C5 X7 front lower suspension arm - torque settings?

[wurlycorner]

Hi all

Does anyone know what the correct torque settings are for the inner bolts that secure the front lower suspension arm on a C5 X7?
(bolts 1, 2 and 3 on the official guide here )
Unfortunately that info seems to be missing in the instructions - perhaps a forum admin could add them to that topic also?

Thanks

[Estately]

Hi Iain,

If nut 3 is the one below the drive shaft, then that is 50 nm plus or minus 5 nm.

If you can find a post from Marc (Givemeabreak) to me Sun Aug 11 2024, I misspelled torque as torqe, then his reply identified nut 3 as item 11 in the diagram.
The heading is engine number DW whatever "Front pivot removal". It gives 5 danm plus or minus 0.5 danm.

Now if 1 and 2 are the rear mount bolts into the aluminium housing then I based my torque loading on marks I made when removing the two bolts, they are different diameters and not having a specification I checked the torque with the MK2 C5.

The MK2 C5 has a similar arrangement and the torque is given as 105nm, but the bolts are both the same diameters. The smaller diameter bolt tightened to 105nm close to my mark made on removal. The larger bolt tightened to 125 nm so that is how I did it.

Not too scientific but it was the best I could do.

Hope that helps.
Andy.

[wurlycorner]

Thanks Andy

Bolt 3 is indeed below the driveshaft.


Bolt 1 and 2 are the two rear bolts, as you also rightly guessed.

[kantica]

Bolt below driveshaft gets 123 Nm.
Two rear bolts:
- the smaller one gets 65Nm, the bigger one 110 Nm.

[wurlycorner]

Thanks - that’s different to what we thought.
I wonder if admin could please update the original thread in resources with the extra info?

[kantica]

Same info is also visible in this thread: viewtopic.php?p=712300#p712300

[myglaren]

Thanks - that’s different to what we thought.
I wonder if admin could please update the original thread in resources with the extra info?

Tacked this on to the original post:-

Bolt below driveshaft gets 123 Nm.
Two rear bolts:
- the smaller one gets 65Nm, the bigger one 110 Nm.

[Estately]

That is great we now have the diagram and torque settings when needed.

Could you please refer to a Citroen diagram for the bolt below the drive shaft. 123 Nm seems high for what is probably the smallest diameter bolt on the lower arm (I know metallurgy rules). The diagram from 11 August 2024 did give 50 Nm for that particular fastening (nut 3) and it certainly looks identifiable.

Just want to be sure thanks.
Andy.

[kantica]

I am uploading screenshot of the official documentation (downloaded in 2021 for C5 X7). Screenshot shows torques for aluminium subframe, but they are same for steel one. Steel one does not have bolts marked as 7, only bolt marked as 8 which gets 123 Nm (12,3 daNm). Also bolt 8 is M14x1.5 10.9 which can take much more than 123 Nm.

Here also other subframe bolts (for completeness):

Bolt 3: M12x1.75
Bolt 4: M14x2.00

One more update with torques for steering knuckle and one of the bolts / nuts for lower arm:

[saleach]

That is great we now have the diagram and torque settings when needed.

Could you please refer to a Citroen diagram for the bolt below the drive shaft. 123 Nm seems high for what is probably the smallest diameter bolt on the lower arm (I know metallurgy rules). The diagram from 11 August 2024 did give 50 Nm for that particular fastening (nut 3) and it certainly looks identifiable.

Just want to be sure thanks.
Andy.

I have the same thinking about bolt 8. What is the source of these info (123Nm)?

[Estately]

If you still have the opportunity and have not started to dismantle and with the benefit of hindsight, I would carefully mark those bolts so that you can reassemble them to the same position that they were in before work started.

Hope that helps.
Andy.

PS Why are those bolts so close to the drive shafts?

[aerodynamica]

Hi all, the bolt no. 3 above indeed does need to be torqued up to the value specified. I have been tracing a Knocking at the front RHS for some time. I suspected it was the steering rack after I had changed all of the bushes and ball joints. It's not possible to torque the bolt with a proper wrench due to the closeness of the driveshaft in both sides. It is also a torx type screw so using a spanner with another on the end to lengthen it is not practical. But that is what I had done. I thought it was tight but at the weekend I removed the subframe to repair the steering rack, check the rack had its spacers in the right place and fix a leak at the top pipes on the rack. Also fit new roll bar bushes. I wasn't expecting to find there was free play on the RH control arm new bushes (fitted only 2 months ago)but that is what I found. With the subframe on the floor I was able to get a torque wrench on the bolt 3 and it torqued up quite a lot! The bolt itself had felt 'tight' with the spanner but the proper torque is needed to properly compress the subframe and that metal plate bolt 3 goes through. I now have a silent front axle...