Replacement Trailing Rear arms for Citroen C5

[dmatthews]

Hi, looks like the the trailing rear arm bearings on my Citroen C5 estate have gone again because I have a creaking from the back and slight -ve camber. We had them last replaced around four years ago. I am planning to take them to our local non dealer garage this time instead of the main dealer and to make life simpler, and ensure there are no hold ups, have them replace the arms with a pair of reconditioned pair rather than change the bearings over. Can anybody recommend a good supplier please? Also does anybody know if there is a workaround to prevent their future failure please?
Thanks

[Stickyfinger]

I will leave the "parts" choice/recommendation to others however:

I would ask WHY they only lasted 4 years, unless you are doing MASSIVE millage there should be no reason why they should not last 100K quite happily so 4 years seems VERY short.
I have only seen cases of a once in a cars life need with these......maybe they are worse than I think ?

[dmatthews]

They were replaced over 4 1/2 years ago, the car has done over 90k since then so on your measure they have lasted quite well. The first set were replaced at 60k and I remember that the dealer had to do some work on one of the arms because the bearing wear was so bad. I'm not sure how that arm looks now hence why I'm trying to de-risk the job by getting replacement arms - so it's not stuck in the garage for longer than necessary.

[Stickyfinger]

OK, you do high millage but it seems on the short side to me, I would be disappointed in that personally.

Best of luck fixing it, is it the arms that wear or the bearing mounts ?

[dmatthews]

Believe me I am disappointed, last time around the bill was around £500.

Bearing mounts

[Stickyfinger]

£500 is about the level my disappointment kicks in as well ....best of

[citronut]

99% of the time its not usually the bearing mount that gets chewed up but the seal mounting point,

[BX]

The normal reason for failure is insufficient grease. I have seen replacement bearings do over 9 years with mileage around 20000 miles per year. The original ones having only lasted 2 to 3 years. Modern car garages have no love of grease. The whole tube needs to be packed with grease. Then even if there is a slight sealing problem grease starts to ooze rather than water getting in. Its not like high speed bearings where too much grease can cause problems. Believe me the west coast of Ireland is a good place to test suspensions.

[citronut]

The normal reason for failure is insufficient grease.

also wrong or no shimming can cause them to fail prematurely

[RichardW]

Best bet would be to get a pair off a scrapper, refurbish the bearings and have them ready to fit. You may need to change over the wheel bearings / hubs, and the ABS sensors may give trouble.... There are only 2 part numbers for all MK1 / 2 C5s - up to RP 9519 and since then, so finding a pair shouldn't be too hard. You could always buy new, but I can't get a price out of service.citroen just now....I'm willing to bet it will make £500 look like a bargain

[Peter.N.]

When I replaced mine I filled the whole of the centre tube up with grease and added a little thick oil to make it flow. The bearings usually fail because water gets in, if you can give it a large reservoir of grease/oil it should serve to keep the water out. I have never had to replace mine twice.

Peter

[dmatthews]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Having a refurbished pair ready to fit is my plan, but I don't want to refurbish them myself. Just wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a trusted company that i can procure a refurbished pair from.

Thanks

[citronut]

i dont know if anywhere stocks/sell refurbished arms as they used to for the likes of the BX, an engineering company in rye

J H B Engineering
Unit 4a Jempsons Trading Estate
Rye,
TN31 7EL
E SUSSEX
United Kingdom
Phone: (179) 722-6775

used to refurb the BX arms by boring them out and sleaving them,

they used to sell them to GSF who had them up for sale

[dmatthews]

Thanks, I just called them and they don't do this work anymore and have never done so for the C5 unfortunately.

[Peter.N.]

Unless the arm is severely damaged you can just fit new bearings, if part of the seat has worn away it doesn't really matter if there is enough left to securely seat the bearings, they are not going anywhere one its reassembled.

Peter