c16rkc's mad house

[MattBLancs]

Interested to see that tool is cut away on one side - is there a part of the housing it needs to clear?

(I've got a set of universal ones - not cut away. Looks might need modification to my set with the grinder if so!)


Garage that can't be bothered to give something a proper name also reluctant to do anything or have much clue which is left or right! Don't think I'd head there again personally!

[c16rkc]

Hi Matt, the only use I could see for the cut-away as it prevented the arm from being pushed too far away. Other than that I could not see any benefit.

You can see here, that if the arm is far enough back, a full circle one looks like it would be OK.

I agree with you on the garage, which is a shame because they are very highly recommended. They are a Citroen/Peugeot specialist, and the only one in the area. There is also no Citroen main dealer in nearby Kings Lynn either, as it closed a few years back.

I think the issue is that the chap who owns the garage is slowly winding the business down, he said to me they only work 3 days a week now. I can imagine they are no longer interested in doing work on rather dull cars like my C5, particularly as they probably do not see many and are not familiar with them - though he did say he had done such a knuckle bush on another C5 not all that long ago, saying it was difficult to find the part at the time too.

Historically I have tended to shy away from doing my own work on cars, and have stuck to cosmetic or audio stuff. But this past year or so I am getting more and more confident to have a go at things, so I imagine I'll end up doing a lot of work myself on at least the Citroen. Given the garage I mention above charge over £100 per hour, it saves me a fortune!

But if nothing else, I think it's nice to do things yourself, as I think they get done to a higher standard. It puzzles me how garages can't take off and put back the undertray fixings in the right places. The C5 is peppered with self tapping aftermarket fixings in random places - with many of the original fixings missing. That drives my OCD mad....

[Gibbo2286]

The problem with modern garages is they don't have mechanics they have parts swappers.
When I started we used to repair everything, got a noisy diff strip it out and fit a new crown wheel and pinion, using engineer's blue to ensure the correct mesh, steering box worn overhaul it, window winders letting the window slip down dismantle it and fit new clutch spring..........everything could be fixed, pulling pistons out through the bottom re ringing them and refitting was normal, gearbox slips out of gear on the over run pull the box and fit new gears. Done all of that and more.

[c16rkc]

Yes you are right, garages that repair things are very rare.

They also fit brand new genuine parts without thinking about it now too; years ago I suggested a parts specialist for the struts on my Jaguar, and the garage owner blew up like a bottle of pop, telling me his insurance was expensive enough as it was, he could not cover ever Tom, Dick and Harry's parts. I got the idea from his rants that his professional insurance only covered him while he was fitting genuine parts, but not if he used other sources. I am not sure if this was genuinely the case or not.

When I first started driving you had to specifically ask for genuine parts, as most small garages tended to fit aftermarket parts as standard to save people money. How things have changed in the last 25 years.

[CitroJim]

Excellent reading Chris Superb blogging!

[Rp0thejester]

I agree Gibbo, modern garages are part swappers rather than mechanics. This all seemed to happen when computers could get plugged in to tell them the fault and replace it. Rather than figuring out what the problem is and what caused it to fail. Take an old carburettor engine to a modern garage and watch the looks on their face.

[c16rkc]

Excellent reading Chris Superb blogging!

Glad you are enjoying my nonsense Jim

Funny how enjoyable it is reading what people get up to with their cars, I confess I like to read this sort of thing too; though I enjoy posting it too of course.

I always tell Lindsey this is Facebook for men

[c16rkc]

I agree Gibbo, modern garages are part swappers rather than mechanics. This all seemed to happen when computers could get plugged in to tell them the fault and replace it. Rather than figuring out what the problem is and what caused it to fail. Take an old carburettor engine to a modern garage and watch the looks on their face.

I guess too many people rely on garages these days, so it's easy pickings for them, and they don't have to offer a good service anymore as customers have no choice but to say yes and pay...

Speaking to the chaps I work with, none of them even know how to do an oil change.

But I'm sure there are some good garages/mechanics out there, it's just hard to find them...

Twenty years ago I used to use a self employed mechanic who worked from home. I had a noisy differential, and he told me it was going to cost some horrendous figure for a new diff...

I wanted it fixed, and said go for it... I was young, inexperienced and I'd have paid it.

But he was a gentleman and a decent mechanic, and he refused to do it. He said let him research it more, as he felt sure he could replace the diff bearing much cheaper.

Sure enough he found them a month or so later, and he did the job for a couple of hundred quid. I was pleased as punch!

He was a proper mechanic- sadly retired now...

[c16rkc]

One step forward... two steps back

What a strange day yesterday was...

As usual, the morning vanished looking after the kids. Then Lindsey took Aston out for yet another eye glasses appointment, and Spencer and me finally got to do some work on the C5 at 11am.

My thread repair file had arrived in the week.

The thread did not really look that bad, but it was binding on the nut badly. So I repaired it bit by bit, using this and a needle file.

The hub nut finally came off, and I was very relieved!

We quickly agreed mummy didn't need to know about some of what had occurred today...

Yes definitely....

By then it had hit lunchtime, and the boys have to eat at 12pm or they get even more annoying than normal...

Thats my boy! Eating lunch and watching monster trucks...

My lunch was a little basic... but I did cook it myself...

Then it was back to work! (Treacherous Spencer stayed indoors).

The drive thingy was released in no time...

But the spider still would not go back into it's tulip!

I realised the bearings are indeed slightly wider than the tulip, and using a bit of timber and my hammer, I gently persuaded them back in.

Well don't I feel stupid... I didn't even need to remove the hub nut!

So then to the task of getting the driveshaft end back in. But the sodding thing would not play ball! The shaft refused to straighten up.

I decided to try getting the new arm fitted.

First I needed to remove the old bush/support shown at the back here.

The bolt on the underside of it took an hour to remove, every 1/4 turn needed the breaker bar it was so sodding stiff!

Turns out the bolt had swarf engrained throughout the thread! Things were slowed by Lindsey turning up and popping to the neighbours over the road for a chat... then calling me over when Spencer was sick on their driveway.

I perhaps let him eat too many raspberries at lunchtime... Well he asked for them

I cleaned it up with the thread file, and needle file.

But putting the arm in did not help at all, as the hub refused to pull back in line with the end of the arm!

So I decided maybe taking the disc off would give better access... big mistake!

The nuts holding the disk on were completely made of rust! The nut heads rounded off in seconds...

So I had to drill them out... New Stainless steel replacements have been ordered.

But that didn't help manoeuvre the hub either. I quickly realised removing the disc does not help at all...

I stopped to watch a video on YouTube of someone changing the lower arm. I saw the chap removed the Tie rod end, so I went to unscrew mine.

But while in the video, the nut unscrewed neatly, mine just spun and spun...

So I used a grinder to remove the nut...

...and yes you've guessed it...

...new Tie rod end is on order...

I'll have replaced the whole car by the time this is over

That did help. But I still couldn't move the hub enough. It seemed the strut was holding everything too tight.

So with even more research, I realised the strut could be depressurised by releasing the bleed valve on that corner.

I did this and it went loose

But at that moment Lindsey came to see me, as it was 5pm and dinner was ready...

Time for me to call it a day

So the rest will have to wait for another day...

[Hell Razor5543]

You were not being stupid by undoing the hub-nut, you were being prepared for something that, under the circumstances, did not arise. It is far better to be fully prepared for anything that might occur than to find yourself in an unexpected situation without the ability to resolve it easily.

[Armidillo]

Did you take a look under the ball joint before attacking the shaft with the angle grinder?

I would expect that the tip would have been hollow (can actually see remnants in the photo ), and shaped to take an Allen or Torx key. This of course is so you can hold the shaft still while you unscrew the (Nyloc?) nut.

[MattBLancs]

I've yet to come across a track rod end nut that needed the Allen / torx fitting to be used on removal, (reinstalling a very different story! )
Normally it's the next stage (persuade the taper to let go!) That gives me trouble.

But end if the day, track rod ends are cheap, they do fail and putting a new one is no bad thing. Think C5 ones are sided (406 ones definitely are, getting mixed up between the two cars of mine!) As the tracking would need a check, I'd buy a pair of rod ends and change them both. Then at least potential that it would need doing again (if one of the existing ones were to later fail) is minimised.

Nice to see your lad getting involved, my four year old likes to see what I'm up to but won't generally stay with me throughout the job, yet!

[MattBLancs]

P.s. agree, getting the hub nut off gave more chance of success so no great problem having set off the way you did.

Forgot to ask, did the track rod end refuse to undo/ rounded off? Or just a bit trigger happy with the grinder?

[c16rkc]

Sorry chaps - you are right there was a torque bit on the underside; I simplified the story to reduce my typing...

The torque bit did help me get a few turns off, but then it rounded off beyond usability... everything under there is soooo rusty!

I did order a pair of tie rod ends, and yes they are handed. Seemed sensible while I was at it as they were only £25 each.

[c16rkc]

Nice to see your lad getting involved, my four year old likes to see what I'm up to but won't generally stay with me throughout the job, yet!

Mine don't stick around lond either.

Aston (5 years old) rarely shows interest these days, and Spencer tends to stay until he gets told off for something. Yesterday it was when I started using the ratchet as a hammer...