rear height corrector removal

[harryp]

Hi all, Hopefully not a difficult one - have reconditioned a height corrector to use on the rear. Haynes(no use at all) and threads consulted, but nothing completely covers the removal of the rear height corrector. Have removed the mounting screws and hydraulic pipes which leaves the whole corrector only held on by the height control lever. It it now just a case of loosening the pinch bolt and Voila? Then all ready to get up close and dirty ?
Do I assume that if replaced exactly where it was fixed all should be ok and I do not have to fiddle about adjusting ride height? I have an innate feeling that my stupidity is showing through - again . Any thing else I should know please?
Regards

[citronut]

what is the reason for replacing just the height corrector?????
as more often than not height control faults are caused by the cradle/turrets seizing up,

its a long time since i last removed the cradle and thye height corrector in one piece, although once you have the three metal pipes and the plastic into rubber pipe, then the two 11mm ( spanner size ) bolts that hold the height corrector to its cradle, it then is just hooked into the linkage,

as you say though if you bolt it back to the cradle in the slotted holes at the same point the old one was at, that will be the only adjustment point you should need to tweek

[citroenxm]

TAKE CLOSE ATTENTION harry to the exact placeing of the control lever prongs in the height corrector arm slots.. and remember them... it will affect all settings if they do not go in the correct place.. but yes pipes out .. also must go back to the correct places .. and bolts out and its just the control lever spring holding it


Take pleanty of pictures to remind yourself of EXACT positions for re fitting.

[harryp]

Thanks for response as always .
Malcolm, the current corrector is weeping, so obtained "spare" from Paul and stripped, cleaned and reassembled and of course now need to remove, clean and lubricate the cradle. I have taken pics of the whole before I started. I take Paul's point and will take pics of mounting bolts and also scribe the position so as to attach replacement to cradle as before. I should point out that the corrector is still firmly mounted in the cradle!! I was unaware that there was adjustment by sliding at the attachment point - thanks . The second question is what do I remove to separate the control rod from the mechanism so as to least disturb the settings and get out from under the car? (Boy, I am aching ). Do you forcibly remove the clip; if so how? Nowhere can I find any description on this, or on removal of the end fitting from the control rod if that's the alternative. It's just that I do not want to damage anything or upset the settings at all. The only thing holding the mechanism on at the moment is the clip .
Regards

[Xantidote]

I'd be tempted to leave the anti-roll bar clamp untouched, and disconnect by prising the dog bone off. At least then you know the ride height won't be too far out (hopefully!)

[Stickyfinger]

Agree with that, the roll bar mount is a fixed point that you can reference from...

[harryp]

Recap, corrector is still bolted to cradle, dog bone off, pipes off, cradle bolts out, clamp untouched. What I want to know is best way of disconnecting the long height control lever. Simples, no?? . I am trying to ensure the ride height stays as I do not have the garage and pit I used on my previous Xant and trying to reset would be a major headache . Then I can clean, manipulate and lubricate cradle etc before reconnecting the whole refurbed assembly .
Regards

[citronut]

the only thing that alters the ride height is the position of the clamp on the anti roll bar, as long as you re/fit the height corrector back to the exact same position in the slotted bolt holes on the cradle, then also hook the turret/s linkage's back in the correct place,

the only linkage you will be re/hooking up is the manual height lever connection to the one turret, as the other turret is the auto adjuster, which is connected to the doggy bone,

reading your original post at the beginning of this thread, it seemed to me you were just removing/swapping the actual height corrector only without the cradle,

[harryp]

Thanks Malcolm, Cradle is sticky and seems very slow to drop; ride is not as supple as it used to be, so wanted to remove cradle for some tlc. Will carefully replace height corrector in correct position(seems a lot of "corrects"). Does the clip to height control rod just pull out? At this stage I wish to know how to release the control rod from the linkage without damaging settings or anything else How does the clip come off/out? Apologies if this sounds simple or pedantic, but I am trying to avoid a "boing, whoops, bl..dy hell" moment .
Regards

[citronut]

there are two spring ends creating like a square C shape ( if that makes sense ), basically the jaws are the ends of the manual adjusters turret spring, which one of its jaws go either side of the manual height lever fitting, the doggy bone just pops off of the ball at the auto adjuster turret, as it is nylon with a cup on each end

[harryp]

Malcolm, thank you so much .
Dogbone is off one end - the visible easy to get at one, so will see wots wot when i get back under in about 5 mins will take a few more pics anyway just to be on the safe side. Sorry my first post was confusing(on re-reading) - I knew what I meant; just that I should have said so .
Regards

[superloopy]

This is one topic which eally should, by now, have been handled with LOTS of pictures and explanations rather than 'under the car, disconnect, out from under the car, ask the next question' ...

Surely it's possible to pull together a few pictures to get this going for harryp who is clearly having difficulties ... probelm is that everyone has their own way of doing things, end justifying the means when a decent set of pics would say a thousand words.

[harryp]

Ahhh... There are truly excellent guides regarding stripping and cleaning of the affected parts, ( which incidentally allowed me to quickly and easily tackle the refurb of a spare corrector) but the rear removal seems not covered in much detail other than to say it's much easier than the front . Having got it off, I now see it is a lot simpler than it looked at the time, but I was confronted by a large black blob of grease, grit and rust . The spring was just 2 small "bright" ends poking out. With a pit it would have been so much simpler to have seen it in all its glory and got some Gunk on it. I have to say I felt a right Pillock asking so many questions on what I had assumed would be a routine job . Now I know it is .
The cradle is coming along nicely and now moves much and has freed up though still gritty, so some more to go yet. The Height Corrector is absolutely solid to the "push", (can't bring myself to say touch) so am hoping for a ride like I have not yet experienced when all is back in.
Anyway, would like to again thank members for putting up with a lot of seemingly "dumb" questions, such that now I only have to finish cleaning, lubricate and re-assemble, as Haynes would say "in the reverse order". Cheers everybody
Regards

[myglaren]

This is one topic which eally should, by now, have been handled with LOTS of pictures and explanations rather than 'under the car, disconnect, out from under the car, ask the next question' ...

Surely it's possible to pull together a few pictures to get this going for harryp who is clearly having difficulties ... probelm is that everyone has their own way of doing things, end justifying the means when a decent set of pics would say a thousand words.

Removal, Cleaning and Refitting of a standard Xantia Front Height Corrector

And somewhat related:

Spheres, Hydraflush and Brake Bleeding

[citronut]

Harry
there should not be much movment in the actual height corrector its self, the shaft moves very very slightly in use, this is probably why the turrets seize up