harsh suspension

john alexander · Post by **john alexander** » 31 Jan 2007, 19:45

96 xantia 1.9td estate, Hi I towed a car trailer yesterday and just about broke my back due to the harsh ride, I felt every bump in the road. Six months ago I changed the rear spheres because of the firm ride. If anything its now worse. Any ideas or has GSF sold me a duff pair. PS its been hydraflushed. regards john.

slim123 · Post by **slim123** » 31 Jan 2007, 21:14

Leave the car running at normal height and then stand well back and look at the side of the car, does it look level and is it sitting at normal height?

If down at the back then it's a quick call to pleiades for a new height corrector.

If it is level, then the only cause of a harsh ride can be the spheres.

But I doubt if GSF have sold you a dodgy set as the spheres they sell are of very good quality, I have used them myself on the odd occasion and allways found them to work well, also I have never had a failure.

There is allways a possibility of 1 x sphere failing, this is simply just "one of those things" even the best of quality control cannot achive 100% success. But to get 2 x spheres fail on the same car? I would be looking for a cause.

Regards
Slim.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 31 Jan 2007, 21:51

I would concur with slim. If the suspension is level ie. driveshafts and suspension arms parralel with the road, try bouncing each corner, if you have a failed sphere it will become obvious.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 31 Jan 2007, 21:54

Spheres are like springs - in that they do the springing - (OK there's a bit more to it than that) - so flat sphere - no spring. This means that if you load a corner it won't give at all. So first = get it to normal height and try and compress each corner.

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 01 Feb 2007, 08:39

slim123 wrote:If down at the back then it's a quick call to pleiades for a new height corrector.

If it is level, then the only cause of a harsh ride can be the spheres.

Well I wouldn't say the ONLY cause....

Shot rear suspension arm bearings can do a pretty good job of giving a harsh ride.....

Certainly spheres should be checked first of course.

Regards,
Simon

slim123 · Post by **slim123** » 01 Feb 2007, 12:05

Yes I totally forgot about these.

Normally when the rear arms are worn, you will sometimes get a cracking noise from the rear end especialy when going through the heights.

Start the car up and leave in normal driving height, stand well back from the rear and look at the rear wheels, they should be upright, if they (or one) are leaning, in at the top and out at the bottem, then they are worn.

Another tell tale sign is to look at the rear tyres, are they scrubbed on the inside? If so then worn bearings are the culprit.

Worn bearings are a fact of life on the CX, XM, BX and Xantia. They all go eventually!!

Caught early enough, you can replace the bearings, but normally by the time the wear is noticed, the hole in the arm is egg shaped, requiring a re-built arm.

C5 owners may also want to note that the bearing / arm design is more or less the same but the sweep of the arm is longer putting more pressure / wear on the bearing. Your arms will fail quicker.

Hope this makes some kind of sense.

Regards
Slim.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 01 Feb 2007, 20:39

slim123 wrote:If down at the back then it's a quick call to pleiades for a new height corrector.

If it is level, then the only cause of a harsh ride can be the spheres.

Well I wouldn't say the ONLY cause....

Its wellknown that air (escaped N-gas into the hyd fluid side) causes harsh suspension. This is because the air is much easier to compress and expand during suspension excursions, hence introducing a hammering effect against the hyd fluid.

Try a repeated Citaerobics. You may hit your luck

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 01 Feb 2007, 21:01

What was the balance/nose weight on the car trailer - ANY hydraulic
Cit will protest at having a heavy weight hanging badly off it's rump!!

Do you mean a 16'er with a car on it or a 4' 3' tree clippings down to
the tip one...

Andrew

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 01 Feb 2007, 21:44

andmcit wrote:What was the balance/nose weight on the car trailer - ANY hydraulic
Cit will protest at having a heavy weight hanging badly off it's rump!!

Huh ?

While its always best to get the ball down weight balance as close to optimal as possible, a hydraulic cit will handle variations in this balance MUCH better than a convetionally sprung car...so much so that its sometimes easy to forget that you're even towing something - the only indication being a loss of acceleration!

Don't forget that the front suspension is also compensating for the tendency for the front to lift with weight pressing down on the towball...it's not just the rear suspension playing a role.

Regards,
Simon

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 01 Feb 2007, 21:57

Years ago in my Xm, I towed a trailer which had a V6 XM engine/autobox
(PLUS a pile of scavenged parts off the bodywork) and unintentionally
(OK - I didn't give it too much thought!!) had it badly balanced way too
far forward on the leading end of the trailer...

Thinking the car's hydraulics would cope it became apparent it didn't like
the weight balance - AT ALL!

You live and learn - eventually needed
to resposition it!! This is the same car that towed a car transporter trailer
with CX diesel S2 estate on it smoothly and effortlessly.

As I said, how was the balance of the trailer?

Andrew