rear sphere removal on ramps

XantiaDaveEire · Unread post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:06

Do i have to have the front of the car on the ramps to put the weight on the rear of the car or vice versa

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:32

No, nothing like that. It needs to be in low and fully depressurised, so ideally you want the rear up on the ramps otherwise you wont be able to get at the spheres.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:35

Just the rear Dave. Then set to high and get under and crack 'em off.

I cheat a bit, not having ramps. I set on high, put axle stands under but just about gnat's whisker clear and then dive under and crack 'em. The axle stands will catch the car if it should start to collapse.

The idea is to get as much compressive force on the suspension cylinder as possible in order to stop the cylinder rotating.

A heavy weight in the boot can help. A stout friend perhaps?

XantiaDaveEire · Unread post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:35

thanks for the quick response,im itching to get them off, the back of the car has no movement whatsoever and i want to get them off while the weathers not too bad

Dave

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:37

Citroenmad wrote:It needs to be in low and fully depressurised,

Not for doing the rear spheres Chris. To initiall crack them loose, it's essential it's done on high and under full system pressure. Then you can set to low (on ramps or stands) and depressurise.

XantiaDaveEire · Unread post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:41

so up on ramps,crack them,turn the engine off ,replace spheres and de-pressurising is not nessecary?

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:45

Up on ramps, crack them, lower suspension, depressurise suspension, remove/replace sphere's.

Unread post by **citroenxm** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:47

No no Dave,

Up on ramps, SET ON HIGH, Crack rear spheres about a quarter of a turn, then LOWER THE CAR WITH ENGINE RUNNING, leave on low with engine running for a minute or two to fully empty the cylinders, Release the regulator screw 12mm bolt, WITH ENGINE RUNNING, then engine off, and replace spheres...

Then START ENGINE, close regulator 12mm bolt, set height to normal, FLOAT AWAY!

Paul

XantiaDaveEire · Unread post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 16 Dec 2009, 12:58

thanks for all the help guys

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 16 Dec 2009, 13:01

I've never used ramps to do the rear, as I've found them unstable to climb up (Jim and I jacked Juliet up and slid the ramps under her front wheels when working on her roll corrector rather than risk driving up on them).
Instead I set the car on high, place axle stands under to protect me should the car drop, crack the spheres, rest the car on the axle stands, set the suspension to low, let the front drop and the rear rise up in the air giving plenty of room to get safely underneath, depressurise and swap spheres.

If your rear sphere's need doing, chances are all the ones at the back will need doing, so swap your anti-sink sphere and if you've got a VSX the hydractive centre sphere too.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 16 Dec 2009, 13:27

Ah yes Jim, crack them off in high before lowering. I should really stop giving advice i think!

Ive never had any problems driving up ramps, wooden ones are the worst as they can slip instead of going under the wheel, annoying if your on your own. However the metal ones i have are great, and even have a small lip to prevent you fron driving off the front. However nothing else apart from Citroens in high can get up them, as they are a bit steep and catch the bumpers. We also have some flat ones which can be wound up very high so to get a non functioning Citroen up

Thogh yes i agree, probably the easiest way of doing this job is to sit it down on some axel stands under the jacking points, when it goes into low.

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 16 Dec 2009, 13:30

The ones I've got from halfrauds have an angled cross member right at the top of the slope, so angled that it's face is vertical, making it very hard to get over.
Bloody stupid design.

XantiaDaveEire · Unread post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 16 Dec 2009, 13:56

im correct in saying that the bleed screw at the front of the car de-pressurises the whole car?i got one off with a struggle and spray of lhm in the face which frightend the life out of me:oops: ,cup of coffee and then il get the other one off

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 16 Dec 2009, 14:18

XantiaDaveEire wrote:im correct in saying that the bleed screw at the front of the car de-pressurises the whole car?i got one off with a struggle and spray of lhm in the face which frightend the life out of me:oops: ,cup of coffee and then il get the other one off

Yes it does but if the diaphragm in the sphere you are removing is ruptured you will get LHM leak out as due to the pressure/volume of LHM held within the sphere it takes some time for the LHM to escape through the small damper hole. Normally once you've cracked the sphere it should become free very quickly, if however it continues to be tight to undo then you've either not depressurised the system or the sphere diaphragm is ruptured. Similarly if the sphere continues to squirt out LHM once its removed that's another sign of a ruptured diaphragm.

XantiaDaveEire · Unread post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 16 Dec 2009, 14:41

the 2nd sphere came off without any hassle