Rattling!

[jgra1]

CitroJim wrote:
...an angel grinder...
That sounds at once both libidinous and violent!

The last pair I fitted, I managed to pull the boots off and get some grease in the back.. could help prolong them..

[Timmo]

There used to be an article by the infamous Alan S on how to stop them rattlimg! Will have a nose on bx16valve.co.uk incase its in the downloads or techy bits,

[aerodynamica]

Got a cheap pair to go on. It's actually soaking wet from the wet road as I'd only just got home. Need to wait til sat to yet parcel from distribution place.

[c.morewood]

It looks like you've got allen key access to the centre of the bolt.. try that rather than cutting with the grinder or hacksaw. Also try slipping a bt of garden hose or similar over the new bolts.. that and a bit of copaslip gease makes changing the next time a lot easier.
Chris

[aerodynamica]

Hi Chris, don't mean to ask silly wise but what do you mean Re. the garden hose?

If the cheapness of the new ones is anything to go by I'll be a changing them withing a year anyway so they'll be a treat to remove. Hopefully these outgoing items were cheeeepoes too and will be a year or two and not bonded in place either..

Will see.

[RichardW]

Don't mess about Graeme, have a quick try to get the nuts off, but if they are at all tight you will get no where - they go all floppy as soon as you take the tension off - just lop them off with the grinder. 10 mins job done. I suspect if you've got a windy gun you may well get them off....

It's not really worth bothering with cheap drop links - sometimes they rattle out of the box! You used to able to get the early type Lemforder ones (the OE supplier that last 60k) for about £20 from GSF - they are £40 from the dealer mind...

[DickieG]

If yours are the very early type Grahame I think I have a pair of genuine Citroen ones in stock that I don't have a use for, let me know if they're of any use to you.

[c.morewood]

"Garden Hose" (you'l have to split it lengthways) or other tubing threaded over the bolt shaft after you've tightened the nut and grease the shaft.. keeps the wet and muck out so that its nice and easy to remove next time.. you'd be surprised how rusty/mucky they can get within a year.
I agree with RichardW don't go for the very cheapest.. they'll see you about 6 months depending on how many potholes you have round your way.
If you can get a pair with the allen head sunk into the end of the bolts it makes removal a lot easier than cutting.

Chris

[CitroJim]

sometimes they rattle out of the box!

Yep they do and I have some Got some silly cheap ones off the 'bay for Rattiva and they rattled out of the box but less then the ones they replaced... A little less

[dnsey]

If you can get the wire clips off the boots without causing damage, it's worth getting some more grease into the joints before fitting the links. A good blob of heavyish grease can even temporarily 'fix' old rattling ones.

[aerodynamica]

Uh GO-O-O-DDD.. so I had to go and collect the pair of drop links from the courier collection office - thie particular one was flippin miles away... anyway, finally got them, fixed some other tasks and this afternoon I went to change the parts over. Contrary to what's been warned, they old items came out ok. They are really worn out at BOTH ball joints. I'd taken one off and compared it to the new ones in their package and they appeared identical. So I get them prepped with a little coppaslip on the threads and went to fit the first one only to find that the frikkin threaded bits are too large to fit through the hole in the anti roll bar and strut. So I quickly chucked the old one back in afte packing the ball joints with grease (still rattles like a skeleton tho)

So what gives? has the ebay seller mistakenly listed this as a Xantia drop link when it in fact is for a Peugeot or a different Xantia version?

Mine is a 1993 Mark 1.

Annoyed at this waste of time and money!

EDIT: Yes! very much Dickie.G, I could do with a pair that will actually fit it seems - I'll PM you.

[DickieG]

Early Xantia drop links used smaller threads than later ones.

[aerodynamica]

Arg

[Timmo]

Isn't it something like 12mm and 14mm??

[RichardW]

sometimes they rattle out of the box!

Yep they do and I have some Got some silly cheap ones off the 'bay for Rattiva and they rattled out of the box but less then the ones they replaced... A little less

AEP list the proper Lemforder ones at <£30 each - must order some, mine sounds like the front subframe is falling off!