by **DoubleChevron** » 12 Jul 2006, 02:34

I think it's pathetic full stop. Some of my old CX's would have done literally 1/2million kms and the anti-roll bar droplinks still show no wear at all. Why are they making them of such disgustingly poor quality they only last 50,000miles ???

It's unheard of for a DS to need any suspenion parts for many, many 100,000's of miles...

seeya,
Shane L.

LeeDJC · Post by **LeeDJC** » 12 Jul 2006, 07:29

DoubleChevron wrote:I think it's pathetic full stop. Some of my old CX's would have done literally 1/2million kms and the anti-roll bar droplinks still show no wear at all. Why are they making them of such disgustingly poor quality they only last 50,000miles ???

It's unheard of for a DS to need any suspenion parts for many, many 100,000's of miles...

seeya,
Shane L.

I wish mine would last 50,000 miles! The most I've got so far is about 1500!!

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 12 Jul 2006, 16:24

Alec wrote:How the hell I got two smilies in there I don't know. It should say 98

Hi Alec -

the combination of the 2 characters "8" and ")" is the html code for a smiley. Thats why.
You can avoid it by always inserting a space between "8" and ")".

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 12 Jul 2006, 22:35

AndersDK wrote:
Alec wrote:How the hell I got two smilies in there I don't know. It should say 98
Hi Alec -

the combination of the 2 characters "8" and ")" is the html code for a smiley. Thats why.
You can avoid it by always inserting a space between "8" and ")".

Sorry to get pedantic on you here, but its something to do with the forum rather than your browser doing it.