Newbie Xantia Suspension Arms and Antiroll bars replacement

[KennyW]

Danny,

Remember the spark plug removal sockets fit, one is 16mm and the other is 20 or 21mm. Handy if you are stuck.

Kenny

[c.morewood]

Danny, When you've finished with the drop links. Cut a piece of garden hose for each bolt end that sticks out past the nut and slip them over the bolt ends with a bit of grease to seal the ends. That'll mean you'll 99% be able to get the droplinks off again without having to grind them off.

[Hell Razor5543]

It could be worth checking to see if the dust covers fit back on when the drop links are in place. If they do, repair the broken one (you can get Loctite super glue from Poundland, the proper stuff), put plenty of grease on the threads, and pop the covers back on. They might help make future removal easier.

[danny13]

Cheers guys, some top advice. Looking forwards to hopefully restoring Fred to his former glory I did wonder about the spark plug sockets, will give them a try when my breaker bar arrives.

[Hell Razor5543]

You are almost certainly NOT going to be able to go the plug spanner route. The ball join will start spinning. As you also have to torque them up properly, what I did was to use a ring spanner on the nut and a torque wrench (with allen bit) on the allen head. All worked out properly.

By the same issue you probably won't be able to get the old ones off using the plug socket (unless you are lucky; on Gracie 2 nuts came off without too much argument, but the others needed a different way to get them off). What I had to do with the awkward ones was to remove the rubber dusk covers, then remove the nylon parts of the ball socket which then allowed the ball to come out of the socket, and grip the ball with a mole wrench (well something similar) while undoing the nut.

[sparksie]

Don't bugger about trying to undo the drop links - you just won't be able to. Get a grinder and chop them off - 10 mins, piece of cake. Just set the guard so that it protects the handbrake cable when it 'grabs'...

21mm socket needed for the bottom ball joint - you may find your splitter won't fit in here, there's not much room between the arm and the hub. Mine just goes in - tighten the bolt a bit, hammer it in a bit, tighten the bolt a bit. 18mm socket and spanner needed for the arm, as well, I think as a 16mm - not necessarily common sizes. You may well need to depressure the suspension to be able to get the arm in / out. Don't disconnect both sides of the roll bar at the same time, and then lift it up to get the arm out/in - you will mess up the suspension height.

Hi Richard

On mine, which seems a little different in the ARB dept., there was no need to interfere with the drop link, or indeed anything other than the bottom ball joint and the bushings, to get the arm out.
Simply set suspension on High, jack up and support the car, then set suspension on Low.
Remove the wheel, split the ball joint, undo the bolts holding the bushings and withdraw the arm.
In Danny's case, he's replacing the drop links anyway, so he might as well butcher the old ones off whatever way is quickest and have the slight advantage of being able to move the end of the ARB a little when he comes to fit the new arm.
Just about to go in and do my OS bushings.
Let's see have I tempted fate too much...

[sparksie]

Well, I certainly tempted fate, though she wasn't as unkind as she could have been!
I decided to stay home and do the job outside in the sunshine, with ready access to cups of tea and nobody looking over my shoulder.
All went well, except for the positioning of the "P" bush.
I ended up having to go in to use the air hammer and press, to remove and refit (more than once ) the thing before I got it only slightly wrong and decided to accept it.
Back home again, darkness had arrived and the shorts and t-shirt I'd been wearing all day suddenly seemed inadequate.
Easy half hour, with tea after each bolt, and it's done!
If I get any trouble with the arms next year, I think I'll just get complete arms. It really is a very easy task to remove and replace one, especially with the right tools.

[danny13]

Alas sparksie, I am not having so much luck I blame my tools and also being a complete eejit doesn't help.
So breaker bar arrived this morning along with 18mm deep socket.

Eager to start I started on nut 5 in the photo the downwards ball joint one....breaker bar on, gave it hell for leather span half a degree, attempt 2....eyes nearly popping out of head....it released! Well actually I had rounded the nut as I was turning the wrong way...doh, school boy error! Luckily somehow it wasn't a total write off as when managed to hammer the socket onto the nut and spin it off in the right direction! I always use the clockwise /anticlockwise thought process obviously the fact the nut was upside down confused me.

Next stop drop link (yup I was randomly attacking nuts in no order)....after pretty much 3 hours struggling with mole grips and the breaker bar, the lock nuts are off (one side only)

However the droplink seems to be holding the weight of the front axle or something as no matter how much of a beating I give them they aren't shifting....any tips on this bit, do I jack up the lower arm that the droplink connects to?

3 hours work....

[danny13]

Going to cheat.... Mobile mechanic coming tomorrow at 11am

[RichardW]

Normally the drop links just pop out once you've got them undone - there's enough flex in the roll bar to get them out. You have got both sides jacked up....

[danny13]

Just got the one side jacked up atm...does that make a difference, they seem to be under quite a lot of torsion?

[RichardW]

Er....yes - jack the other side up and put it on stands, and then it will fall out (almost).

[Northern_Mike]

Just got the one side jacked up atm...does that make a difference, they seem to be under quite a lot of torsion?

That's why I said in my earlier post in this thread to jack both both sides up when changing the drop links. Bloody things are damn near impossible to do on some cars if you don't. ..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[sparksie]

Hi Danny
In my case I wasn't doing the drop links, but in order to take the pressure off the link, you need to have the right and left suspension at the same height.
You can do this by lifting both sides of the car off the ground, as others have suggested, or you can set the hydraulics to Low, which will allow you to easily move the raised side up enough to take the pressure off.
As you've probably discovered, leaving the pressure on can help removing the nuts, as the studs jam in their holes due to the force being applied by the ARB. It's a bodge, but a useful one!
I'm surprised your bottom ball joint has an 18mm nut. Mine were 21mm!
I think you'd be well advised to get that done before unbolting the inner end of the arm. The taper can be SERIOUSLY hard to break.
I didn't even attempt the second one with anything so puny as a ball joint splitter, having broken my favourite one doing the first!
There was a lot of pressure on the puller before this one gave in, too, but I knew what to expect so all went to plan.
As it's your first time, forgive me for giving you a basic tip. Whatever method you use to break the taper, leave the nut on far enough to protect the threads. Flush with the end of the stud is best. Don't be tempted to hit the stud itself. Nothing good ever comes of that!
Once the taper gives, it's easy to unwind the nut. Then you can go for the three bolts holding the arm to the car.
In salty UK, you'll need plenty of PlusGas for these, especially the front one, which is very exposed. The nuts are not captive, so you'll need a 16mm (or 5/8") spanner to counter hold them while using a ratchet and socket the same size to turn the bolts, which are countersunk into the crossmember, so a spanner won't reach.
If you're serious about the mobile mechanic, see if s/he'll let you watch while doing one side and supervise you doing the other. Confidence will soar if you do it yourself and you'll probably be able to do the next job yourself, with the great guys on here for moral support.
I've been in the motor trade for most of my life and still found this forum a God-send. Cit would have been turned into baked bean cans, only for the support I found on here!
Not that that necessarily means the sensible thing to do was to save her, but it's too late now, I'm hooked
Good luck

[danny13]

Cheers Sparksie, I think you're right the bottom ball joint was a 21mm which didn't need a deep socket.

Annoyingly I seem to have left half my tools at my parents place, so I have sockets but no ratchet, although have been able to use the sockets with an extension bar, but its a bit of a balls ache. It's certainly satisfying (despite not actually achieving much so far) trying to DIY also means one can buy tools with saving on garage bills, I believe one can never have too many tools!

I have a mechanic popping over as need to get it back on the road, but will definitely watch and learn....cheers for all the advice so far.

Jacking BOTH sides of the car up is a top tip, once I did that the droplink literally fell out