Xanti - Back arm bearings

[lancia58]

Hi

I think I need to replace the back arm bearings, I replaced all rear spheres and the rear suspension is stiff. I can push the rear suspension down but it raises back slowly. I checked the height corrector and it is OK. So I guess the only reason for the stiffness is the back arm bearings. Is there a thread that describes how to do it, especially how to detach the arm? Any pictures. I do not if it is of any help but I have access to a local garage and I can lift the car.

Thanks
Zohar

[citroenxm]

Rear brakes Sticking on Zohar?? First be sure they arent siezed on or even partley Siezed on.

Rear arm bearings can be visually checked, raise the car to top and then stand a few Feet or meters behind and look at the back wheels, if the bearings are bad they will be leaning in slightly at the top!

Rear bearing wear can also be heard from a Cracking Noise when pressing down on the back.

[lancia58]

Hi

How can I found out if the rear brakes are sticking or seized ? When the car was on the lift and the arms started to raise up I could hear ticking. Anyway tomorrow morning I'll check if the wheels are leaning in . BTW is that leaning so noticeable or one should have a trained eye to notice ?

Thanks
Zohar

[citroenxm]

If they are VERY bad you can see by eye...

Jack back of the car up with a trolly jack and spin the wheel with your hands, if the brakes are free the wheel will turn VERY freely!! If not, then brakes holding..

[Mandrake]

I think I need to replace the back arm bearings, I replaced all rear spheres and the rear suspension is stiff. I can push the rear suspension down but it raises back slowly.

Are you certain you have the correct spheres for your car ?

If you have fitted Hydractive strut spheres on a standard non-Hydractive model the suspension will act as you describe - very firm to press down but with a very slow recovery/rebound, where it will take 1 to 2 seconds to rise back to normal height after pressing down. This is because Hydractive strut spheres have very stiff damping with high opening thresholds in the damper valve and a very small bypass hole.

If you can tell us the brand name and part numbers of the spheres you fitted, and what spec level your car is, (SX/VSX/Exclusive etc) we can check whether you have the correct spheres.

Another possibility is that you have a Hydractive car and your Hydractive centre sphere is flat or the Hydractive system is not switching to soft mode, but first we need to be sure of the spec of your car.

IMHO its far more likely that you have the wrong spheres than faulty rear arm bearings.

[lancia58]

Hi

The car is 2.0 V16 SX automatic none Hyderactive make year 2000. The spheres are I.F.H.S, the centre one pressure is 50 and the corners spheres pressure is 30. To my best knowledge this is according to the car's spec

Thanks
Zohar

[citroenxm]

IFHS Spheres RARELY ever have pressure issues...

Id go brakes or bearings..

[Mandrake]

Hi

The car is 2.0 V16 SX automatic none Hyderactive make year 2000. The spheres are I.F.H.S, the centre one pressure is 50 and the corners spheres pressure is 30. To my best knowledge this is according to the car's spec

Thanks
Zohar

Both Hydractive and non Hydractive rear strut spheres are 30 bars pressure. Only the damper valves differ, and dramatically.

You either need to check the part number of the sphere, or measure the hole diameter in the centre of the damper valve in the sphere neck. 0.5mm is Hydractive, 1.0mm is standard non-Hydractive. If its only 0.5mm you've found your problem. Insert small precision drill bits of known size into the hole to determine its diameter.

I still think its very unlikely to be the rear arm bearings. If it was there would be obvious negative camber of the rear wheels and it would lurch in small jumps and/or make a creaking/groaning noise as you raised and lowered the car.

If the rear moves up and down smoothly and silently as you raise and lower the height with the manual height control lever I'll bet anything its not the arm bearings.

Double checking you have the correct spheres is an easy job, replacing the rear arm bearings needlessly is a lot of work.

[Mandrake]

IFHS Spheres RARELY ever have pressure issues...

Id go brakes or bearings..

Paul, not pressure - the wrong damper valve. The wrong spheres can and do get supplied from time to time. I've had it happen to me before. I wouldn't dive in and replace the arm bearings until I was 100% sure the spheres were correct!

[citroenxm]

Sorry Simon, tired and not reading properly.

I agree the bearings are last resort, and Ive said recently Xantia ones RARELY need dooing. Early cars suffered, but Ive not seen a later car with the issue..

[addo]

Mine are falling due; 260K kilometres or 160K miles. Only the offside is showing any cant.

Zohar is in a fairly similar climate to me, maybe a little more fine dust that could dry up the bearing grease. I'd recommend buying a long series T50 bit (I bought STW1054TXT50) to release the anti roll bar bolts.

[lancia58]

Hi

When I raise and lower the car using the manual height control lever the rear moves up and down smoothly and silently. In Israel there are only 2 Activa and a couple of SVX so I guess the spheres should be OK. But as has been said it is much easier to check it than do the bearing job. I’ll post my finding. Thank you all for you helpful advices.

Thanks
Zohar

[lancia58]

Hi Simon

I checked the rear spheres catalog number and you were right, they sold me Hyderactive ones the catalog number of the spheres is XA30RH where according to IFSH catalog it should be XA30RA. The funny thing is that as I said before in Israel there are two Activas ( I think one is already wrecked ) and maybe two to three SVXs, so I can not understand why these spheres are sold. In the shop they have only the XA30RH. The central sphere is XA50RU , the IFSH catalog sais the equivalent Citroen OE is 529303 verify this with Citroen service and it is OK. I talked with the Israeli importer of IFSH and the only one he has is the XA30RZ which is for the 2.0i till 5-95, were mine is 2.0 16v make year 2000. Can the XA30RZ be fitted ? Thank you all for you advices , I guess I would never figure out the source for the rear suspension problem without your help.

Thanks
Zohar

[citroenxm]

Nice one zohar .. that's great news ..

[xantia_v6]

I talked with the Israeli importer of IFSH and the only one he has is the XA30RZ which is for the 2.0i till 5-95, were mine is 2.0 16v make year 2000. Can the XA30RZ be fitted ?

Those would be OK, I think the damping is a little softer, but you would never notice.