2.1 TD Xantia on a budget

[Mandrake]

I'm so excited I WANT IT NOW

Simon * £2.50 was postage

For some reason ebay on one of my machines was showing $23 US dollars and I overlooked the dollar sign. On another machine its listing £15. Not sure why one is showing USD when both are logged in to my account!

[Skull]

Ebay does that with me if I accidentally go to .com

[Skull]

One of these should do



The little one is only 1.5 Ibs but a nice stubby handle

The big one is a whole new ball game

Lovely carpet

[Stewart(oily)]

I find bracing my feet against the opposing rear tyre and swearing a lot helps too, failing that its straight on to the blood sacrifice, I lost about a square inch of skin from my forearm changing my accumulator, blood everywhere, the car positively purred

[Skull]

I've already tried that on the rear passenger side

So hard I nearly flipped the car over

[Mandrake]

The cylinder really shouldn't be turning in its mounting with the suspension lifted right up by the way - you will damage the cylinder or the pipe going into it if its allowed to turn much.

Are you sure you have the suspension up to maximum height and the full weight of the rear of the car resting on its wheels ? The wheels need to be supporting the car (either directly on the ground, or on ramps) not hanging loose with axle stands. The rear should feel solid when you try to bounce on it. When you "crack" the sphere loose under maximum suspension pressure you only want to turn it about 20 degrees at most, the rest of the unscrewing must be done after the suspension is fully lowered and de-pressurized. So lift it right up, crack both sides loose, then lower it down and finish removing them both.

If the cylinders are still trying to turn you must have exceptionally bad rust between the sphere and cylinder... what penetrating lubricant did you use ? I would even be inclined to use a small triangular file to file away a bit of the rust at the junction so you can get some penetrating lubricant in a bit further if its really that bad.

If the rust is really bad and just won't let go you may run into the same problem as RichardW where a small chunk of the cylinder comes away with the sphere, then you're in major trouble.

[Skull]

Mandrake

Thanks for the tips, wheels are fully supported on rear ramps at the moment still pressurised on high - I have only been trying to crack them off as per the sticky threads - the passenger side is the one I've started on I've had the engine running whilst attempting to crack them off before lowering the height, de-pressurising and fitting new spheres - I will load the boot up once the tool arrives to help prevent the suspension cylinder rotating as mentioned (I presume that will increase the load and help to prevent the rotation)

Penetrating oil - I believe it's called RX 7 but not sure M.O.D. use it though

Pre-emptive question

IF they still don't crack off in situ will I be able to remove the suspension cylinder with the sphere still attached if I stabilise the car in it's current position and set it to low and release the pressure in the regulator worried about getting it out in one piece past the space available for the assembly - I expect if this is possible I'd lose a lot more fluid... then I could soak them in a tray before getting them on a workbench vice

[Mandrake]

You really don't want to go down the route of removing the suspension cylinder - easy job on a rust free car, a complete nightmare on a rusty UK car!

The other issue with that approach is that if its so rusty that it won't let go when it has the full weight of the car squeezing the cylinder in place, you'll never be able to grip the cylinder in a vice securely enough to get it undone - its only aluminium alloy so will be damaged by a vice, and you just won't get a good grip on it.

At least in the car the pressure and load of the car itself pushes the cylinder hard against its end support and usually prevents it rotating.

What's probably going to do the trick is some percussion with the lump hammer rather than just applying turning, as CitroJim said earlier. Use the hammer on the arm on the removal tool to give it a jolt, or try hitting the sphere body itself as well. (The latter only works if you simultaneously have torque applied to the tool)

[Skull]

Cheers - will give that a go once the tool arrives and clean it up as best as possible whilst reapplying the penetrating oil ...

[Skull]

Ordered the 2 rear suspension spheres initially I will leave the rear accumulator/anti sink sphere and see how I get on ....

http://www.aepdirect.com/ 2 x SSXA30RA £46.80 (ordered 1 Ltr LHM to receive the free delivery on orders over £50 effectively 98p for a litre of green life )

2 x Citroen 527234 = £145.28

__________________________

£399.13 Purchase (£330 delivered) and repair (osf brake pipe £47.34 (4886 70) (5 Ltr LHM £21.79)
£30.15 24Hrs Insurance (for MOT and retest)
£35 MOT fee
£3.54 bulb (ventilation panel / illumination) (611260)
£17.50 sphere tool (ebay)
£52.67 2 x rear suspension spheres (527234) (plus ltr of LHM always handy)
£537.99 It's not easy to do these on the cheap

[Skull]

Have you added weight to the back of the car ?
Courage mon brave!

Cheers Stewart / CitroJim

I've emptied half the garage into the boot



and started her up again and she rose another 3" higher at the back - without doing anything else to her - makes me wonder if there's a problem with the rear height corrector She did rise at the back just not to the extent she has now with a fair load in the boot...

I've also clamped the suspension cylinder to make sure it can't rotate (belt and braces)



..... spheres arrived yesterday just waiting for the tool now ....

hopefully that extra load on the suspension will be the key ..... just need to 'carb up' now for the effort needed to crack the spheres off ...... must remember to lower and depressurise after that before I get too carried away in the joy of the moment .....

[CitroJim]

Good luck Skull

[Hell Razor5543]

Make certain that you have the suspension on high, with axle stands (or something suitable) to "catch" the car if she drops (make sure they are high enough to protect you), but with the weight on the wheels. If the spheres turn (but not the cylinders, obviously), make sure not to go past 1/4 of a turn.

[Skull]

Hell Razor5543

Roger that

tomorrow if it's a dry day and the tool gets here ....

[Skull]

Lovely Jubbly

2 rear suspension spheres fitted tool worked a treat and would have struggled without that and the 'add more weight' tip from CitroJim and Mandrake

I haven't road tested yet as no insurance / road tax yet but lots more movement in the back end and I can push it down more and watch it level off nicely - I haven't done the accumulator/ anti-sink sphere so will wait until a full road test - will she also need a brake bleed on the rears again

Hardest bit after all the investigation was unloading the boot and filling the garage back up with all my rubbish