Swapping Activa front ram

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 05 Mar 2009, 06:13

De-pressurize the hydraulic system in the normal way then move the balancing linkage side to side until the balancing rams are no longer able to move the car from side to side, then undo the nipple on the rear balancing sphere to release any residual pressure left within the balancing circuit. Undo the hoses from the metal supply pipes and remove the ram.

Re-fitting is a reversal of removal.

andmcit · Unread post by **andmcit** » 05 Mar 2009, 20:06

I renewed my first Activa ram a few weeks back and didn't have any issues
with depressurising the car by simply treating it as a normal hydractive car
- ie; run the car on the lowest setting for a few minutes. I was working on
the principle that the ram's x2 big fat feed pipes that are geared for high
fluid volume delivery rather than high pressure.

The main issue I had and needed to work around was the disconnection of
the main fastening points of the hoses onto the ram. When I obtianed the
second hand replacement originally it was deemed prudent to split the feed
pipes as far away from the delicate return leak off pipe on the ram so the
wheelarch mounting joint was chosen. On my recent repair, the joint was still
very tight and a pencil flame blowtorch was required to heat through combined
with judicious wire brushing and Plus-Gassing before letting go of the pipe.

Fortunately, I've found the usual rubbish drop link fastenings undid on both
cars' rams and no issues were encountered loosening the ram.

Andrew

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 05 Mar 2009, 20:30

superloopy1 wrote:Whereabouts of the aforementioned nipple, what am i looking for and am i likely to get 'sprayed' ??

How far do i undo?

I assume i don't fully remove.

Is it similar to depressurizing ie a turn and a half?

The nipple is on the Hydractive/balancing block under the rear of the car, undo it half a turn or so until LHM stops flowing, just as if you were bleeding the brakes. If you don't do this (and the balancing sphere has pressure) you'll more than likely end up with an LHM shower when you undo the hoses.

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 06 Mar 2009, 18:45

superloopy1 wrote:Thanks

Any idea of the spanner size needed to undo ?

If you're talking of the nipple then IIRC its 8mm.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 07 Mar 2009, 08:12

Be very careful with them nipples Mike - the last thing you want to do is shear one

I tried to undo the one on Gareth's Activa (my old one) and found it so thight that discretion was the order of the day and worked around it.

KevMayer · Unread post by **KevMayer** » 14 Mar 2009, 17:47

If you take your spare wheel out and take off the spare wheel carrier you'll be able to get to the nipple a lot easier.

You need to put a plastic pipe on the nipple with the end in a bottle to catch the LHM which may squirt out when the nipple is cracked with your 8 mm spanner.